I had a different experience than Miquel regarding Azerbaijan

Your visa is not related to how long you can keep a vehicle. Before entering, I understood that it was possible to enter for up to 72 hours (not exactly 3 days) without paying a deposit. If you want to stay longer, you need to pay a deposit. It doesn't matter how long your visa is valid for.

And that was exactly what they told me at the Astara border with Iran. They were very friendly and professional.

(I also though it would be impossible for me to enter with my right hand drive car, though they said nothing about it...)

I had to pay $15 road tax, nothing else, no asking for bribes etc. I was given 72 hours to the minute.

So if you're only going to stay 72 hours it doesn't make sense to pay $100 for a visa and $100 or whatever for an invitation to get a one-month tourist visa. I got a transit visa for $20 with no invitation in Tehran. I could have got a double entry transit visa for $40. They are valid for one month from date of issue, and you can stay 5 days (though the vehicle only 72 hours of course). So it worked out pretty well for me.

Regarding Russia direct to Turkey... I don't understand your 2030 comment. There is a ferry connection Sochi - Trabzon, though you'll have to wait far far longer for the two continents to collide and form a land border between the two countries.

From Russia you will not be able to do the trip clockwise overland... you need to take the ferry. If you do it anti-clockwise, you can go from Georgia to Abkhazia then into Russia (if you have a multi-entry Russian visa) I did this 2 weeks ago. My Abkhazia post is in the Southern Asia forum, along with another one about Azerbaijan.

Georgia is very easy to enter. You can stay 360 days without a visa. But you are not allowed to take more than one tank of fuel into the country.

The only stamps / visa problems may be:

- You cannot enter Georgia from Abkhazia
- You cannot enter Azerbaijan if you have a Nagorno-Karabakh visa in your passport (you can get the visa loose).

Good luck

Daniel

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