Our trip to Azerbaijan was not all smooth sailing. In fact, it almost ended before it had even begun, when the check-in agent at OR Tambo International Airport detected a discrepancy in one of our e-visas. Read more about that here.
Apart from that, we experienced a few other problems.
Airport Express Bus
After a layover in Dubai, we arrived in Baku at around 5 pm – peak traffic time – and tried to request a taxi via Yango (a popular ride-hailing service in Azerbaijan). Initially we couldn't get the Yango app working as adding our credit card required an OTP sent via SMS. Our South African MTN numbers were on SMS roaming but we discovered that MTN didn’t have a roaming agreement with Azerbaijan, so that didn’t work either. Eventually we got it working with our secondary bank and mobile data (using Airalo).
A huge sedan arrived but it had a tiny trunk which didn’t have enough space for our luggage, so we cancelled it. As we had cancelled our first trip (due to no fault of our own), Yango blocked us from using the app (it took a day before we could get it working again).
Bolt was available, and even though we had read about scams in Baku involving Bolt, we tried to download it. But we had the same SMS issue again.
Baku has an Airport Express bus that travels from the airport to the city centre every hour but the ticket machine wasn’t working and the bus drivers didn’t speak English so they couldn’t help us. In fact, I couldn’t find any airport staff who spoke English and could help us.
*Side note – Baku should have a visitor help centre at the airport with English-speaking staff.
Eventually, tired and frustrated, we accepted an inflated price from a taxi driver at the airport. He decided to stop for snacks on the way and kept us waiting for 10 minutes. When we eventually got to our destination, he wanted a tip over and above the agreed price.
The moment we got off the taxi, in Nizami Street, we were harassed by beggars - refugee women who encouraged their young children to tug onto our hands, clothes and bags until we gave them something.
Nizami Street
We had booked an apartment on Nizami Street via Booking.com and informed the host that we had arrived. He asked us to meet him at another address than what was agreed upon. When we asked him why, he said that the original apartment was not available, and he took us to an apartment on another street with noisy bars and nightclubs at the bottom.
We were too tired to find another place at that time of the night and it looked similar to the original apartment’s photos at first glance so we paid the cash on arrival. We later discovered multiple problems. The bathroom was small and cramped and one had to practically squeeze under the basin in order to sit on the toilet. The toilet flush was faulty, the water pressure in the shower was terrible, and the geyser worked sporadically so we did not always have hot water. Also, there was no microwave as per the apartment description and the washing machine did not work.
After we had checked out, the host informed Booking.com that we had never arrived – to avoid paying commission to the booking platform. Apparently, this is a common scam with apartments in Azerbaijan, and even though we prefer apartments when travelling as a family, we learnt that it was safer to stick to hotels there.
At the end of the first day, I was ready to go back home. Fortunately, things improved thereafter, and the beauty of the country won us over although we did have a few other issues.
Our apartment
The first tour company we booked with included pick-up services in their fee but the day before our tour, they told us to meet them 15 minutes away from our apartment. When I pointed out that we had paid for pick-up, they sent a staff member to our apartment to walk with us to the meeting point!
The second tour company promised us that we’d be getting an English-speaking guide, but he didn’t speak any English at all – other than the words “No problem”.
We experienced the same accommodation scam in Ganja, where the host asked us to meet them somewhere else and tried to give us another apartment than the one we had booked on Booking.com. This time we refused, cancelled the booking and checked into a hotel instead.
We were denied entry into Georgia from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan border
In cities, like Sheki, Yango wasn’t available and it was often difficult to book transport with Bolt as they would frequently cancel trips.
Credit cards are not widely accepted outside of Baku, even at hotels, so keep cash with you. We had problems getting cash as currency exchange bureaus are only found in big cities and we couldn't draw money from ATMS until we informed our bank that we were travelling. Then too, we could only draw from ATM's with the Mastercard logo.
Most people in Baku (and the rest of Azerbaijan) do not speak English. We only met a handful of people who spoke English and relied on Google Translate to communicate with the rest.
We agreed on a price with the driver upfront. The drive was rough as he smoked most of the way and had us very concerned as it appeared as though he was falling asleep in between. When we arrived in Baku, before we reached our hotel, he insisted on an extra charge or else he wouldn’t go any further. Concerned that he would carry out his threat, we had to pay him the extra amount.
We were not sure if this was a scam or a miscommunication. It appeared that our hotel had given him the name of the hotel he was to take us to (which was on the outskirts of Baku), and it sounded similar to a hotel in a different part of the city. In retrospect, what we should have done is provided him with the pin location of our destination to check on his phone before jumping into the taxi.
Despite these problems, we did enjoy our time in Azerbaijan overall and would still recommend it to tourists.
See other common scams when travelling.
Sara Essop is a travel blogger and writer based in South Africa. She writes about family travel and experiences around the world. Although she has been to 50 countries thus far, she especially loves showcasing her beautiful country and is a certified South Africa Specialist.
Sorry to hear you had such a tough time in Azerbaijan. The scams with accommodation are good to know. I wasn't aware of these things.
So many useful tips in here, I didn't know about the booking scam to avoid paying commissions🫣 good to know, but happy to hear you still enjoyed your time!
The airport to hotel ride scam is the most common there I guess. I was particularly alert during all the Bolt rides I took in Azerbaijan.