My 3-Week Azerbaijan, Georgia, And Armenia Solo Trip From India: Itinerary, Costs, Visas, Details

Deciding to address my lingering travel withdrawals and a dusty passport seriously, I needed to go somewhere. I’d forgotten what an uncomfortable flight, near starvation from not finding vegetarian food and 25,000 steps in a day felt like. Enough was enough, I booked tickets to Baku and from Tbilisi, and went on a 3-week, 3 -country Azerbaijan, Gerogia and Armenia trip which incidentally marked my 42nd country. (If that matters.)

While I’d originally planned to do a Central Asia trip covering all the 5 ‘stans, during the research stage it transpired that it wasn’t a light trip you could just book flights to take off on. A lot of the borders in the central Asia are tricky, especially if you don’t have unlimited time. But an easier alternative was at hand. Georgia and Azerbaijan, countries also on the Central Asia circuit were worthy contenders. Even though Armenia wasn’t really on my list, and I’d only vaguely heard of the country from…Kim Kardashian, it made sense to club it with Georgia which lies on its northern borders.

Is it possible to do Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in 3-weeks and under $1200 or Rs. 1,00,000?

Turns out it can, and not just by doing a “touch and go” trip or cheaping out on experiences to keep to a budget. In fact I treated myself to almost three amazing weeks of travels that went the whole hog. One minute I was exploring UNESCO heritages sites and next I was hitchhiking amongst some of the stunning mountains. I was cafe hopping in downtowns of fancy capitals and knee deep in shopping in their most hardcore local markets in equal measure. And a lot of my trip also included doing nothing but sitting in cafes or in nature soaking in the nature, culture and ‘vibes’.

So if you’re also interested in doing a similar trip, simply steal my Caucasus itinerary.

How does one begin a Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia trip?

Even though I’d like to say that it doesn’t matter. It actually does. Flying to Baku is the only realistic and best option because.

A) Crossing the border into Azerbaijan from Georgia isn’t possible.

b) Flying into Azerbaijan after having been to Armenia is tricky while the reverse not so much. (Since the countries have been at war for years now.)

So, your best bet is to fly from India (ideally Delhi) to Baku and begin your trip from there.

Booking flights from India to Azerbaijan and Georgia to India

I booked a 4-hour Azer Air flight from New Delhi to Baku – flying to Bangalore with a fuel stop in Hyderabad takes longer – 3 months before the flying date and landed a sweet deal. (INR 12000 one way.) And then, after all the research and various combinations of flights, I figured the most optimal flight to return would be from Tbilisi, Georgia, nearly 3 weeks later.
I kinda follow a book-and-forget-and-plan- approach towards most of my international flights. So after booking my flights in May, I only started some planning for the trip in July. In fact this is the most unplanned trip of my life and ended up being a result of mostly ‘winging it’.

Planning for visas for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia

The bad news? All the three countries require a tourist visa for Indian passports.

The good news? All three countries offer e-visas which are fairly hassle-free and quick. Since you don’t submit your passport for any of the visas, you don’t have to wait for the first to apply for the third. You can simply apply for all three simultaneously. But I waited to get my Azerbaijan visa first just in case not getting it would mean cancelling the trip for me altogether.

The best part? You don’t need to have your flights or hotels booked before getting any of these visas.

Here’s the process and links to get visas for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia respectively:

1) Azerbaijan visa: Evisa with a validity of 120 days. Costs around $25. Mine took 3 business days. Here’s the link to the official embassy site to apply for Azerbaijan tourist evisa. (Note there’s also a 3-hour urgent visa option.)

2) Armenia visa: Evisa (but also available on the spot at the border). Super easy. Mine took 5 business days. Costs just about $7. Here’s the link to apply for it.

3) Georgia visa: Now this is the trickier of the 3. While the application itself is easy and costs $20, there’s an additional step involved which means getting the documents vetted by a third party Indian agency and costs an extra $15. So the Georgia tourists visa ends up costing around $35 and grants a stay of up to 30 days across a 120-day window.

Here’s the link to official Georgia embassy.

Overall, the three visas should cost you around $75 or INR 6000 when applying on your own. (You really don’t need an agent for any.)

Itinerary for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia

While I’ll cover the countries in their individual blog posts soon, here’s a rough 18-day itinerary spanning Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

Week 1: Azerbaijan

Since I had to get to Delhi to travel to Azerbaijan, I had to budget a whole day extra to get to Delhi, spend a few hours at the airport before my 5am flight to Baku. Here’s when I also bumped into the Spanish traveler who was traveling to Spain with an adopted dog and went through a nightmarish 3 days to make it back home.

I first realized how accessible and mainstream Azerbaijan had gotten on the travel circuits seeing 90% of the co-passengers on my Baku flight were Indians. The entire flight consisted of basically two separate groups – a large joint family and a company offsite by Reliance. (the groups I’d have an unpleasant brush with later.)
I felt like I was the only one traveling solo, but that is the case more often than not.

Turns out Azerbaijan, especially Baku has become a popular destination for Indians given the short flight duration from India, the easy visa and the relative cheap costs of the country. I’d even go as far to say that Baku is the next Dubai, even if it’s more like Paris than Dubai.

I spent a good 5 days in Baku, which in hindsight could be two days too many, but I can’t say I missed seeing much in Baku. While my first two days, all I did was walk around, soak in the very unique vibe of the city — Hi-tech Infrastructure like Dubai, old baroque architecture like Paris and Germany, people that spoke and looked Russian, food and markets like the Middle East and streets full of Indians — that’s Baku for you in a nutshell! And stands to reason. Azerbaijan fell on the original Silk route which was used by traders from the West to bring back spices, tea, silk and other handicrafts back to heir countries and vice versa, leading to a lot of intermingling and blended cultures. One of the bigger remnants of this traders legacy is the presence of “Caravansarai” or roughly ancient motels where the traders stopped and stayed before moving on to the rest of their trip.

Breaking from my convention of not booking tours and DIY-ing my trips, I booked a one-day sight-seeing tour with GetYourGuide that covered an area called Gobustan, famous for its mud volcanoes (meh) and ancient petroglyphics (rock carvings). It also included a pit stop at a modernish mosque, and the “fire temple” at Yendag, a combination of Hindu, Persian and Buddhist temples. For the money spent (around $20), it was a decent segue and gave me a break from walking the same Baku streets back and forth. Plus, the fire mountain and the mud volcanaoes were unique, even if not extraordinary.

But really, I essentially spent 4 days walking around Baku, spending many a lazy evening or afternoon sitting at a cafe, a garden or by the boulevard.

On my last 2 days, I traveled to Sheki, a small and charming hill-town on the border of Georgia, from where I finally crossed over to Georgia via land. But more about Sheki on the detailed one-week Azerbaijan itinerary.

Divided by borders and languages, united by a Marshrutka.

The word ‘Marshrutka’ is going to be a constant on this blogpost so might as well get a bit of a primer on it. The Marshrutka is a 13-15 seater van that covers short distances between places say anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours long. Even though the usual capacity of the van is 15-18 people, the real limit is anything the driver seems fittable for the day. However, it’s not India where travelers will get stuffed in any available inch of space so the Marsh from my experience never fits more than 20 people.

Even though Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia speak different languages, the Marshrutka called the same in all, unites the three.

There’s no fixed itineraries, the Marsh goes when full, the ticket is usually cheap with a bit of an elbow room to pay less or more depending on your urgency, and are mostly a reliable and cheap source of semi public transport.

Week 2: — Crossing into Georgia via land from Azerbaijan and then into Armenia from Georgia

After 2 days in Sheki, I took a shared cab to the border town from where I’d cross the land border to Georgia. Thankfully I found three others from my hostel (This is why I opt for hostels!) to share a car with all the way to the Georgia visa checkpoint so the costs ($15 each) and the trip itself worked out conveniently.

It’s a beautiful drive to the border so doing a road trip from Baku to Sheki on the west and crossing the land border into Georgia makes more sense than to taking a flight out of Baku but that’s just me.

As I was in the car on the way to the border, I peeked at my Georgia visa and noticed that the entry date was valid from today! (Earlier I’d planned to leave for Georgia a day earlier which if I did, I’d have to spend a day at the border town of on the Azer side putting a spanner in the works of my already tight schedule ahead.)

The immigration at the Georgia border although smooth, did manage to give me a scare for a bit but more on that in the detailed Georgia travelogue.

Crossing over to Georgia

After crossing over into Georgia in the the town of Lagodekhi, my group from Sheki continued and after exchanging some Azer manat into Georgian Laris (GELs), we were off again off in a cab to Sighnaghi, a quaint town in the Khaketi region, famous for its wine culture. Tbilisi, the Georgian capital city would have to wait.

Dine and wine in Sighnaghi

After a 2-hour nerve racking and rather a bitter-sweet drive through the countryside of Georgia, navigating many rash drivers and as many dead dogs lying as roadkill, we reached our guesthouse, a charming bungalow owned by a family of 4, including two college going girls who were home for their holidays, around noon and immediately were greeted to a nice lunch and customary glass of home made wine by the family.

I’ve delved deeper into the winery part of my trip on the Georgia itinerary, but suffice to say, wine underscored my two days in Sighnaghi — researching it, drinking it, going to vineyards, wine tasting sessions or shopping for it!

The next day, after finishing the wine stuff, instead of staying back in Sighnaghi for another night, I decided to head to Tbilisi the same day, taking a Marshrutka, the conveyance of familiarity and cheap comfort by now. The ride from Sighnaghi to Tbilisi took about a couple of hours through a nice-ish highway passing some charming wine villages, loading and unloading Georgian locals all of whom looked a bit surprised to see an Indian girl in THEIR local transport but hey!

A taster of Tbilisi

I got to my hostel, the charming if a bit grunge “El Chapo” by 7pm, and just decided to prepare the plan ahead. Do I spend 4 days in Georgia and then head to Armenia and come back just to fly out back to India? After doing a bunch of permutations and combinations, it transpired that the best plan keeping in mind the transport options and my limited time was to head to Armenia the very next day, spend a couple of days in the country, come back to Georgia (I had a multiple entry visa) and then cover the rest of it.

And so the next day, I got on another Marshrutka, this time from the main transport point in the city, and left for Armenia, exiting Georgia, just three days after entering it!

Day 10-12 — 2.5 days in Armenia

Even though I was skeptical about my choice to squeeze a whole country on a three-week trip that already included two other countries, I’m glad I did and got a taste of Armenia. Most everyone who goes to Armenia does it as a side trip from Azerbaijan or Georgia, hardly anyone ever does a standalone trip to Armenia. And for a good reason too. It’s easy to get to Armenia within a few hours of a drive from Georgia, (while it’s tricky from Azerbaijan) the visa can be on the spot or easily and cheaply procured online and there’s enough to see and do in 4-6 days but not really longer.

My shared cab — not technically a Marshrutka, which started at around 10 am from Tbilisi got us to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia within 6 hours, 4 hours of driving time and 2 hours in exiting Georgia and entering Armenia on the land crossing.

The drive a couple of hours into entering Armenia is beyond beautiful, jumping higher into the lush and sprawling Caucasus mountains — not as high as the Himalayas — but a lot more dense , making for a stunning drive.

There comes a point in the drive where you can see the heavily fenced Arzerbaijan border and the Georgian mountains on either side of the road hitting home how close the three countries really are, and yet divided by a complicated political and socio-cultural dynamic. Azerbaijan is an Islamic country while both Georgia and Armenia are as Christian as they come, and yet all three countries have roots in Soviet rule until the early 90s.

I reached Yerevan, the Armenian capital around noon, an oppressively hot noon at that and my excitement of that beautiful drive just fizzled out as quickly. My first impressions of Yerevan were mostly negative. Old, unsightly cold war bloc buildings everywhere the eyes looked, very little greenery and the 40 degrees didn’t help at all. Still, I had to remind myself that I was in my 42nd country — a privilege I shouldn’t be taking for granted. I checked into hostel, one of the very few ones in Yerevan, slept the balmy noon away and got out in the early evening to explore the city and oriented myself by getting to the Liberty Square area and watched a stunning sunset against Mount Arat at the top of the Cascade, the iconic and most imposing architectural marvel in Yerevan. The next day was all about doing a guided tour to some nearby points of interest including a couple of ancient monasteries and a natural site. I’ll cover my two days in Armenia on a separate trip here.

The third day, I took the Marshrutka back to Georgia from the same bus station I’d arrived it. But The drive back into Georgia was painfully long — around six hours – thanks to a never-ending holdup at the border control for the Marshrutka, and I was back into Tbilisi only by 7pm, missing much of the day.

Day 15-18 — Svaneti, Georgia

The way I’d planned this trip, immediately after coming back from Armenia, resting for a bit in the hostel and repacking for the days ahead, I left for Zugdidi on an overnight bus from Tbilisi. Reaching Zugdidi, the last major town in the plains onwards to Svaneti. at 5 am, I soon got a shared cab with another person to take us to Meste, the town in the Swaneti region of Georgia. I spent the next two days in one of the most gorgeous, remote and almost rural areas of Georgia. It’s no Himalayas but at 1500 meters and with that unique stone architecture, Swaneti region was stunning. More on it on my detailed blog on Georgia.

Day 18-21 – Town-ing it in Tbilisi

Back to Tbilisi, I spent the next 2 days finally exploring the Georgian capital and picking off where I left off the last time. This time, I didn’t have an agenda, no sights to see, but just to walk around, and be swayed by anything that caught my attention.

My day took me to the iconic flea market at the Dry Bridge, scoring some great finds, and stumbling into the sprawling coliving and workspace called Fabrika, located in the residential part of the city. If my previous few days in Georgia were spent looking up at heritage buildings from thousands of years ago and soaking in the nature, Fabrika, the former-soviet-factory-turned-hipster-hang drilled down the modern side of Georgia that caters to the digital nomads and urban yippies. 5+ floor high and sprawling with beautiful lush furniture and inhouse cafe, even though I wasn’t staying there, I managed to hang around at Fabrika for a couple of hours, getting an iced tea, chit chatting with a fellow traveler who spent a month at the place working remotely, and getting some photos.

Flying back to India

After two days of chilling in Tbilisi, I got on a local bus to the Tbilisi airport for my 4-hour flight back to New Delhi, India. The Tbilisi international airport feels like a small and cosy domestic airport than real a major international one, and being full of Indian students didn’t really help.

On a full moon night as I I took off from Georgian soils, I just had one thought — No way, I managed to do a 3-country trip without much planning, packed with sightseeing, chilling, history-immersion, and ample amount of “nothing”, all under $1200, all alone, and without any major incident?!! After 42 countries, have I finally reached the state of travel where things just work out!