How To Cross The Azerbaijan Georgia Border from Sheki - A Vagabond Life
How To Cross The Azerbaijan – Georgia Border
Travelling From Sheki To Telavi & Crossing the Balakan / Lagodekhi Border
We crossed the Azerbaijan – Georgia Border at the more remote northern Balakan / Lagodekhi which was very easy and straightforward.
This is how it worked
How to get to the Azerbaijan - Georgia Border
Make Your Way To Balakan – Crossing The Azerbaijan – Georgia Border
From the Central Bus Station (Şəki Avtovağzalı) in Sheki catch the mini bus to Balakan, which is 16km from the Azerbaijani border.
The Sheki bus station is well organised and it is easy to find the right bus, at the time of writing there were 2 buses per day, the one we caught at 10:10AM and one at 14.00PM.
The cost was 4AZN per person and for and extra 2AZN the mini bus driver offered to take us and a few other travellers all the way to the border – perfect.
Get To The Bus Station Early
While the bus will never depart early it does get very full, so to nab a seat get to the bus station with plenty of time so you don’t have to stand.
The drive to Belakan and then onto the border took a bit over 2.5 hours and travels through some beautiful countryside with many roadside stalls selling fresh produce.
We were dropped right at the border just before 13:00.
Catch A Taxi From Balakan To The Azerbaijan – Georgia Border
If your mini bus drops you at Balakan it will drop you near a market and roundabout with a huge Azerbaijani flag, from here you can catch a taxi to the border. The price to the border can be negotiated however 5 AZN seems to be the average rate.
How To Cross The Azberbiajan - Georgia Border
Crossing the Azerbaijan - Georgia Northern Border is very straight forward and (in our case) quite easy. And the bonus is it is one onf the prettiest border crossings I have ever been to.
Azerbaijan - Georgia Border Control
Proceed to the Azerbaijan Border Control
Enter the border control area through a pedestrian gate to the right of the main gate. Then walk up the many long sloping steps to border control.
Within a few minutes we were stamped out of Azerbaijan and on our way to Georgia.
Proceed to the Georgia Border Control
Up more steps and across a pretty river and you will reach the Georgian border control. Just before you pass through passport control there is an office where you can change money. There is also an ATM a couple of hundred metres over the Georgian border.
At the Georgian border control they scanned our bags and checked our passports and voila we were in Georgia.
Visas
As all countries are different you will need to check what process you need to follow to get a visa.
Many countries can get 90 day e-visas for Azerbaijan on line which takes about 3 days to process and you receive via email. Fees vary from country to country. When applying for your e-visa check you are using the official Azerbaijani visa website as there are many other outfits who have similar URL's and will charge a lot more for the visa.
In Georgia 98 countries can enter Georgia visa-free and can stay up to 12 months.
Get to Lagodekhi
Lagodekhi is the closest town in Georgia to the border and where you need to get to to catch onward mini buses. Once you cross into Georgia you will be approached by a number of taxi drivers offering to take you to Lagodekhi – prices ranged from 12 GEL to 5 GEL.
We teamed up with a couple of other travellers and shared a taxi all the way to Telavi for 60 GEL. Split between four of us the price of a taxi all the way to Telavi was only slightly more than if we had caught a taxi to Lagodekhi and then a mini bus on to Telavi…and so much more convenient as the taxi took us straight to the door of our guest house.
From Lagodekhi
If you choose to get a taxi to Lagodekhi it will drop you at the mini bus station where you can pick up a bus to your onward destination. By the afternoon things get a little sleepy at the two border towns so it is advisable to cross the border by early afternoon so you ensure you get a onwards mini bus.
Knowing The Lingo
Little English is spoken in the area so it is helpful to have a few words written down such as 'bus station', in both Azerbaijani and Georgian to show bus and taxi drivers. It is also helpful to have the name of the town you are going to written in Georgian as many buses only have their destination posted on the bus in Georgian script. For example Telavi is spelt like this თელავის in Georgian if you have this written down then you can compare it to the destination card.
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