Azerbaijan?

The people of the Republic of Azerbaijan would have preferred that you post this under General Europe. Its been on my radar for a number of years. Did you know it has the largest all Jewish settlement outside of Israel and one of their major trading partners is Israel. But it's also a pretty politically oppressive and corrupt place.

Well, James, I initially was going to post this under the General Europe discussion, but then I looked at a map and realized that Azerbaijan is actually east of all of Turkey, Iraq and part of Iran. I am willing to stand corrected, or at least better educated.

I said the people of Azerbaijan would have preferred.... it's an old argument and lately the Azerbaijan folks have been promoting that they are part of Europe. They hosted the European games and the European Grand Prix last year. Technically a tiny portion is on the European side of the Ural Mountains. Sort of like a tiny portion of Turkey is European. Culturally both are more Asian...... Still fascinating place no matter where it is and less than $100 nonstop from Budapest.

Larry,

That's a bit of an "offbeat" travel destination, and it would be prudent to do some homework on the country before venturing there. A good place to start is the U.S. State Department.....

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/azerbaijan.html

Based on the website, there are some areas of the country that would be "unwise" to venture into.

You'll probably find some good information on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree website, as travellers there go to a wider variety of places than Europe......

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-eastern-europe-the-caucasus/azerbaijan

Given some recent experiences, that's probably not a country I'd go to as a solo traveller.

You definitely want to avoid the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian border region. Then there is a small fundamentalist enclave east of Baku I would avoid, but Baku proper and regions north and Northwest seem safe enough. At least as safe or safer than Istanbul. Oh, and I wouldn't travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan on the same passport.

If Azerbaijan interests you then you might look at Kiev and Odessa. Nothing in common except off the beaten path for Western travelers.

3-4 years ago I took a guided tour to Armenia and Georgia. After having done the tour, I can't imagine trying to visit either country on my own. I do think independently visiting Tbilisi and Yerevan are feasible, but maybe not easy to get from one to the other. Hardly anyone speaks English at all. But if you know Russian . . . I bring this up because, first, they are close to Azerbaijan, and second . . .

As usual, when I landed at Ben-Gurion at the end of the tour, I took a taxi home. As usual, the driver asked me where I'd been. He spent the next 15 minutes (the rest of the ride) telling me that I should go to Azerbaijan, it's much better than either Armenia or Georgia. How did he know, he was an Azerbaijani.

Thanks to those of you who have offered comments here so far, although I recognize that it appears none of you has actually been in Azerbaijan (is that true, James?). Maybe someone with personal experience will yet chime in. About the Europe v. Asia controversy, I did talk to a friend who has been in Azerbaijan 3 times, and mentioned this discussion. She started with "people in Azerbaijan would certainly say their country was in Asia!" I mentioned that it seems Azerbaijan participates in various European conferences and sports competitions, to which she said: "well, that's true." We decided that maybe this is where the word "Eurasian" kicks in. Certainly if I were to visit that country, I would avoid conflict areas, and I have no thought of going to Armenia. I suppose that there are at least three major ways to visit, as with other countries: (1) go with an English-speaking tour, easier, more expensive, and likely limiting independence and probably also contact with everyday people; (2) go on one's own and "poke around", tough to do without appropriate language skills; and (3) go to Baku independently, then take one or probably more guided day tours or trips of a few days, in the country. My friend who has visited was a member of the Monterey City Council as they developed a Sister City relationship with Lankaran, a mid-sized city on the Caspioan Sea coast, a few hours south of Baku. She has now visited 3 times, visits limited to Baku and Lankaran, and she was to some extent treated as a VIP visitor. She is highly encouraging, and has some contacts there, especially in Lankaran, but my interests would likely extend to a couple other areas too. We'll see.

Larry, for less conventional travel destinations, I would look to Lonely Planet and its Thorntree forum:
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-eastern-europe-the-caucasus/azerbaijan

Larry, like I said in my first post, it's been on my radar for a number of years. I've gone so far as to track down the guide I want to use and planed a six day trip, hotels and all. What little I know is the result of several dozen emails with the guide. I usually spend a few months in correspondence with a guide in advance; sort of my way of doing a job interview. Always afraid of ending up with someone that's not compatible. But alas, each time I get close to closing the deal I get side tracked. Too many places to see and too little time. I just passed along my research since you had gotten nothing better out of the forum. One thing that may get me there this year is Wizzair has a direct flight from Budapest for about $100.

Just saw this article this morning - seems like getting into Azerbaijan will get a lot easier or if anything a lot cheaper.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2017/01/09/visa-for-azerbaijan-easier/

I have always wanted to visit and had done my research about 5 years ago but had to limit my travels to Georgia and Armenia due to lack of time.

Now, if only I could travel in Iran without a handler then I would look to combine Azerbaijan with Iran and probably Turkmenistan.

You're better off going to Armenia. The people will bend over backwards for you. The scenery is unreal, especially in the country side.

Larry,
If you can capitalize on sister-city relationship, then don't even think twice - go!
Anything outside of Baku, Ganja and other bigger towns offers a unique travel experience (bordering on somewhat scary at times, but very rewarding after all). Baku is pretty exciting, too,
Overall - nice friendly people, beautiful mountains, awesome food.
The sea in Baku is pretty disgusting, though.