This couple spent just ₹1.2 lakh for a holiday in Azerbaijan. How?

For those who want to quench their wanderlust, Mint is launching a series that will capture the costs and experiences of various international destinations through the personal stories of travellers.

Here, Bengaluru-based Navdha Khera, director at a fintech company, and her husband Kshitij Jain, founder of a travel startup, share their story of travelling to Azerbaijan:

Right before my 30th birthday, my husband Kshitij seeded the idea of our own version of the 30-under-30 list – visiting 30 countries before hitting 30 years of age! At the time I had visited 28 countries and had just 15 days to achieve the feat. The goal was to zero in on destinations that wouldn’t burn a hole in our finances and give us visas on short notice. Azerbaijan ticked all the boxes.

We began the search by looking for flights from Bengaluru to “anywhere". Flights to Abu Dhabi were unusually cheap and all flights to Baku, capital city of Azerbaijan, from Bengaluru were via Abu Dhabi. That’s how we settled on Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi.

The fact that Azerbaijan is all the rage on Instagram right now was also a major factor in our decision. It is known as a cheaper version of Europe, so the decision wasn't just about the budget – we were excited to see what the hype was all about.

Having visited 28 countries, we are seasoned travellers and managed to spend just about ₹1.3 lakh for this week-long trip. The four days in Azerbaijan cost us ₹50,000 including hotel, meals, sightseeing and local commute.

Like Europe, but cheaper

Azerbaijan is between West Asia and eastern Europe on the Caspian Sea and offers the best of both worlds. It doesn’t require a Schengen visa and has an e-visa that is processed in just three to five working days. It costs about ₹2,100 but we paid nearly ₹10,000 for an express visa as we applied just three days before our trip.

Baku has cobbled walking streets like Paris or any other major European city and several historical monuments and attractions. But everything from restaurants to shopping is much cheaper. For instance, we spent an average ₹1,000 on each of our vegetarian meals, or about ₹12,000 over four days.

We spent the first day exploring Baku and its history on a two-hour guided walking tour. For a country that only won independence in 1991, it was quite impressive.

The first night was also the eve of my birthday and we decided to celebrate at Nizami Street, the city’s most bustling spot that offers a pure European vibe. We got a tres leches cake from a local bakery and cut it in the middle of the street at midnight. The next day, baklava served as my second birthday cake, in keeping with the local tradition. It was a truly memorable birthday.

We also went on two more walking tours. One was an old-city tour covering centuries-old palaces, towers and mosques, among other spots. The other was a night tour, the highlight of which was going up to Highland Park on a funicular ride for a panoramic view of the city at night.

All these guided walking tours were free. We found them through an online platform called GuruWalk. Tourists are expected to tip the guides, though it is not mandatory. Even with tips, such tours are an economical way of learning about a city’s history and culture and are common across Europe.

We also got lucky with the timing as Baku was organising a Formula One event the same weekend. Baku has a street circuit, which is uncommon, and we got to see the city being prepared for the event. It was a unique experience to see city streets being turned into an F1 racing track.

More money hacks

Kshitij and I have collected some money hacks that we use to plan our holidays economically. It’s a necessity as we travel frequently.

For instance, flights are the major chunk of most travel budgets – thus the decision to choose Azerbaijan. Last-minute flight tickets to most countries cost a fortune. In fact, last-minute air travel within India also costs a bomb.

Low-cost carriers such as Wizz Air and Air Arabia from Abu Dhabi to Baku can help. Tickets cost as little as ₹25,000 for a round trip for a couple. That’s probably what you would pay for tickets to Goa. We paid another ₹41,000 for the Bangalore-to-Abu-Dhabi leg.

The catch with low cost airlines is that they allow just a 10-kg carry-on bag, and checked-in luggage has to be paid for separately. We used this to our advantage as we weren’t carrying much anyway given the duration of our trip. We paid for just one 25-kg checked-in bag and this worked out perfectly for us.

Hotels in Baku are even more economical. We booked a three-night stay at a three-star hotel for about ₹12,000, which was actually relatively expensive. We were short on options as most hotels were booked out for the F1 race. It is possible to find better options at lower prices.

I would suggest booking a hotel in the city centre as these are close to Nizami Street and the old city and open up public commute options. We did not use cabs for any of our travel, including airport transfers. Although Bolt (a ride hailing app) operates in the country, drivers don’t agree to ride at the rate shown on the app. It’s a scam that travellers can avoid by taking buses. We took a bus from the airport to our hotel for ₹75. The cab driver was demanding ₹2,500. We felt quite proud of ourselves.

Group tours are your friend

Another money-saving hack we used was to book group tours for our day trips to the nearby cities of Shahdag and Gobustan on the second and third day. These sightseeing trips can be found on Get Your Guide and Viatorto.

The primary benefit of such tours is the shared transport and guide. The other option is to take cabs, which are expensive. We thought about renting a car, which is also economical, but decided against it because of the hassle. In either case, you will have to hire a guide separately at the spot or not get one at all. We prefer exploring with guides so group tours help save on this cost. Entry fees for tourist attractions are not included in group tour packages.

For payments, we used cash and a forex card. The cash conversion rate for rupee to manat is poor, so I would suggest carrying US dollars. We used the forex card for most payments as it was accepted everywhere. We only needed cash for entry fees at various monuments as they don’t accept other modes of payment.

The country’s rich history was the highlight of the trip. Since both of us have covered Europe, including Switzerland, Italy and France, we didn’t like Baku for its ‘cheap European’ vibe, as highlighted in Instagram reels. Instead we loved it for its culture and history. It is a beautiful and economical getaway that can be planned even for a long weekend.