Border crossing reports: Tsiteli (Red Bridge) - Shikhli/Sixli (Georgia-Azerbaijan)

[FairPlay]

May I ask from where is this information? I've been in contact with my Embassy in Azerbaijan and in Georgia and they're telling me that it is closed and refuse to help anymore. My partner is from Finland and contacted the Finnish embassy in Georgia which replied that they "contacted the Azerbaijan embassy and crossing the border for Finnish citizens is allowed". Now we are in like 50/50 situation with this contradicting information :/

[Charky]

Hi,

Do we have any update on that situation? Did somebody try to leave Azerbaïdjan by land?

[faxian2024]

Crossed yesterday; you can get a bus from Baku to the border (station is called Qazax Sınıq Körpü) for 19 AZN which took us c 7 hours, then walk the border bridge and on the other side there are taxis. I split a 60 GEL taxi to Tbilisi bus terminal with two other tourists, but I think we could've haggled down lower. Allegedly mashrutkas exist but I didn't see one (but I was slow to cross, maybe it already filled and left).

The actual border is very chill. Bag scan but I had no search or hassle on either side.

[Charky]

Wonderful, thanks a lot! Can I ask your nationality? I’m a French national and my Embassy in Baku told me that it’s not possible to leave the country by land.

Crossed yesterday; you can get a bus from Baku to the border (station is called Qazax Sınıq Körpü) for 19 AZN which took us c 7 hours, then walk the border bridge and on the other side there are taxis. I split a 60 GEL taxi to Tbilisi bus terminal with two other tourists, but I think we could've haggled down lower. Allegedly mashrutkas exist but I didn't see one (but I was slow to cross, maybe it already filled and left).

The actual border is very chill. Bag scan but I had no search or hassle on either side.

[faxian2024]

Wonderful, thanks a lot! Can I ask your nationality? I’m a French national and my Embassy in Baku told me that it’s not possible to leave the country by land.

No worries! I have an NZ passport but saw other people doing it on other passports eg UK, GE. I can't think of a reason why it would be different for French nationals. Perhaps your embassy misunderstood the restrictions on entering Azerbaijan by land?

[FairPlay]

Just crossed the border together with my partner and it is possible, very easy going, no problems at all (EU nationalities). Bolt doesn't work at the border so either pre-book transportation for 100Gel or you will find yourself in a difficult situation bargaining with the taxi drivers, their price starts from 100Gel but you can manage to lower it to 80.

[Prafandada]

Hi can you connect me to the company or drivers that enable traveling from Baku to Red Bridge? And was the ride comfortable?

[PickledChris]

Crossed from Azerbaijan to Georgia in the middle of October. We spent ages trying to find a pre-booked taxi on the other side to avoid the taxi drivers, but couldn't get one for less than 120 GEL so gave up.

Getting the train was easy, arrived at 13:07.

The taxi to red bridge was easy enough. We avoided the (aggressive) taxi drivers on the platform and got a Bolt, it was 15 Manat and we got picked up in about a minute, got there at 13:48.

The border was _ludicrously_ fast, we were through Azerbaijan in 15 minutes, and through Georgia in maybe 5? It was totally empty, took us a few minutes to get the Azerbaijani's attention to come to their station, but they were very friendly. Out of the whole thing by 14:15.

We had hoped we could get a taxi via an app, else we'd hitchhike. No luck with the apps, none of them worked, Bolt, Yandex, Uber, InDrive etc.
Fortunately it was super easy to hithchike, we stuck to the right as we were leaving, walked a bit further down the road ignoring the frenzied cries of the taxi drivers, and got picked up by a friendly border guard in 5 minutes, who got us to Rustavi, from where we took a Bolt for 30 GEL. We could have got a Marshrukta, but we were feeling lazy and it had started raining.

[YouWish]

Baku, Azerbaijan to Tbilisi, Georgia - October 2024

Took bus from Baku to Red Bridge.
- ticket can buy online: https://biletim.az/Index - there is also an app I think.
- or buy at the station on the day would be fine too I think: Avtovagzal Kompleksi (2nd floor)
From: Baki
To : Qazax Siniq Korpu
Choose the time, choose the seat, tick "Foreign Citizen"
- cost: AZN19.37 (online, as of December 2024 - I paid AZN17.85 online in October...so, who knows)
- Travel time: 8hrs
There is apparently a bus every 30minutes but they may combine services if not enough people. So, maybe every hour instead, for example.
To get there from downtown Baku, can do metro to Avtovaaghzal station and walk, or do Bolt (About AZN6 in October, 2024)

I took the 09:45 bus, got dropped directly in front of border at around 17:30.

Gate was locked, there were two young Azerbaijani border guards who seemed very bored. Wanted to see my passport and Azerbaijan visa, asking me why my A4 e-visa was folded, that kind of nonsense. A minute or two later they unlocked the gate and let me through to the border control building. Locked the gate behind me.

I was literally the only person who crossed the border. Azerbaijani border staff was chill, bag scan, no hastles.

Walked across the bridge, cold and raining. Entered Georgia, stamped in seconds (OECD passport), bag scan. Walked to taxi area. No chance for me to do a shared taxi. They tried asking for GEL80 to Tbilisi. They then suggested GEL50 to Rustavi. I agreed to GEL45. Got in the car and we went via a currency exchange about 2minutes down the road (900m, 12minute walk), to change my Manat to Lari. About a 35minute drive to Rustavi. Driver offered me hotspot from his phone and was generally a fun guy. No English.

Arrived in Rustavi at sunset, cold, raining, driver didn't have change, paid GEL50. Got dropped at the most northern part, at the city bus stop. There are buses going every 5-10 minutes to different parts of Tbilisi. You can try asking a local or bus driver if the bus goes to the destination you want in Tbilisi. The buses allow you to use tap-n-pay via your debit card/credit card/phone smartwallet. Can't pay cash. Price will be around GEL0.80.