eSIM for Azerbaijan

Viasimo's Azerbaijan eSIM starts at $1.29 for 100 MB over 7 days, running on Azercell and Bakcell with 5G where available. Plans last 1 to 180 days, arrive by email in minutes and install from your phone's settings, with no app.

Works everywhere in Azerbaijan

Abşeron
Ağcabǝdi
Ağdam
Ağdaş
Ağstafa
Agsu District
Astara

Select your planIn stock

Duration

Quantity

Unlimited data · 3 Days$19.99

Unlimited data · 3 Days ×1

$19.99

Going to more than one country? See regional plans

Does my phone take an eSIM? Check now

Dial *#06# on your phone. If you see an EID number, your phone takes an eSIM. Most phones sold since 2019 do.

Not sure it works on your phone? Check compatibility

Network

Which networks does the Azerbaijan eSIM use?

Host networks: Azercell / Bakcell

Your eSIM picks one automatically; you do not choose or switch between them.

Data: 100 MB – 20 GB or unlimited
Validity: 1–180 days
Speed: 4G LTE / 5G
Hotspot / tethering: Supported on most devices
Activation: Automatic on arrival
Speed management: Roughly 2-3 GB per day at full speed, sometimes less depending on the local carrier, then reduced
Top-ups: Add more data from your account, before the plan expires
Text messages (SMS): Data only: use an app for verification codes
Connects via: United Kingdom
Unused validity: 180 days before it must be installed

Setting up Buy, scan the QR code we email you, and switch on the travel line when you land. How it works

Choosing a plan

How much data do you need?

The allowances below are our sizing recommendations, not measurements. The plan beside each one is the cheapest option on this page that covers it.

Recommended data allowances matched to the plans sold for this destination
You are	Plan for	Cheapest plan that covers it
LightMaps, messaging and the occasional lookup	About 1 GB a week	$3.591 GB, 7 days
TypicalMaps, social, photos and some browsing	About 3 to 7 GB a week	$13.995 GB, 30 days
HeavyVideo streaming, video calls and uploads	10 GB a week or more	$23.9910 GB, 30 days
Working or sharingTethering a laptop, calls and cloud sync	20 GB a week or more	$43.9920 GB, 30 days

Work it out from your own habits

What a week abroad costs

eSIM, local SIM or roaming?

Charged per day

Your carrier roaming

Queue and plastic

A SIM at the airport

$1.29

Viasimo, one bundle

Only the Viasimo figure is a price: it comes from today’s live catalog. The other two rows are directional, not quoted rates.

About this eSIM

Two things shape mobile data in Azerbaijan: the country is long and mountainous, and almost everything commercial concentrates on the Caspian coast around the capital. So the honest picture is a strong, modern network in and around Baku and the Absheron peninsula, decent service along the main highways and regional towns, and a real drop once you climb into the Greater Caucasus. An eSIM covers the part of the trip where you need data most, which is the arrival, the transfers and the days you spend navigating a language and alphabet you probably do not read.

Getting online when you land

Heydar Aliyev International Airport sits north of the city, and the taxi rank is the first place a live connection earns its keep. Have the eSIM installed before departure and enabled before you clear customs, so you can compare a ride-hailing fare against the counter price rather than negotiating blind at midnight, which is when a lot of flights arrive here.

Enabling is quick: switch the travel line on, allow data roaming for it, make it the default for mobile data, and leave your home number attached for messages. Give the phone a minute in the terminal before you decide something has gone wrong. If it still shows no data, one airplane-mode cycle usually fixes it; a manual network search is the next thing to try.

The networks you'll be on

Your eSIM rides on Azerbaijani host networks, and the two you are most likely to land on are Bakcell and Azercell. Bakcell runs 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G; Azercell runs 3G and 4G/LTE. In practice that means Baku and the surrounding peninsula feel genuinely fast, with 4G doing the heavy lifting almost everywhere else and 3G still present as the floor in rural districts.

You will not pick a network from a menu, and you should not need to. The one time it is worth going into settings and choosing manually is when you are stationary somewhere rural, showing bars but getting nothing through; forcing the handset onto the other available network sometimes restores a usable connection.

Where coverage holds, and where it thins

Baku, Sumqayit, Ganja, Sheki, Lankaran and the towns strung along the main road network are all comfortable. The highway corridors carry service well, so a long drive west from the capital is not a communications blackout, though speeds fall off between towns.

The thinning is altitude-driven. Head north into the Quba and Qusar districts and up towards the high villages of the Greater Caucasus, and coverage becomes a village-by-village affair: present in the settlement, absent on the road between. Xinaliq is the classic example, reachable but remote enough that you should treat connectivity as a bonus rather than a plan. The same applies to the Talysh mountains inland from Lankaran, to hiking routes anywhere along the northern range, and to stretches of the semi-desert interior. Gobustan and the mud volcanoes are close enough to the capital to stay connected, but the tracks out to the volcano field can be patchy. If your itinerary includes Naxcivan, treat it as a separate leg and check what your plan covers before you rely on it.

What you'll actually use data for here

Navigation and translation, more than anything. Street signage uses the Latin alphabet, which helps, but menus, minibus destinations and shop signs move between Azerbaijani, Russian and occasionally Cyrillic remnants, and a live translation camera turns an unreadable board into a decision in seconds. Offline map layers cover the driving; live data covers the traffic, which in central Baku is worth avoiding.

Ride-hailing is the practical way to move around the capital and removes the fare argument entirely. Beyond that: booking a driver for the day trip to Sheki or Quba, checking whether a mountain road is open after rain, sending photos back from the Flame Towers and the Old City walls, and the steady background of messaging apps that everyone here uses instead of SMS. Budget a bit more data if you plan to work from a cafe; the Baku cafe wifi situation is fine but inconsistent.

Before you fly

Confirm your phone supports eSIM and is not carrier-locked, then install the profile while you still have familiar wifi and support in your own language. Keep the QR code or activation details saved somewhere retrievable, in your email and as a screenshot, in case you need to reinstall.

Download offline maps for Baku plus any region you plan to reach, and save the addresses of your accommodation in both Latin script and, where you have it, the local spelling. Drivers outside the capital may not read a foreign transliteration. Turn data roaming on for the travel line only, keep your home line for verification codes, and check your data allowance against a realistic daily habit before you go; topping up mid-trip is easier when you already know how your plan works rather than learning it on a mountain road with one bar.

Unlimited runs at full speed up to a fair-use limit, then continues slower.

Before you buy

Important to know

This is a data-only eSIM. It carries no calls or SMS on its own number.
Your existing number stays on your primary SIM, so calls and verification texts keep working.
Your phone must support eSIM, and some carrier-locked phones cannot install one.
Signal varies with location, terrain, congestion and your handset. Dense urban areas are consistently better served than remote ones.
5G only works where the host network has deployed it and your phone supports it. Everywhere else it falls back to 4G LTE.
The eSIM selects a host network automatically. You cannot pick or switch between them.
Unlimited plans run at full speed up to a fair-use limit, then continue at a reduced speed. Read the fair usage policy

Looking for more information?

Frequently asked questions

Does an eSIM work in Azerbaijan?

Yes. Your Azerbaijan eSIM connects automatically the moment you arrive, with no roaming fees and nothing to set up at the airport. The host networks it can use are Azercell, Bakcell. Coverage runs on 4G LTE and 5G where the network has rolled it out, and falls back to 4G elsewhere.

Do I get 5G in Azerbaijan?

Yes, where it has been deployed. 5G runs on Azercell, Bakcell in Azerbaijan, and your eSIM uses it automatically on a 5G-capable phone, dropping back to 4G LTE outside covered areas. No country is covered everywhere, so 5G availability varies by location.

Do I need to register my phone's IMEI in Azerbaijan?

Only if you use a local SIM. A phone used with a local Azerbaijani SIM must be registered within 30 days for AZN 5, at the airport counter or a post office, or it gets blocked. Phones roaming on a foreign operator's SIM are exempt, so a travel eSIM from an overseas provider does not need registration.

Is there 5G in Baku?

In parts of central Baku, yes. Azercell and Bakcell both launched 5G test networks around Fountain Square, with Bakcell's also covering Khagani Garden and Deniz Mall, and Nar has 5G in Sumgait. Outside those areas you will mostly be on 4G, which covers the capital, the Absheron peninsula and regional towns well.

Can I travel overland between Georgia and Azerbaijan?

Not at present for most travellers. GOV.UK says the Georgian land border is temporarily closed, the Iranian crossings are closed apart from Astara with special authorisation, and leaving Azerbaijan by road requires permission. Plan to fly in and out, usually via Heydar Aliyev Airport in Baku.

Which taxi apps work in Baku?

Bolt, Yango and Uber all operate in Baku and quote a fare before you book, which is the easiest way to get from Heydar Aliyev Airport, about 20 km out, into the centre. You need mobile data at pickup, and since a data-only eSIM has no local number, use the in-app chat to find your driver.

Which is the biggest mobile network in Azerbaijan?

Azercell, with roughly half the market and more than five million subscribers. Bakcell is second with over three million and has won Ookla's fastest network award several times, while Nar is third. A travel eSIM that uses Azercell and Bakcell therefore sits on the two networks that carry most of the country's traffic.

How much data do I need for 7 days in Azerbaijan?

For 7 days in Azerbaijan, Viasimo sells 100 MB for $1.29, 500 MB for $2.29, 1 GB for $3.59, and unlimited data for $43.99. Our sizing recommendation, not a measurement: maps, messaging and the occasional lookup, about 1 GB a week; maps, social, photos and some browsing, about 3 to 7 GB a week. The data calculator on this site works it out from how you actually use your phone.

Installing, keeping your number, topping up and hotspot work the same everywhere: see how it works →

Know before you go

Azerbaijan: what to know before you land

Azerbaijan registers phones by IMEI: a handset used with a local SIM for more than 30 days must be registered and pays a AZN 5 fee, while phones roaming on a foreign SIM are exempt. With the land borders to Georgia and Iran closed to most travellers, you will almost certainly arrive at Heydar Aliyev Airport (GYD), about 20 km from central Baku.

Emergency: 112 police 102, ambulance 103, fire 101
Plugs: CF 220V
Currency: Azerbaijani manat (AZN)

Main airports

GYD Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku

Apps worth having BoltYangoUberWhatsAppTelegram

IMEI registration at Heydar Aliyev Airport (GYD)

Azerbaijan runs a national IMEI register to stop cloned and smuggled handsets. Under the rules that Bakcell publishes, a phone brought in for personal use with a local SIM must be registered within 30 days, at a cost of AZN 5 per device, or it is blocked from the networks. Heydar Aliyev Airport has a voluntary registration point on arrival, and post offices also handle it.

The same rules say that if you use a foreign operator's SIM on roaming, your phone's IMEI does not need to be registered. A travel eSIM from an overseas provider connects as a roaming visitor, so for a normal holiday or business trip there is no counter to queue at and no fee.

Where this still matters:

If you plan to buy a local Azercell, Bakcell or Nar SIM as well, the 30-day clock and fee apply to that handset.
GOV.UK warns that undeclared devices or unregistered SIMs may not work and the device could be locked, so do not lend your phone a local SIM you have not registered.
Your IMEI is under the phone's settings, or dial *#06#. Keep a note of it in case you are asked.

Azercell, Bakcell and 5G around Fountain Square

Three operators share the market. Azercell is the largest, with roughly half of subscribers and more than five million lines. Bakcell is second, with over three million, and has repeatedly been named Azerbaijan's fastest network by Ookla in past years. Nar is third. Your eSIM uses Azercell and Bakcell, which between them carry most of the country's traffic.

5G in Azerbaijan has developed in stages rather than a single national switch-on. Azercell opened test zones in 2022 starting at Fountain Square in central Baku, and Bakcell began a 5G test network in February 2023 around Fountain Square, Khagani Garden and Deniz Mall. Nar took 5G to Sumgait in 2023. The pattern for visitors is that 5G shows up in specific parts of central Baku, and 4G carries almost everything else, including the Absheron peninsula and the main regional towns.

So if your phone shows 5G on Nizami Street or near the seafront boulevard, that is expected. If it drops back to 4G a few streets away, that is normal too, not a fault.

Closed land borders and the e-visa on your phone

The overland routes many travellers once used are shut. According to GOV.UK, the border with Georgia is temporarily closed, the crossings to Iran are closed except Astara with special government authorisation, and leaving by road also needs permission. In practice that means flying in and out, usually through GYD, and planning a Caucasus trip as separate flights rather than a road loop through Tbilisi.

Your paperwork also lives on your phone, so a working connection on arrival helps:

The ASAN e-visa is issued through evisa.gov.az, normally for a single 30-day visit, and should be applied for at least three days ahead. An urgent three-hour option exists for an extra fee. Carry a printout as well as the PDF.
If you stay longer than 15 days, you must register with the State Migration Service. Hotels usually do it for you; in a rented flat or private home you must do it yourself, online or in person, or pay a fine on departure.

Keep copies of the e-visa and your booking confirmations offline, because the first minutes after landing, before your data connects, are when you will be asked for them.

Bolt, Yango and Uber from GYD into Baku

The airport sits about 20 km from the centre. Bolt, Yango and Uber all operate in Baku and show you a fare before you confirm, which avoids haggling with drivers at the arrivals door, a common complaint from late-night arrivals. Licensed taxis are also available, and the city has a metro and bus network for the return trip once you know your way around.

A few practical points:

Ride-hailing apps need data at pickup, so make sure your eSIM is connected before you walk out of arrivals. The terminal's indoor areas are the easiest place to sort it out.
Prices in the apps are in Azerbaijani manat. Cards work in the apps, but carry some cash for the metro, markets and drivers outside Baku.
Pickup points at GYD can be confusing. Message the driver in the app rather than calling, since a data-only eSIM has no local number.
For day trips to Gobustan, Sheki or Quba, many visitors book a driver through their hotel or a tour operator; ride-hailing coverage outside the capital is much thinner.

Researched October 2026 · 5 sources

bakcell.com IMEI registration – Bakcell
gov.uk Azerbaijan entry requirements – GOV.UK foreign travel advice
operatorwatch.com Resilient networks and future ambitions – Operator Watch (July 2025)
telecomtalk.info Nar introduces 5G technology in Sumgait – TelecomTalk
itu.int WTDC-25 travel and arrival information – ITU

7-day itinerary

Seven days in Azerbaijan: Baku, Gobustan, Sheki and Gabala

A first-time loop for travellers flying into Baku: three days in the capital and on the Absheron peninsula, the rock art at Gobustan, then the road over the Caucasus foothills to Sheki's silk-era old town and the lakes and forests around Gabala.

Length: 7 days
Bases: 3

When to go May to June and September to October are warm but not scorching; July and August are hot and windy in Baku, and winter brings snow to the roads around Sheki and Gabala.

Day 1 Baku

Baku: Icherisheher, the Old City

Heydar Aliyev Airport (GYD) is about 20 km from the centre; Bolt, Yango and Uber all work, or take the airport express bus.

Spend your first day inside Icherisheher, Baku's walled Old City and a UNESCO site. Climb the Maiden Tower for views over the bay, then explore the Palace of the Shirvanshahs with its mausoleum, mosque and bathhouse. Wander the lanes past caravanserais and carpet sellers, leave through the Double Gates and finish along the Seaside Boulevard as the Flame Towers light up after dark.

Signal Azercell and Bakcell are strong across central Baku, with 5G test coverage around Fountain Square. Thick Old City walls can weaken signal indoors.
Day 2 Baku

Modern Baku and the oil-boom city

Start at the Heydar Aliyev Center, Zaha Hadid's curving cultural centre, then take the metro back to the centre. Walk the oil-boom mansions along Nizami Street and around Fountain Square, and visit the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, housed in a building shaped like a rolled carpet on the Boulevard. In the late afternoon ride the funicular up to Highland Park for a view over the city and the Caspian.

Signal Reliable 4G across the city, with 5G in parts of the centre. Signal on the Baku Metro can drop between stations, so load maps before you go underground.
Day 3 Baku

Gobustan rock art and the Absheron fire sites

Gobustan is about 65 km south of Baku; a driver or tour for the day is the simplest option.

Drive about an hour south to Gobustan National Park, where thousands of rock carvings of hunters, boats and animals cover boulders above the Caspian. Local drivers wait nearby to take you along rough tracks to the bubbling mud volcanoes. Return north and cross the Absheron peninsula to the Ateshgah fire temple at Surakhani, then end at Yanar Dag, the hillside where natural gas has burned for decades, best seen at dusk.

Signal Generally good 4G on the coast road and at the Gobustan museum. Coverage can thin out on the dirt tracks to the mud volcanoes.
Day 4 Sheki

Shamakhi and the road to Sheki

About five hours by car or shared minibus from Baku via Shamakhi; the road climbs into hill country after Shamakhi.

Leave Baku westwards. Stop at the Diri Baba mausoleum, built into a cliff face at Maraza, then at Shamakhi to see the Juma Mosque, one of the oldest in the Caucasus. Continue through the Ismayilli hills to Sheki, arriving in the late afternoon. Walk up through the old upper town to the fortress walls for the evening light.

Signal 4G along most of the main road, with patchy stretches in the hills between Shamakhi and Ismayilli. Good service in Sheki town.
Day 5 Sheki

Sheki: the Khan's Palace and Kish

Kish is about 5 km north of Sheki.

Sheki's historic centre, with the Khan's Palace, is a UNESCO site. Visit the palace early to see its stained-glass windows and painted rooms before tour groups arrive. Walk to the Upper Caravanserai, then browse the workshops making shebeke glass and silk headscarves. In the afternoon take a short taxi ride to the village of Kish to see its restored Caucasian Albanian church and small museum.

Signal Good 4G in Sheki town. Kish has coverage, though thick palace and caravanserai walls can block signal indoors.
Day 6 Gabala

Gabala: Tufandag and Nohur Lake

About 1.5 hours by road from Sheki.

Drive to Gabala, set in forest beneath the Caucasus. Take the Tufandag cable car up the mountain for views across the range, and walk the upper trails if the weather is clear. In the afternoon visit Nohur Lake on the edge of town for a lakeside walk, or stop at the remains of ancient Gabala at Chukhur Gabala, once the capital of Caucasian Albania.

Signal Good 4G in Gabala town and at the lake. Expect weaker signal on the upper slopes of Tufandag and in the forest valleys.
Day 7 Baku

Back to Baku

About four hours from Gabala to Baku, plus around two hours for the mountain detour to Lahij.

Head back to Baku through Ismayilli, stopping at the copper-working village of Lahij if you have a car and an extra hour or two; its cobbled main street is lined with metalsmiths. Arrive in Baku for a final walk along the Seaside Boulevard or a last tea in the Old City before heading to the airport.

Signal The side road up to Lahij runs through a gorge with long dead spots. Signal returns on the main road and is strong again in Baku.

Staying connected on this route

You must arrive and leave by air at present, as most land borders are closed to travellers, so download your e-visa and flight details before you fly.
Use Bolt, Yango or Uber in Baku; outside the capital, agree a driver for the day as ride apps rarely operate.
Download offline maps for the Sheki, Gabala and Lahij areas before leaving Baku, as signal is patchy in the mountain gorges.

Itinerary sources · 4

azerbaijan.travel Azerbaijan Tourism Board
whc.unesco.org UNESCO: Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan's Palace
whc.unesco.org UNESCO: Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower
gov.uk GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Azerbaijan

Where this comes from

Information and verification

Each block below says what was checked and when. Anything we cannot date, we do not claim.

Prices and plans: Every price and allowance on this page is read from the live catalog, not typed in.; Verified October 30, 2026
Host networks: The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM.; Verified October 30, 2026