Few of your friends will have studied in Azerbaijan, and that is exactly the appeal, Baku is a striking, safe and affordable capital where East meets West on the edge of the Caspian Sea. Oil wealth has given it dramatic modern architecture alongside a UNESCO-listed walled old city. English-taught programmes are growing, and locals are famously hospitable to foreigners.

• A rare, affordable destination blending Soviet, Persian and ultra-modern influences
• Genuinely welcoming to foreigners, with an international student scene small enough that you'll bond quickly

Social life mixes tea houses (çayxana), the seaside Boulevard and a growing café and bar scene around Fountains Square and Nizami Street. The student crowd is smaller than in Western capitals, so international students tend to stick together, and ADA University in particular has a lively campus community. Tea, not alcohol, is the everyday social glue.

• Stroll and socialise along the six-kilometre Caspian seafront Boulevard, day or night
• Meet friends over endless glasses of çay with fruit preserves in an old-city tea house
• Ask the Baku Studcasa group about student meet-ups around Fountains Square and Nizami Street

Baku is affordable by European standards, with €650–950 a month covering a room, food and going out. Cash is still king, though cards are increasingly accepted, and the manat is stable. Eating at local canteens and markets keeps costs right down.

• A room in a shared flat in Nasimi or Yasamal runs roughly 300–500 manat a month
• Shop for produce at Teze Bazar and haggle, as it is expected
• Ride the metro for a flat fare of well under a manat with a BakıKart

Most students rent rooms or small flats in central districts like Nasimi, Yasamal and Nizami, close to the metro. Renting is usually informal and negotiated directly with landlords, often in cash, so it helps to view places with someone who speaks Azerbaijani or Russian.

• Search Bina.az and Tap.az, Azerbaijan's main property sites, for flats and rooms
• Nasimi and Yasamal keep you central and on the metro line
• Bring a Russian- or Azerbaijani-speaking friend to negotiate, and ask the Baku Studcasa group for landlord tips

The Baku Metro is cheap, clean and expanding, and the easiest way across the city, all paid with a rechargeable BakıKart that also works on the red BakuBus fleet. For everything else, the Bolt app offers cheap, reliable taxis, far simpler than flagging one down.

• Buy a BakıKart at any metro station for the metro and city buses
• Use Bolt for cheap taxis rather than negotiating fares on the street
• Avoid unmarked cabs, which routinely overcharge foreigners

Baku's universities range from the large public Baku State University and UNEC, for economics, to the modern, English-taught ADA University, which is the usual choice for exchange students. The French-Azerbaijani University (UFAZ) and Khazar University also run international programmes. The academic year runs September to June.

• ADA University teaches in English and has the most developed international exchange support
• Some public universities teach mainly in Azerbaijani or Russian, so confirm your course language first

This depends heavily on your nationality, so check your own embassy first, but the short version is that most students need an actual visa, not just the tourist e-visa. Azerbaijan's cheap online ASAN e-visa is for short tourism only and does not cover study. For a full semester you apply for a student visa through the Azerbaijani embassy using an invitation letter from your host university.

Once you land, the big job is registering for a temporary residence permit with the State Migration Service, usually within your first days or weeks, your international office will walk you through it. One hard rule: an Armenian entry stamp or evidence of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh can get you refused entry, so sort your travel history in advance.

• ASAN e-visa is tourism only, not valid for study
• Student visa needs an invitation letter from your host uni
• Register for a temporary residence permit soon after arrival
• Prior travel to Armenia can cause entry problems

Azerbaijani food is a highlight, saffron plov, dolma, qutab flatbreads and endless grilled kebabs, finished with baklava and tea poured into pear-shaped glasses. Meals are generous and social, and refusing a second helping takes real effort. The old city, Icherisheher, is the cultural heart within its ancient walls.

• Try plov, lavangi and qutab at a traditional restaurant in or near Icherisheher
• Take tea Azerbaijani-style, sipped through a sugar cube with fruit preserves
• Wander the walled Old City past the Maiden Tower and Palace of the Shirvanshahs

Icherisheher is the atmospheric walled Old City. Sahil and Nizami, around Fountains Square, are the lively, walkable centre, Nasimi and Yasamal are practical residential districts on the metro, and the seafront White City is the polished new development.

• Nizami and Sahil for a central base near Fountains Square and the Boulevard
• Nasimi or Yasamal for affordable, well-connected flats
• Icherisheher if you want to live inside the historic walls, though rooms cost more

Day trips reveal Azerbaijan's strange and beautiful landscapes. Gobustan's ancient rock carvings and bubbling mud volcanoes are an hour south, the Absheron peninsula has fire temples and a naturally burning hillside, and further afield the Silk Road town of Sheki and the mountain resort of Gabala make great overnight trips.

• Take a half-day tour to Gobustan's petroglyphs and mud volcanoes (about an hour away)
• Visit the eternal flames at Yanar Dag and the Ateshgah fire temple on the Absheron peninsula
• Plan a weekend in Sheki for its khan's palace and caravanserai, or Gabala for the mountains

Russian is widely spoken and often more useful than English day to day, so a few phrases go a long way. Carry cash, use Bolt for taxis, and be tactful about regional politics, as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a sensitive subject. Summers are hot and humid, while the wind that gives Baku its name blows year-round.

• Learn a little Russian or Azerbaijani, as it transforms how locals treat you
• Keep cash on hand, since smaller places and markets don't take cards
• Avoid raising Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh unless a local does first