We're flying into Baku next month and landing around midnight. My main concern is mobile internet. Is it worth buying a SIM card at the airport as soon as we arrive, or is it better to wait until we're in the city? We'll need internet mainly for Google Maps, Bolt and keeping in touch with family back home.
Unless you need mobile data immediately, I'd simply use the airport Wi-Fi to order Bolt and wait until the next morning. We bought our SIM cards in the city and the whole process was quick. It also gave us a chance to compare the available operators instead of buying the first one we saw after landing.
As an alternative you can buy a SIM card right in the airport, they have a tourist tariff there, costs is 35 AZN ($21 USD) that will give you 30 GB, 50 minutes of international calls and 50 minutes calls to local operators.
Are there any significant price differences between buying a SIM card at the airport and in the city?
Well, in the city you can get more tariffs - some cheaper and some expensive. In airport as far as I understand you get only tourist tariff. But at least the process is quick and straightforward, staff speaks English and can help. In city this might be slightly more difficult if you don't speak local language.
In our case the difference wasn't important enough to influence the decision. We chose the airport simply because we arrived late and wanted everything sorted before heading to the hotel. Friends of ours bought theirs in central Baku the following day and were equally happy. I think convenience matters more than the small price difference.
One thing many people forget is that airport Wi-Fi is perfectly adequate for your first hour in Azerbaijan. We connected as soon as we landed, messaged our family that we'd arrived safely, ordered a Bolt and even checked into our hotel online before buying a SIM card the next morning.
We preferred using a local SIM card because we were travelling outside Baku to Sheki, Qabala and Quba. Coverage was generally very good throughout the trip and it was reassuring to know we always had internet for maps and translation apps in smaller towns.