Ararat, and everything under it.
Khor Virap with the mountain behind it, Geghard cut into the rock, trout on the Sevan shore and the long ropeway across to Tatev. What each day costs, how many hours it runs, and where to book it.
Seven days worth the early start.
These are the seats that go first: the gorge at Geghard, the pass over to Sevan, the ropeway across the Vorotan, and the southern road that keeps Ararat in the windscreen all morning.
Sevan, Dilijan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, Lake Parz
Monastery-hopping by Lake Sevan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, Dilijan, plus Lake Parz time and an Ijevan wine-and-brandy tasting.
From $31 per person
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A pagan temple and a cave church.
The Azat gorge opens up almost as soon as you clear the city. Garni stands on the cliff edge with its Roman colonnade, the basalt organ pipes of the Symphony of Stones drop into the riverbed below it, and Geghard sits further up the valley with chapels chiselled straight into the rock face. Most of these days finish with lavash pulled off the wall of a tonir.
Which day out of Yerevan?
Almost everything worth seeing in this country is a day trip from the capital, so the real decision is which direction you point the car. Three routes, three completely different days, every option behind them priced and reviewed.
The short drive east
The gorge day
5 to 6 hours (approx.) · from $28 · 1,042 reviews
Out at nine, back by four. Garni on its cliff before the coaches arrive, the Symphony of Stones down in the riverbed, Geghard cut into the rock after lunch, and a tonir stop on the way home. The shortest drive on this page and the one nobody comes back disappointed from.
See the Garni and Geghard days →
Water and mountains
The lake road north
9 to 10 hours (approx.) · from $32 · 1,036 reviews
North over the pass to a blue that sits two thousand metres up. Sevanavank on its peninsula, trout grilled at a table on the shore, then down into the beech forest at Dilijan for Haghartsin. Warmest and clearest between June and September.
See the Lake Sevan days →
The long southern road
The wine road south
9 to 10 hours (approx.) · from $37 · 651 reviews
South past Khor Virap with Ararat filling the windscreen, into the red gorge at Noravank, then Areni, where they were pressing grapes six thousand years ago. The most time in the car of the three, and the scenery earns every hour of it.
See the Areni and Noravank days →
Yerevan turns rose at dusk.
The city is built out of volcanic tuff, and for twenty minutes every evening the whole of it glows pink. Republic Square runs its fountains after dark, the Cascade steps fill up with people going nowhere in particular, and the brandy in the glass is older than most of the buildings around it.
Lavash comes out of a hole in the ground.
The tonir is a clay pit sunk into the floor and the dough goes onto the wall of it, which is why the bread arrives blistered and too hot to hold. Everything else on the table follows from there: herbs, brined cheese, apricots, a bowl of something slow-cooked.
The oldest winery on earth is a cave.
Archaeologists pulled a press, fermentation vats and a drinking cup out of the Areni cave, all of them six thousand years old. The vineyards along the Arpa still work the same red grape, and the tasting rooms sit within sight of Noravank’s cliffs.
Tatev arrives by cable car.
The Wings of Tatev runs five and a half kilometres over the Vorotan gorge, which makes the getting there as good as the arriving. At the far end a ninth-century monastery sits out on the cliff, complete with a hinged stone column the monks used to read coming earthquakes. It is a long push from Yerevan and it is worth the whole day.
Armenia, one region at a time.
Nothing here is more than a few hours out. Sevan for the water and the trout. Garni for the gorge. Areni for the wine. Dilijan for the forest, and the deep south for the ropeway.
Drive it, walk it, or taste it.
Some travellers want a driver, a full itinerary and four monasteries before dinner. Some want two hours on foot around the old quarter and a table booked afterwards. Both kinds of day are here, with prices attached.
Half of Armenia is a morning away.
Echmiadzin holds the oldest cathedral in the world and sits twenty minutes off the airport road. Gyumri is two hours north, Jermuk’s waterfall three hours south, and Tbilisi is close enough to turn into a weekend.
Three days, east then north then south.
The country is small and the roads run out of the capital like spokes. Point yourself east, then north, then south, and by the third evening you will have seen the best of it.
Day 1
East to the gorge
Garni on the cliff before the coaches arrive, the Symphony of Stones down in the riverbed, Geghard’s rock-cut chapels after lunch, lavash from a tonir on the drive back.
Plan day one →
Day 2
North to the water
Up over the pass to Sevanavank, trout grilled on the shore, then down through the tunnel into Dilijan for Haghartsin and a slow forest road home.
Plan day two →
Day 3
South under Ararat
Khor Virap first thing while the mountain is still clear of cloud, then the red gorge at Noravank and a tasting in Areni. The longest of the three and the one people photograph most.
Plan day three →
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