Yerevan is the base camp. Everything else is a day trip.
Which monastery day gets to Tatev in time for the ropeway. What the Sevan run costs once the trout lunch is in. Whether Khor Virap is worth the drive on a hazy afternoon. Reviews of every tour you can book in Armenia.
Garni, Khor Virap, Sevan, Tatev: four days that make an Armenian week.
The bookings a first trip to Armenia is built around, what each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The first day outGroup Tour: Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash BakingPagan temple, cave church and the basalt organ in the gorge, then lavash pulled off the wall of a clay pit.
02The Ararat dayGroup tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and CaveThe hill that stares straight at the mountain, then red rock at Noravank and the cave where the oldest winery turned up.
03The lake dayGroup Tour: Lake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)Sevanavank on its peninsula, then the forest road down into Dilijan and two monasteries under beech trees.
04The long one southGroup Tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)Fourteen hours to Syunik and back, with the ropeway across the Vorotan gorge on the way home.
Every Armenian itinerary is really a list of monasteries. Pick the shape of the day.
Four ways to spend one: the short run into the Azat gorge, the Ararat plain at first light, the cathedral circuit west of the city, and the fourteen-hour haul to Syunik. What it costs to get on each.
Six places the minibuses out of Yerevan actually go.
A pagan temple in a gorge, a monastery under Ararat, red cliffs over a wine cave, an island church on Sevan, a ropeway into Syunik, and the cathedral the rest of it grew out of.
The Armenian days out more travellers take than any other.
Every tour in Armenia →The minibuses that fill first out of Yerevan, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Group Tour: Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking
Spend five to six hours outside Yerevan visiting Charent’s Arch, Garni Temple, the Symphony of Stones, and Geghard Monastery. You’ll also bake and taste lavash with Armenian cheese and herbs. English and Russian commentary, bottled water, snacks, WiFi, transport, and entrance fees are included. Guides such as Gayane, Tamara, Tatev, and Sam are praised for clear, friendly explanations.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Group Tour: Lake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)
from $32
3
Group tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and Cave
from $37
4
Group Tour: Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis, Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout barbecue treat
from $38
5
Group Tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)
from $73
6
Sevan, Dilijan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, Lake Parz
from $31
7
Group Tour: Garni pagan temple, Geghard monastery, Lake Sevan, Sevanavank
from $41
8
Group Tour: Amberd, Aragats, Lake Kari, Saghmosavank, Alphabet
from $41
Sevan is a sea at two thousand metres, and Dilijan is the forest behind it.
The water goes from grey to hard blue by mid-morning, the trout comes off the grill below Sevanavank, and the road keeps climbing north into beech woods, two quiet monasteries and a ski town that works in summer too.
Three things that only happen in Armenia.
Mountains and monasteries turn up all over the Caucasus. A cable car that crosses a canyon, a hill that watches Ararat from the wrong side of a closed border, and bread baked on the wall of a pit do not.
The Wings of Tatev
The ropeway runs 5,752 metres across the Vorotan gorge in about twelve minutes, which makes it the longest reversible cable car built anywhere. It exists because the road down one side of the canyon and up the other takes an hour and a half. The monastery at the far end has stood since the ninth century and once ran a university.
- 1Group Tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 506 reviews
- 2Tatev & Shaki Waterfall Guided Group Tour with Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 266 reviews
- 3Group Tour: Hin Areni Winery, Tatev (wayback on Ropeway), Khndzoresk Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
Khor Virap, and a mountain you cannot visit
Ararat fills the sky south of Yerevan and sits inside Turkey behind a closed border. Khor Virap is the hill Armenians look at it from: a walled monastery over the pit where Gregory the Illuminator was held for thirteen years. Go early. By afternoon the haze comes up off the plain and takes the mountain away.
- 1Group tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and Cave★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 651 reviews
- 2Group Tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 506 reviews
- 3Group Tour: Khor Virap, Garni temple, Geghard, Lavash baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 333 reviews
Lavash, tonir and Areni wine
Lavash is slapped onto the inside wall of a clay pit and peeled off seconds later, which is how it ended up on a UNESCO list rather than in a cookbook. The wine goes back further: a cave at Areni held a press six thousand years old. Most tasting days put the two together and send you back to Yerevan asleep.
- 1Group Tour: Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,042 reviews
- 2Group Tour: Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis, Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout barbecue treat★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 511 reviews
- 3Cultural Walking Tour in Yerevan with Armenian food Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 334 reviews
The real price of a day out of Yerevan.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Armenia is cheap for what it hands over: most of the classic days come in under fifty dollars a head.
Group minibuses to Garni, Geghard, Echmiadzin and Sevan, city walks and museum entries.
The long southern runs to Tatev, a car and driver for the day, wine country with lunch attached.
Private guides, paragliding over the gorge and multi-day loops into Lori and Syunik.
- 1Paragliding in Armeniafrom $180
- 2Group Tour: Must see of Georgia in 2 days from Yerevanfrom $186
- 3Balloon ride Skyballfrom $255
Armenia has been making wine for six thousand years and is only now mentioning it.
Areni reds off volcanic soil, apricot and pomegranate brandy, barbecue that takes an afternoon, and lavash baked in front of you. Book the tasting at the end of a monastery day rather than the start of one.
Four things in Armenia you cannot sort out on the day.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before over coffee on Abovyan. These four run on cable-car timetables, seat counts and a season that shuts.
- 01Group Tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)The ropeway runs on fixed departures and stops for weather and maintenance. Miss the last car back and the day becomes the road down and up the gorge instead.
- 02Group tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and CaveArarat is clearest in the first hours of the day and gone into haze by the afternoon, so the early departures are the ones worth having.
- 03Armenia. Akhpat, Dilijan, Sevan, cascad Yerevan from TbilisiCross-border runs to Georgia go once a day with a fixed number of seats. There is no walk-up desk at the Bagratashen crossing.
- 04Group tour: Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and CaveThe working cellars at Areni take booked groups rather than walk-ins, so a wine day is arranged in advance or it does not happen.
When the passes shut, an Armenian day moves indoors and uphill.
Snow closes the Selim pass and the Aragats road from about November, and the southern haul to Tatev turns long and dark. What still works: the short gorge days, the cathedrals on the plain, a cellar with the fire on, and the snow itself an hour north at Tsaghkadzor.
Yerevan: pink tufa, a staircase with a view, and dinner at eleven.
Everything in Yerevan →
The city is built out of volcanic tufa that turns rose at the end of the afternoon, which is exactly when the Cascade fills up and the fountains on Republic Square start moving. Walk it early, eat it late.
Republic Square, the Cascade, the Vernissage
Soviet planning laid the centre out as a ring of tufa, and the Cascade climbs out of the top of it in flights of steps and sculpture. Do it before the middle of the day, when the stone is still cool and the market stalls are setting up.
Tasting rooms, tonir bread and a long dinner
Dried apricot and walnut sujuk, dolma, a brandy that Armenians take seriously and an Areni red off volcanic soil. Most of these run late and finish at a table nobody is trying to clear.
Manuscripts, mosaics and an hour indoors
The Matenadaran holds illuminated manuscripts that survived every century Armenia has had, and the smaller collections around Republic Square fill the gap between a morning walk and an evening table.
By place — the gorge, the plain, the lake, the south
Yerevan, the gorge, Ararat, the lake, then the long road south.
YerevanThe newest Armenian tour reviews.
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Join in group tour-transfer from Yerevan to Tbilisi or vice versa
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Private Transfer & Tour from Tbilisi to Yerevan or Yerevan to Tbilisi
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Group Tour: Garni Temple, Geghard Monastery and Lake Sevan
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Private tour to UNESCO heritage Echmiadzin churches, Zvartnots and Sardarapat
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Private tour to UNESCO heritage Haghpat and Sanahin monasteries and Odzun church
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Private tour to Khor Virap,Areni winery,Noravank,Tatev Monastery
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