Every road out of Yerevan ends at a monastery. Pick the right one.
Which Garni day actually includes the lavash baking. What the Tatev ropeway costs once the drive is added. Whether Khor Virap is worth the morning when Ararat sits under cloud. Reviews of every tour you can book in Armenia.
Garni, Sevan, Khor Virap, Tatev: four drives that cover Armenia.
Almost every itinerary here is built out of these four days. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The first day outGarni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash BakingThe pagan temple at Garni, the church cut into the cliff at Geghard, and bread pulled off the wall of a clay oven on the way home.
02The lake dayLake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)Sevanavank on its peninsula, then down into the Dilijan forest for Haghartsin and Goshavank. Take a jumper; the lake sits at 1,900 metres.
03The Ararat dayKhor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and CaveKhor Virap under the mountain, the gorge at Noravank, and the cave at Areni where the oldest winery on earth was dug out of the floor.
04The long one southKhor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)Five hours of driving for the longest passenger ropeway in the world and the monastery at the end of it. Leave early.
Armenia sells four day trips. Everything else is a variation on one of them.
East to Garni and Geghard, north to Sevan and Dilijan, south to Khor Virap and the Areni caves, or the long haul to Tatev. What it costs to board each one, and how far the minibus actually goes.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)
Garni and GeghardHalf an hour east. Colonnade, cliff church, lavash off the oven wall.
Sevan and DilijanAn hour north to the lake, then down into the beech forest.
Khor Virap and AreniTwo hours south under Ararat, ending in a wine cave.
Tatev and the ropewayA full day and 250 km each way. The cable car makes the case.
All 215 Armenian tours we have reviewed →
The days out more travellers take than anything else in Armenia.
Every Armenian tour we have reviewed →Small-group minibuses leaving the centre of Yerevan, mostly, and what keeps each one selling out of its morning slot.
1
Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking
Travel from central Yerevan to Charent’s Arch, Garni Temple, the Symphony of Stones, and Geghard Monastery. You’ll watch lavash being baked, taste local snacks, and hear clear English explanations from guides such as Gayane, Tamara, Tatev, and Anna. Transport includes air conditioning, WiFi, water, and entrance fees.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Lake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)
from $32
3
Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and Cave
from $37
4
Garni, Geghard, Symphony of Stones & Lavash Baking
from $23
5
Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis, Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout barbecue treat
from $38
6
Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)
from $73
7
Sevan, Dilijan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, Lake Parz
from $31
8
Garni pagan temple, Geghard monastery, Lake Sevan, Sevanavank
from $41
Six places Armenia gets booked for, and the best day out at each.
A temple the Romans left standing, a church hacked into a cliff, a monastery under Ararat, a lake at nineteen hundred metres, a ropeway across a canyon, and a cathedral that has been in use since the fourth century.
North of Yerevan the air thins and the forest starts.
Sevanavank stands on a headland over water the colour of slate. Behind it the road climbs to the Dilijan pass and drops into beech forest, where Haghartsin and Goshavank sit in clearings and the trout comes off a roadside grill. It is one long day, and in August it is the coolest one on offer.
South of Yerevan everything happens in the shadow of a mountain in another country.
Everything south of Yerevan →
Ararat is Turkish territory and Armenia has looked at it every day for a century. Khor Virap sits on a hillock directly beneath it, thirty kilometres out. Keep driving and the road narrows into the Amaghu gorge at Noravank, then reaches the Areni caves, where a six-thousand-year-old wine press was found in the floor.
Khor Virap, and whether Ararat shows
The mountain is lost behind haze most summer afternoons and razor sharp on a cold clear morning. Take a departure before eight if the photograph is the point; otherwise the monastery and its pit stand up on their own.
Noravank, at the end of a red gorge
The last eight kilometres run between cliffs that turn orange in late light. The upper chapel is reached by a stone staircase cantilevered off the facade, with no handrail and treads about the width of a boot.
Areni, and the oldest winery known
Excavators found a press, fermentation vats and drinking cups in the Areni-1 cave, dated to around 4100 BC. The village still makes wine from the same grape, and most southern day trips stop for a glass of it.
Three things Armenia has that nowhere else does.
Monasteries and mountain views run the length of the Caucasus. A five-and-a-half kilometre cable car, bread baked on the wall of a pit, and the oldest cathedral still holding services do not.
The Wings of Tatev
The ropeway runs 5.7 kilometres over the Vorotan gorge, which makes it the longest reversible cable car in the world, and it exists because the road down and back up again took an hour. The cabin crosses in twelve minutes, three hundred metres above the river, and lands at a ninth-century monastery that once ran its own university. High wind shuts it, so the southern day trips build in a road alternative.
- 1Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 506 reviews
- 2Tatev & Shaki Waterfall Guided Group Tour with Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 266 reviews
- 3Hin Areni Winery, Tatev (wayback on Ropeway), Khndzoresk Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
Lavash in the tonir
The dough is stretched over a cloth cushion and slapped onto the inside wall of a clay pit sunk into the floor, then peeled off blistered about forty seconds later. It is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list, it is eaten with every meal here, and on the Garni run the baking stop is usually a village house rather than a demonstration kitchen.
- 1Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,042 reviews
- 2Garni, Geghard, Symphony of Stones & Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 589 reviews
- 3Khor Virap, Garni temple, Geghard, Lavash baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 333 reviews
Echmiadzin
Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion before anyone else, and the mother cathedral at Vagharshapat went up immediately afterwards. It is twenty minutes from the city, it is still the seat of the Catholicos, and the ruined rotunda of Zvartnots sits on the road back, which is why the two are almost always sold as one morning.
- 1Echmiadzin Cathedral & churches, Zvartnots Temple★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 352 reviews
- 2Private Half-day Echmiadzin Cathedral, Hripsime & Zvartnots Temple from Yerevan★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 95 reviews
- 3Private tour to Echmiadzin (st Cathedral), Zvartnots, Khor Virap, Garni, Geghard★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 67 reviews
What a day out of Yerevan actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Armenia is cheap by European standards, and the shared minibus is the reason.
The shared minibus runs: Garni and Geghard, Sevan and Dilijan, Echmiadzin, Khor Virap and Areni.
Long days and small groups: Tatev with the ropeway, the Lori monasteries, Gyumri, walking tours with tastings.
A private car with a driver and guide, multi-day routes, and the cross-border run to Tbilisi.
- 1Paragliding in Armeniafrom $180
- 2Must see of Georgia in 2 days from Yerevanfrom $186
- 3Balloon ride Skyballfrom $255
Armenia was making wine four thousand years before it had an alphabet.
Areni is the grape and the village, the Vayots Dzor cellars are cut into the hillside above it, and in Yerevan the tasting rooms stay open late. Book the winery as part of a southern day trip rather than on its own.
Four Armenian bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged from a cafe on Abovyan Street the night before. These four run on cable-car weather, fixed departure dates and border formalities that take no interest in your plans.
- 01Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev monasteries (wayback on Ropeway)The ropeway shuts in high wind and the day is 250 km each way. Groups run on set dates, not on demand.
- 02Armenia. Akhpat, Dilijan, Sevan, cascad Yerevan from TbilisiThe Bagratashen crossing takes what it takes, and the seats on the through-run go well before the date.
- 03Gyumri (Urban Life museum, Black fortress, old town), HarichavankThe second city is a long way north on one road, so it runs as a scheduled departure rather than daily.
- 04Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash BakingThe baking stop is a village kitchen with a fixed number of places at the pit, and it is added to the Garni run in advance.
The passes ice over, and Yerevan hits forty degrees. Plan around both.
From November the Selim and Vardenyats passes ice over and the southern routes get long or get cancelled. In July and August the Ararat plain is brutal by noon while Sevan and Dilijan stay a good ten degrees cooler. Either way the answer is the same: go north, go high, or go underground into a cellar.
Five days out of one hotel in Yerevan, in the order almost everybody does them.
EchmiadzinBy landmark - what you came for
The newest Armenian tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis,Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout BBQ
Read our review →
Garni Gorge and Azat Reservoir OFF ROAD Tour & Water Sports
Read our review →
Private tour to Sevan, Dilijan Off-road tour & Horseback riding
Read our review →
Day trip to: Lake Sevan-Dilijian (Old Dilijan, Haghartsin Monastery)
Read our review →
Tsaghkadzor/Kecharis, Lake Sevan/ Sevanavank, Dilijan/ Haghartsin
Read our review →
Private tour to Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis), Lake Sevan (Sevanavank)
Read our review →