Travel and Tourism Information

Travel - International

AIR

Armenian Airlines (website: www.armenianairlines.com) is the national airline. For political reasons, there are no direct international transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Georgia is sometimes used as a stopover point.

International airports

Zvartnots (EVN) 10km (6 miles) from Yerevan. To/from the airport: Buses and taxis are available to the city centre. Buses run every 15 minutes between 0700-2100 (travel time – 30 minutes).

RAIL

Armenia’s rail links to Azerbaijan and Turkey have been closed indefinitely, but an international service still runs to Georgia (every other day) and to Iran. Passengers travelling to Georgia should be aware of the possibility of theft or robbery. The main station is Sasuntsi Davit on Tigran Mets Avenue.

ROAD

A road link between Armenia and Iran, the Kajaran highway, has become the most important international road link. There are two highways linking Armenia to Georgia; these routes, especially the Yerevan-Tbilisi road, have a bad reputation for highway robbery, although efforts by the Georgian authorities to enforce law and order are reported to be paying off. The Azerbaijan and Turkey borders are both currently closed. It is possible to travel by road to the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, however, it is essential to obtain a visa from the permanent representative of Nagorno Karabakh in Yerevan. Turkey and Azerbaijan have imposed a blockade against Armenia and closed borders with it. Bus: Kilikia Central Bus Station is where most buses depart. There is a weekly bus service to Istanbul and a daily (except Fridays) bus service to Tehran. There is also a weekly bus service to Moscow.

Travel - Internal

AIR

Yerevan has a small domestic airport as well as an international airport, which offers some flights to other destinations in Armenia.

RAIL

The main railway station is the Sasuntsi Davit Station on Tigran Mets Avenue. There are daily trains to most major towns. The trains are often overcrowded and poorly maintained. Belongings should be secured.

ROAD

The road network comprises 7705km (4788 miles). Road surfaces can be very poor, even in the case of major highways, and care should be taken to avoid children and animals on the road. Supplies of petrol, diesel and oil are at present limited. It is common practice to flag down private cars as well as official taxis. Local drivers have a tendency to flout traffic regulations and ignore signals. Visitors should take care when driving or crossing the road. Bus: There are city minivans available (marshrutni or Marshrutka) which operate on 100 different routes and may be flagged down. Coach: Coaches run between the major centres of population. Car hire: There are plenty of care hire companies operating, including Hertz.

URBAN

There is a small underground system in Yerevan (0630-2300). Buses and trolleybuses run in the city. Taxis are available in the city centre or can be ordered by telephone. Chauffeur-driven cars are available but are expensive. It is advisable to obtain them through official channels, such as hotels or travel agencies in Yerevan.

Resorts & Excursions

Armenia is an ancient country that was once counted as a great power, if only for a short period. The realm of King Tigranes II, in the first century BC, stretched from the Caspian Sea to Syria and the Mediterranean, before it was conquered by the Romans.

YEREVAN

The present capital of Armenia, Yerevan is one of the oldest cities in the world, founded nearly 2800 years ago in the time of ancient Babylon. Sadly, little remains to remind the visitor of the city's ancient heritage. Most of the old town was demolished in the 1930s, ostensibly to upgrade standards of public health but, according to locals, more crucially with a view to facilitating the policing of the city. Yerevan was rebuilt using the attractive pinkish-brown volcanic tufa stone seen throughout the republic, in so-called 'Armenian national style' architecture - solid, sometimes imposing and essentially Soviet in character. Mount Ararat lies across the border in Turkey, although it is claimed as part of the territory of greater Armenia, and is where Noah's Ark is said to have settled after the Flood. Yerevan's History and Art Museum includes a section tracing the development of Armenian art from the seventh century to the present day. The history section features models and artefacts informing visitors about life in Armenia and the pre-Armenian state of Urartu. The Yerevan library of ancient manuscripts (Materadaran) houses over 12,000 texts, many beautifully illuminated and some dating as far back as the ninth century. The contents of the library testify to Armenia's long history of culture and education. The Vernisaj flea market, which takes place at weekends, is very popular with tourists.
In the year AD 301, Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as the official state religion (with the exception of the now vanished kingdom of King Abgar of Edessa). Many of the most interesting sights in the republic are associated with the heritage of the Armenian apostolic church.

ECHMIADZIN

Some 20km (12 miles) west of Yerevan, Echmiadzin was the capital of Armenia from AD 180-340 and remains the site of the country's most important cathedral, and home of the church's Supreme Catholicos. The Cathedral of St Gregory the Illuminator is believed to stand on the site of a much older church, itself predated by a pagan shrine. The existing 17th-century cathedral is a fine example of Armenian ecclesiastical architecture, with its squat bell tower and elaborately carved dome. In addition to chalices, vestments and other religious artefacts, the cathedral's treasury contains a spearhead believed to have been used to pierce the side of the crucified Christ, and a chunk of wood from Mount Ararat, claimed to be part of a plank from Noah's Ark. There are a number of other churches at Echmiadzin, including the excavated remains of the seventh-century Church of St Gregory at Zvartnots. The building, reputed to have been of extraordinary beauty, was largely destroyed by an earthquake in the tenth century

GEGARD

The Gegard Monastery, located 35km (22 miles) east of Yerevan in a steep, rocky valley, is one of Armenia's most dramatic sights. The monks, who still inhabit the monastery, occasionally sacrifice sheep on an open-air stone altar. 'Wishing trees' by the road approaching the site are decorated with coloured scraps of cloth, tied on by pilgrims and travellers hoping their prayers will be answered. A monastery has occupied this site since the fourth century AD, and the existing churches, all magnificently carved, date from the 13th century. Leading from the vaulted chambers of the main church and adjoining jamatoun, or meeting room, are two chapels hewn into the rock of the mountain itself. One of these contains a holy spring, the other a burial vault decorated with an ornate coat of arms. Higher up the slope, a passage leads into the mountainside to the 13th-century tomb of Prince Papak and his wife Rouzakan, a structure noted for its extraordinary acoustics

GARNI

On the road between Gegard and Yerevan, Garni is the site of a temple to the Roman god Mithras. In the first century AD, Nero sent money and slaves to build the temple, as a tribute to the Armenian King Tiridates for his support in fighting off the Parthians. During the centuries following the conversion of the kings of Armenia to Christianity, the temple served as a royal summer palace. Repeated earthquakes have destroyed most of the original structure, but the temple's vertiginous position dominating the valley from a plateau 300m (984ft) above the Azat River is breathtakingly beautiful. A ruined ninth-century church stands near the restored temple, and a Roman bathhouse has recently been excavated, revealing a well-preserved mosaic floor

LAKE SEVAN

Situated 70km (43 miles) east of Yerevan, Lake Sevan is the largest lake in the Caucasus, and much vaunted for its pure waters, stunning setting and delicious salmon trout. The principal lakeside resort is Sevan on the northern shore, once popular with Soviet tourists, now optimistically awaiting development to attract wealthy foreigners. Tragically, ill-considered irrigation and hydroelectric projects implemented during the 1970s have triggered an ecological crisis. The water level of the lake has dropped by as much as 16m (41ft). It is now feared that the ecology of Lake Sevan may be irreversibly damaged if radical action is not taken

DILIZHAN

North of Sevan, further into the mountains, is Dilizhan, a resort much favoured during the Soviet period for the medicinal powers attributed to its mineral water. The authorities aspire in the long term to develop ski and spa resorts in this region, but at present, tourist infrastructure remains at a primitive level. A few kilometres east of Dilizhan, in a wooded gorge, is the Agartsin Monastery, believed to have been the major cultural centre in medieval Armenia, and one of the very few perfectly preserved examples of the architecture of its period (tenth-13th centuries). The refectory building is particularly prized. Twenty-five kilometres (16 miles) from Dilizhan, the 12th-century Goshavank Monastery features some of the finest examples of the delicate, lacey style of stone carving developed by medieval craftsmen in the region

ELSEWHERE

In the northwest of the republic, Gumri, Armenia's second-largest city, and Vanatsor (known during the Soviet period as Leninakan and Kirovaken respectively) suffered badly in the 1988 earthquake and have yet to be rebuilt.