Ararat is the backdrop. Armenia is the day.
Which Khor Virap morning actually gets you the mountain. What a Lake Sevan day costs. Whether the drive south to Tatev is worth giving up a whole day for. Every tour in Armenia, reviewed and ranked.
Ararat view, monastery gorge, or the lake?
Almost every group tour leaves Yerevan around nine and is back by six. The choice is which way the minibus turns: south to the plain under Ararat, east up the Azat gorge, or north to the water.
Khor Virap, Noravank and the wine cave
Out through the vineyards to the monastery on its hill with Ararat filling the sky behind it, then further south to Noravank’s red cliffs and the cave where the winemaking started.
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Garni, the basalt organ, Geghard
Down into the Azat gorge for the hexagonal columns they call the Symphony of Stones, up to the colonnade at Garni, then Geghard’s chambers hacked straight out of the cliff.
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Sevanavank, Dilijan and the trout
Up the steps to the two churches on the Sevan peninsula, lunch on the shore, then over the pass into Dilijan’s forest for Haghartsin and a street of wooden balconies.
See all 82 →Khor Virap, Garni, Sevan: the days the trip gets built around.
Six places carry most of Armenia’s day-trip traffic. Here is what each one actually is, and the best way to book it.
At Khor Virap, Ararat fills the whole windscreen.
The monastery sits on a low hill in the vineyards with the border a few fields away and the mountain straight ahead of it. Go early: by midday the haze usually has the summit. Most runs carry on south to Noravank and the Areni cellars.
What the Yerevan minibuses fill up with first.
Every review →Ranked by how many travellers have actually been and left a review — and what makes each one worth the day.
1
From Tbilisi: Day Trip to Armenia Including Homemade Lunch
Day trip from Tbilisi to Armenia in Lori Province, UNESCO monasteries, MiG-21 museum, Soviet Alaverdi and a homemade lunch.
From · $59
Read our review →
2
Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking
from $28
3
Lake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)
from $32
4
Garni & Geghard Small-Group Day Trip with Lavash Baking
from $27
5
Khor Virap, Noravank and Birds’ Cave Trip with Wine Tasting
from $32
6
Garni, Geghard, Symphony of Stones & Lavash Baking
from $19
7
Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and Cave
from $37
8
Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis, Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout barbecue treat
from $38
Garni and Geghard are one road, one day.
Thirty kilometres east of Yerevan the road drops into a gorge walled with basalt columns, climbs to a first-century colonnade above the river, and dead-ends at a monastery carved into the rock. Nobody sensibly does one without the other.
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Lake Sevan sits 1,900 metres up and stays cold enough for the trout.
It holds most of the fresh water in the country and it never really warms up. The two churches on the Sevanavank peninsula are a staircase above the shore; the fish restaurants are at the bottom of it. Beyond the pass, Dilijan is all forest, tin roofs and monasteries in the trees.
- 1Lake Sevan (Sevanavank), Dilijan (Goshavank, Haghartsin)from $32
- 2Tsaghkadzor (Kecharis, Ropeway), Lake Sevan, Trout barbecue treatfrom $38
- 3Sevan, Dilijan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, Lake Parzfrom $31
A Garni–Geghard day starts under $20. Here is the rest.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. Armenia is one of the few places where the group minibus is genuinely the good option.
The shared minibus days: Garni and Geghard, Sevan and Dilijan, Khor Virap and the wine cave. Lunch and lavash baking are often thrown in.
The long southern runs to Tatev and Khndzoresk, the Haghpat and Sanahin loop up north, and small private cars for two or three people.
A driver and guide for a full day, multi-region routes that cross the country, and the odd extravagance — paragliding over the Ararat plain.
- 1Paragliding in Armeniafrom $180
- 2Balloon ride Skyballfrom $255
- 3The Great Beauty of Armenia: 7-Day Culture and Cuisine Tourfrom $750
The oldest winery on earth, and two more Armenian firsts.
Monasteries and mountain lakes exist all over the Caucasus. The tonir wall, the Areni cave and the cable car over the Vorotan gorge do not.
Lavash on the Tonir Wall
Lavash is baked by slapping a paper-thin sheet of dough onto the inside wall of a clay tonir sunk into the floor, then peeling it off about thirty seconds later. UNESCO listed the whole business in 2014 — the baking, the sharing, the way the bread doubles as a plate and a wrapper. Most Garni day trips stop at a village house so you can try it, and most people lose their first sheet into the fire.
- 1Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,042 reviews
- 2Garni & Geghard Small-Group Day Trip with Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 881 reviews
- 3Garni, Geghard, Symphony of Stones & Lavash Baking★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 758 reviews
The Oldest Winery on Earth
In a cave above the village of Areni, archaeologists found a wine press, fermentation vats and a drinking bowl dated to roughly 4,100 BC — the oldest winemaking setup anyone has dug up anywhere. The vines never left. The tasting rooms on the road below pour areni noir, the local red, and the cave itself is a short walk from most of them.
- 1Khor Virap, Noravank, Areni Winery and Cave★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 651 reviews
- 2Khor Virap, Noravank Monastery, Areni, Jermuk★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 259 reviews
- 3Hin Areni Winery, Tatev (wayback on Ropeway), Khndzoresk Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
Wings of Tatev
The cable car to Tatev crosses the Vorotan gorge in about twelve minutes, which makes it the longest reversible aerial tramway anywhere. It exists because the road down one side and up the other takes an hour. At the far end is a ninth-century monastery that once ran its own university, on a spur with nothing but air on three sides.
- 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
- 3Tatev Day Trip with Shaki Waterfall & Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 193 reviews
North-west of Yerevan: the oldest churches and the highest road.
All Echmiadzin tours →Echmiadzin has been the seat of the Armenian church since the fourth century, Zvartnots fell down in an earthquake and was never rebuilt, and the road up Aragats climbs past a crater lake at 3,200 metres.
Private Half-day Echmiadzin Cathedral, Hripsime & Zvartnots Temple from Yerevan
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Hovhannavank, Saghmosavank, Chocolate House, Aghtsk
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Private tour to Aragats-Lake Kari – Armenian Alphabet Monument – Amberd fortress
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Aragats keeps its snow into June. Sevan never really warms up.
Yerevan can sit at 38°C in July while the lake three hours north is still bracing, and the Lake Kari road up Aragats does not open until the snow clears, usually late June. Tsaghkadzor runs the other way round — the ropeway is the whole point between December and March. The gorges and the monasteries stay open all year; it is the high ground that needs planning around.
By place — where the road goes
Yerevan262 tours
Lake Sevan82 tours
Khor Virap78 tours
Garni Temple78 tours
Geghard76 tours
Dilijan33 tours
Gyumri15 tours- Every review →
By day — what kind of day is it?
Yerevan, the gorge, the lake, the south: a first week in Armenia.
Dilijan
Khor Virap
TatevThe Armenian tours we wrote up last.
All recent →
Private tour to Gyumri, Dzitoghtsyan Museum, Black Fortress
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Tsaghkadzor & Lake Sevan։ Winter Day Tour from Yerevan
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Private Tour to Khor Virap, Echmiadzin, St. Hripsime and St. Gayane, Zvartnots
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Tsaghkadzor, Ropeway, Kecharis Monastery, Sevan Lake, Sevanavank
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Private Day Trip to Symphony of Stones, Garni & Khor Virap
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Private Day Trip: Garni, Geghard, Symphony of Stones & Sevan
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Mount Aragats,Amberd Fortress,Alphabet Monument, Saghmosavank
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