Grand tour
Ten days for people who would rather see six places properly than sixteen from a bus window — including the corners most itineraries skip.
Length
10 days
Route
8 regions
Stay
3★ and 4★, two family guesthouses
Season
Late May to October, because of the Aragats high road.
YerevanAragatsGyumriLoriDilijanSevanSyunikVayots Dzor
Who this suitsRepeat visitors, slow travellers, and anyone who found a week too short.
Arrival, transfer, evening orientation walk and a welcome dinner.
A full day in the city rather than a rushed half: the Matenadaran, the History Museum with the Areni shoe and the Lchashen carts, Tsitsernakaberd, the Cascade, Vernissage if it is a weekend, and the brandy cellars. Evening free.
The UNESCO churches of Vagharshapat, the rotunda at Zvartnots, and Sardarapat — the 1918 battle memorial with its red tuff winged bulls, and one of the country's finest ethnographic collections.
Up the mountain. The thirty-nine stone letters at Artashavan, Byurakan below the observatory, Amberd at 2,300 metres, and the road on up to Kari Lake at about 3,190, frozen most of the year. Down to Gyumri for the night.
A slow morning in the Kumayri district — red and black tuff, carved balconies, the Dzitoghtsyan house museum, the Aslamazyan sisters' gallery. Harichavank in the afternoon, and on into Lori.
Sanahin and its stone lecture hall, the Mikoyan museum and its MiG, Haghpat across the gorge, Odzun on its plateau, and Kobayr's frescoes above the river if the weather holds. Night in Dilijan.
A walking day: a forest section of the Transcaucasian Trail to Matosavank and Jukhtak Vank, then Haghartsin, Goshavank and its 1291 openwork khachkar. Sharambeyan Street in the late afternoon.
Sevanavank, then the quiet western shore — Hayravank on the rocks and the khachkar field at Noratus. Over the Selim pass to the caravanserai of 1332, and down to Vayots Dzor.
To Goris and across on the Wings of Tatev. The monastery, Khndzoresk, and Zorats Karer on the plateau. Night in Goris rather than a four-hour drive back.
North again: Noravank, a cellar at Areni, and Khor Virap with Ararat in the afternoon light before your transfer to the airport.
In the price
Not included
Every stop on the journey, in order. Distances are indicative, not a driving route.
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