Hiking
A guided day walk through beech forest in Dilijan National Park, linking two half-lost monasteries on a section of the Transcaucasian Trail.
Duration
10 hours
Group
Small group, max 10
Difficulty
Moderate — 12 km, about 400 m of ascent
Languages
EN · RU · DE · FR · IT · ES
Worth knowingTwelve kilometres with 400 metres of climbing is a real walk but not a hard one, and we set the pace by the slowest person. If you are unsure, write to us and describe your last long walk — we will tell you honestly.
Two hours north, over the Sevan pass and down through the tunnel into the forest.
We start above the town on a marked section of the Transcaucasian Trail — a project begun in 2015 that now has around 1,750 kilometres complete across the Caucasus, and which TIME named one of its 100 Greatest Places in 2019.
Three kilometres north-west of Dilijan, completed in 1247 under Avag Mkhargrdzeli. It is ruined, swallowed by trees, and the markers are unreliable — which is exactly why it is worth having someone who knows the way. Book depositories survive alongside the main hall.
The "twin monastery" in a clearing: Surb Grigor, whose dome fell long ago, and Surb Astvatsatsin of 1201, whose inscription names the abbot Hayrapet as its builder.
We stop where the forest opens. Cheese, tomatoes, herbs, lavash, apricots or grapes depending on the month, and tea from a flask.
The path drops to Parz Lake — small, still, ringed with forest — before we drive back, reaching Yerevan around 18:30.
In the price
Not included
Stops in the order we visit them. Distances are indicative, not a driving route.
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Want it privately?
Your own vehicle and guide, your own start time, and the freedom to linger where it is worth lingering.