Photography
Out before dawn to catch the first light on Ararat from the plain, with a guide who knows where to stand and when.
Duration
6 hours
Group
Small group, max 6
Difficulty
Easy — very early start
Languages
EN · RU · DE · FR · IT · ES
Worth knowingArarat is often hidden by haze in midsummer and clearest from late September to May. We will tell you honestly what the forecast looks like the evening before, and you may postpone without charge.
We collect you in the dark. The drive south takes about forty minutes and we aim to be in position at least half an hour before the sun.
The massif comes up out of the dark first as a silhouette, then as two peaks — Masis at 5,137 metres and Sis at 3,896 — before the light reaches the glacier. Your guide knows the compass angles by month and where to stand for the monastery and the mountain in one frame.
As the sun clears the ridge we move down onto the plain: vineyards, storks on the poles, and the Aras river marking a closed border a hundred metres away.
Coffee, eggs, cheese, bread and apricot jam in a village house, and time to look at what you got.
You are back in Yerevan by about 10:30 with the rest of the day free.
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.