It was sometime in 2021. I was watching a Malayalam travel show on Youtube. There was no way we could travel with the pandemic raging. So the next best thing was watching travel videos. The video showed the person going to an obscure place called Yerevan. I had to open up the map to check where it was. It continued to show him traveling by road to extremely remote places covered in snow with no people around. I wondered – who would put in the effort to travel to such a place which had nothing! One name that lasted in my memory was “Sevan” – a huge lake that dominated over one-sixth of the entire country’s area.
Cut to 2024, we were planning a trip to the very same Armenia. If you read our Georgia blog, you would know that we had to utilize our Air Arabia voucher before it expired. And one of the destinations they flew to was none other than Yerevan, the capital of Armenia! I got into research mode.
Armenia shares borders with Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. It is situated on the Armenian highlands. Given its location in the Transcaucasian region, it has been subjected to a lot of invasions. In recent times, it was occupied by the Persians, Ottomans (who were also responsible for the gruesome Armenian genocide) and Russian empire. In the Soviet era, it became the Armenia SSR and finally, the independent country of Armenia.
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First-ever Christian country
Armenia is also the first-ever nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, having become a Christian country in the year 301. They are part of the Armenian Apostolic Church – an Orthodox form of Christianity. There are many beautiful monasteries spread across the country which today act as the centers of pilgrimage and tourism.
One of the biggest symbols of Armenia is Mount Ararat, which ironically is in modern-day Turkey. Ararat is considered to be the place where Noah’s Ark landed during the great deluge. Armenians consider themselves to be the first people to appear after the deluge. The word Ararat can be found everywhere in Armenia – even on the popular brandy company.
Best time to plan your Armenia itinerary
Being situated in the Armenian highlands, the winters can get really cold in Armenia. Like snow-ice-blocked roads cold. The summer months of July-August can get really hot too. So, the best time to plan your trip would be May-June or September-October. May-June has a probability of rain. We would recommend September if possible to witness the beauty of autumn. Our trip was in early June and got to witness lots of flowers blooming everywhere. We did get a bit of rain but nothing that bothered us much.
Getting to Armenia
You can choose to fly into Yerevan, the capital. It is decently connected to neighbouring countries and hubs like UAE, Turkey. You can also cross the land borders to get in. The Armenia-Georgia border would be your best bet as the other ones are either closed or tough to negotiate. There are plenty of minibuses and cars crossing the Georgia-Armenia border all the time.
There is even a train from Tbilisi to Yerevan (check out details here). We chose to take the road as the train crossed the border at a late hour and we didn’t want to be stuck in a train, convincing border officers holding on to Indian passports (has happened once before and it wasn’t pleasant). There are a couple of road borders and we crossed over at Sadakhlo-Bagratashen. If you wish to travel by road in a private vehicle, you can book at car on GoTrip.
Visa
Indians need an e-Visa to travel to Armenia. They don’t have any special privileges for people holding US, UK visas. The e-Visa process is quite straightforward – you upload all documents on their website and get the visa in a couple of days. One tip here – even though they don’t ask for a lot of documents on the website, make sure you attach everything you have into a single PDF (other multi entry visas, hotels, flights, insurance, bank statement) and then upload it. Drop a comment below if you want more details and we’ll be happy to share!
Currency
The currency here is called the Armenian Dram (AMD). At the time of our travel, 1 INR was equal to 4.5 AMD – yes, it is one of those rare countries where you feel richer. There are currency exchanges at the border right after you cross. More details on the border experience in the later blogs. So stay tuned.
Local travel
You definitely need to have a car to travel around Armenia. One option would be to rent a car (similar to what we had done for Georgia). Another would be to get a car+driver. We went for the latter option. Reason? Our itinerary had us going to a bunch of disputed areas with Azerbaijan. We preferred to travel with an experienced local instead of being adventurous. Armenia and Azerbaijan have had a very bitter conflict over the years and the smart thing would be to avoid getting into that crosshair.
We booked our trip as a bunch of day tours with a company called Hyur Service. Overall, it was a smooth and amazing experience. They were always available when we needed them, the payment process was smooth and they even accommodated small changes in the plan as needed. We would strongly recommend them.
How many days to spend in your Armenia itinerary
We’ll share the range and you can decide based on whatever you want to add to your itinerary. The minimum is 3 days – including Yerevan and a couple of day-trips from there. The maximum is 7-8 days to cover most of what the country has to offer. We went for 6 days and our Armenia itinerary is below.
Our Armenia itinerary
Day 1: Arrive at Dilijan after crossing the land border from Georgia. If time permits, visit the Haghpat monastery on the way to Dilijan. Relax or go out for dinner at one of the cafes in Dilijan town.
Day 2: Explore Dilijan, the Switzerland of Armenia. Visit the Haghartsin monastery. Drive to Sevan lake after lunch and visit the Sevanavank monastery. Reach Yerevan by late evening.
Day 3: Day trip to explore the Christian history in and around Yerevan – Etchmiadzen, Saint Hripsime church, Garni temple (the only Greco-Roman structure remaining in post-Soviet land) and Geghard monastery. Visit the Vernissage market and explore the town by foot.
Day 4: Drive to Khor Virap monastery near the Turkish border and get the best view of Mount Ararat. Continue south and visit Areni winery for wine tasting. Take the longest non-stop reversible cable car in the world, the Wings of Tatev to visit Tatev monastery. Stay in Goris.
Day 5: Visit Shaki waterfall on the way back. Take a short detour to the Noravank monastery and get back to Yerevan. Explore Yerevan city.
Day 6: Relax around the Cascade area. Take the evening flight out of Yerevan.
If you have more time, you can spend an extra day in Dilijan to visit the national park. You could also add an extra day in Yerevan to visit the Ararat brandy factory and some other spots in the city.
Hope you got all the information you need to plan your perfect Armenia itinerary. If there is something more you’d like to know, leave it in the comments below. You can also DM us on our Instagram @fridgemagnet.tales.
Check out all the Armenia blogs here:
- The Armenia Itinerary – plan you perfect trip to Armenia
- Crossing over a land border to Dilijan – the Switzerland of Armenia
- Yerevan and Etchmiadzin – the oldest cathedral in the world
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