The first country to adopt Christianity, monasteries built into gorges, and a pink stone capital under a mountain that belongs to somebody else. Cheap, welcoming and barely visited.
Armenia adopted Christianity in 301 AD, before anyone else, and spent the next seventeen centuries building monasteries in places that look impossible — Tatev on a cliff edge, Geghard cut into rock, Noravank at the end of a red gorge. They are the reason to come and most of them are free.
Yerevan is built from pink volcanic tuff, which gives the whole city a colour that changes through the day. It has a café culture that runs late, a Soviet-era Cascade staircase covered in modern sculpture, and Mount Ararat filling the skyline to the south — in Turkey since 1921, and still the national symbol.
The country is small and mountainous. Dilijan's forests, Lake Sevan at 1,900 metres, and the Tatev cable car, the longest reversible one in the world, are all within a few hours of the capital.
Marshrutkas are cheap and slow, and nothing is more than five hours from Yerevan.
A pink tufa capital with a café culture, Soviet planning and Ararat filling the skyline on a clear day.
Yerevan is so amazing. Clean, graffiti free and a great cafe culture. I just happened to be there for the wine festival. So much fun! Amazing culture.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Forested, cooler, and the walking base in the north, with monasteries in the trees.
Really nice town situated in the middle of a national park. Lots of walking (download Hike Armenia).
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The second city, levelled by the 1988 earthquake and rebuilt, with black tufa streets and a hard humour.
Gyumri is a small compact and easy to get around. Food near the bazaar or central marshrutkas you could find transport to Georgia
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The southern base, for Tatev monastery and its cable car.
Armenia is monasteries, mountains and a capital that stays up late, all of it cheap.
The oldest Christian architecture anywhere, in extraordinary settings.
The Transcaucasian Trail and mountains with nobody on them.
Lavash, barbecue and the oldest winery in the world.
One of the cheapest countries reachable from Europe.
Three days in Yerevan, which stays up later than you expect.
Lake Sevan, which is a beach at 1,900 metres.
The monasteries are the trip. Geghard is partly carved directly into the rock face and has singers who demonstrate the acoustics; Tatev sits on a cliff in the south and is reached by the Wings of Tatev, the world's longest reversible cable car; Noravank sits at the end of a red-walled gorge; Khor Virap looks straight at Mount Ararat across the closed Turkish border.
In Yerevan, the Cascade is a vast stone staircase covered in modern sculpture with the city and Ararat behind it, free to climb, best at sunset. The Genocide Memorial and museum on the hill above the city is essential and difficult.
Outside, Lake Sevan is swimmable in July and August, Dilijan is forest and monasteries, and the Transcaucasian Trail runs through the country for anyone who wants to walk for days without meeting people.
Lavash, the thin flatbread baked on the wall of a clay tonir oven, is UNESCO-listed and comes with everything. Khorovats is the barbecue — pork, lamb or vegetables cooked over vine cuttings — and is the centre of any gathering.
Dolma, harissa, apricots that Armenians will tell you are the best in the world, and enormous quantities of herbs on every table. A full meal in a Yerevan restaurant runs €6 to €12.
Wine is the surprise: the world's oldest known winery, at 6,100 years, was found in a cave near Areni, and the modern industry is small, cheap and good. Brandy is the other one — Ararat brandy is the national export and a tour costs very little.
Yerevan stays up late in a Mediterranean way: cafés and bars on Northern Avenue and around the Cascade fill after ten and run past midnight, and the Republic Square fountains draw crowds on summer evenings.
The scene is café and wine bar rather than club — natural wine bars have multiplied in recent years, and a glass of local wine is €2 to €4.
Prices are very low by European standards, and the city is safe to walk around at any hour, which makes an evening here easy in a way it is not in bigger capitals.
Marshrutkas and shared taxis run from Yerevan to everywhere, cost a few euros and leave when full. For monastery trips, hiring a driver for the day — around €40 to €70 split between a car — is the practical option, because several sites sit far from any bus route.
There is a small metro in Yerevan and city transport is very cheap.
Getting into the country is the part to plan. The borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed, so you arrive by air into Yerevan, or overland from Georgia, which is a four to six hour ride from Tbilisi and the route most backpackers use.
Armenia is one of the cheapest countries reachable from Europe. Dorms start around €9, a full meal is €6 to €12, a glass of wine €2 to €4, and marshrutkas cost a euro or two.
The main discretionary costs are day drivers for monastery trips and the Tatev cable car, and both are modest split between a few people.
The dram is the currency. Cards work in Yerevan but cash is needed almost everywhere else, and exchange offices give good rates without commission.
Armenia is a very safe country for travellers. Crime against visitors is rare, Yerevan is comfortable at any hour, and hospitality towards guests is a strong cultural norm.
The practical risks are roads and mountains: driving is assertive, mountain routes are unguarded, and marshrutka drivers overtake with confidence. In the mountains, waymarking is limited and rescue is slower than in western Europe.
The regional situation matters. Borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed, and areas near the Azerbaijani border have seen military activity in recent years. Check current government advice, avoid border zones, and note that entry to Azerbaijan is complicated by any Armenian travel history.
Armenia is not in the EU or Schengen, so time here does not count against the 90-day Schengen allowance.
EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian citizens enter visa-free, commonly for 180 days, which is more generous than most. Check the official position before travel as the terms vary by nationality.
Entry is by air into Yerevan or overland from Georgia and Iran only — the Turkish and Azerbaijani borders have been closed for decades. Note also that Armenian stamps can complicate later travel to Azerbaijan.
Spring and autumn are the best by a distance. Yerevan in July and August is genuinely too hot, and winter closes some mountain roads.
Average highs for Yerevan, which sits in a hot basin. Dilijan and Lake Sevan at altitude are considerably cooler, and Sevan is only swimmable in July and August.
Pick how you travel and how long for. Per night, for one person, at Armenian prices.
Prices are in dram locally; these are euro equivalents. A day driver for monasteries is €40–70 for the car, which is the main extra.
One of these involves the entire country throwing water at each other.
Celebrated on 6 January rather than 25 December, and a major family occasion.
Everyone throws water at everyone, all day, with no exemption for visitors. Pre-Christian in origin.
Hundreds of thousands walk to the memorial with flowers. Solemn and enormous.
Saryan Street closes and the city's wine producers pour in the open.
Harvest festival in the village beside the world's oldest known winery.
The country's main international film festival.
The highest-rated hostels in the country, live from Hostelworld. Almost all are in Yerevan, with a few guesthouses in Dilijan and the south.
The ones we get asked most.
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