8 Days from 490 EUR

   Guaranteed departure tours to Armenia

Duration: 8 days, 7nights
Dates: April 18, 2016; May 05, 2016; May 12, 2016; September 05, 2016; September 12, 2016; October 06, 2016; October 13, 2016.

Arrival Day –Monday (April, September); Thursday (May, October)

Day 1. Arrival to Zvartnots International Airport

Meet your Tour representative. Transfer to the hotel in Yerevan. Check in. Free time (overnight at hotel in Yerevan).

Day 2. Yerevan city tour

After Breakfast meet your guide at the hotel and start the city tour in Yerevan which is situated in the Ararat Valley, with most of the buildings having a view to the majestic Mount Ararat. As one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and founded in 782 BC (Yerevan is 24 years older than Rome) Yerevan is home to museums covering items of world heritage. Visit the Matenadaran-Museum and Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, one of the richest depositories of books and ancient manuscripts in the world. Next, you will visit the History Museum of Armenia situated in the Republic square in the very heart of Yerevan. The national collection of the museum covers 400,000 items of Archaeology, Numismatics, Ethnography, Modern History and Restoration. Return to the hotel (overnight in Yerevan).
 

Day 3. Yerevan – Khor Virap – Noravank – Areni – Tatev (cable car)- Karahunj -Goris

Breakfast at the hotel after which we start our tour to the Region of Ararat to visit Khor Virap Monastery (4th-18th centuries), meaning Deep Dungeon, which is significant for Armenian Pilgrims as a sight were the first Catholicos of the Armenians spent in torture for 13 years. It's the closest spot from where you can admire the majestic view of the Ararat Mount. Continue the tour to the picturesque Region of Vayots Dzor where you will visit Noravank Monastery, the pearl of Armenian medieval architecture (10th-14th centuries). To enjoy the spirit of antiquity and the sheer rocks of the region, we will have a stop at the Chalcolithic cave of Areni where a six thousand-year-old winery has been found. Archeologists have unearthed the oldest wine-making facility, using biochemical techniques to identify a dry red vintage of the winery. An international group of archeologists have discovered the world's oldest leather shoe in this very cave. The 5500 years-old shoe was perfectly preserved in a cool and dry condition (see in the State History Museum). After a wine degustation at local wine factory, we continue the tour to the Region of Syunik to visit one of the spiritual, educational, cultural centers of the medieval Armenia, Tatev Monastery (9th century). To enjoy the beauty of the deep gorge, forests and mediaeval abandoned monastery, you will take the Tatev Wings cable car, the longest in the world, to the monastery of Tatev. In the 14th century the Armenian scholar Grigor Tatevatsi founded here the University of Tatev, which had more than one thousand students living and studying there. Before driving to the city of Goris stop at the Armenian Stonehenge that locals call Karahunj or Zorats Qarer. As of being an observatory site the significance of the monuments is still disputed but the fact goes with that it dates back to the sixth millennium BCE. Drive to the city of Goris, check-in the hotel (overnight in Goris).

Day 4. Goris-Qashuni-Selim Pass –Caravansarai - Lake Sevan-Sevanavak-Yerevan

After the breakfast at the hotel check-out and drive to the nearby small village Kashuni that is home to the same name factory producing the only organic fruit distillate in Armenia. After a degustation and a tour in the factory we will drive to the Region of Gegharkunik by crossing the Vardenyats Mountain Pass that joins the Basin of Lake Sevan. As a commercial route in 1332 they built a Caravanserai on the place, which is the best preserved on in the territory of Armenia. Orbelian Caravanserai is a bright example of Armenian medieval secular architecture. Drive to the Sevan Lake (one of the highest sweet water lakes in the world) where on the former island nowadays peninsula, where Sevanavank Monastery (9th century) is situated. Once as considered only for monks it has still an active seminary living on the peninsula. Drive back to Yerevan. Check-in in the hotel (overnight in Yerevan).

Day 5. Free day. Overnight in Yerevan.

Optional tour to Amberd (extra fee).

Day 6. Yerevan - Etchmiadzin City – Zvartnots Temple –Yerevan

After breakfast drive to the holy city of Etchmiadzin, where the same name Mother Cathedral is located. Also called Vagharshapat, Etchmiadzin city is an open air museum as the whole of the city is under the protection of the UNESCO. The city is home to the most ancient Armenian Apostolic Etchmiadzin Cathedral that is also considered to be the oldest cathedral in the world. They started to build it between 301 and 303 following the adoption of Christianity as state religion in 301.

Continue the tour to the Zvartnots Cathedral erected in the 7th century near Etchmiadzin. Zvartnot's architecture impresses with its extraordinary artistic splendor. It has distinctive differences in size, layout and arrangement as compared with the traditional architecture of the Armenian churches. It was built in the place where Trdates the Great and Gregory the Illuminator (first Catholicos of all the Armenians) first met after Gregory was set free after 13 years of imprisonment. Drive back to hotel (overnight in Yerevan).

Day 7. Yerevan-Garni Temple-Geghard-Yerevan-Brandy Factory

After breakfast drive to the Garni Village in Kotayk Region, where the same name, Garni Pagan Temple (77 AD) is located. Dedicated to the God of Sun, Mitra, Garni Temple is a vivid symbol of pre-Christian Armenia, the only surviving one in the territory of CIS. As the summer residence of the royal family, the construction escaped the mass destruction of the pagan temples. The location has one of the oldest Armenian fortresses (3-2 centuries BC) that was reconstructed in the 1st century AD covering other complexes like 3rd century roman baths, royal summer palace, and the seventh century church of Sion. Continue the tour to the UNESCO site Geghard Monastery (10th-13th centuries) complex also called Cave Monastery as it is half carved in the rock. Initially as a pagan site the Monastery has a natural spring rising from rocks over centuries. It was called Geghard (spear) after the spear with which Jesus Christ was wounded by the Roman soldier that was kept in the monastery for a long period of time. Before the end of the tour visit the legendary Ararat Brandy Factory in Yerevan to have a guided tour and degustation. Drive to the hotel (overnight in Yerevan).

Day 8. Departure

Breakfast at hotel. Check-out and transfer to the airport 2 hours in advance. Airport check-in assistance. Departure.

PRICES PER PERSON IN EURO (NET):

Tour package includes:

All transfers by program
Meet and greet at the airport (welcome drink)
Comfortable bus with climate-control system
Professional friendly driver
High-qualified guide-interpreter in the preferred language
Accommodation in DBL/TWIN rooms (Tourist hotels)
Breakfasts, Farewell dinner
24-hours tourist support

Tour package does not include:

Air ticket
Entry Visa
Insurance
Entrance fees
Lunches
Dinners
Alcohol drinks
Expenses of personal nature