Itineraries
Seven days is enough to see Yerevan, the classic day trips, Lake Sevan and Dilijan, and the south with Tatev, if you plan the overnights carefully and keep Mondays away from the cable car.
A week is the point at which Armenia stops being a list of day trips from Yerevan and becomes a journey. Seven days gives you time for the capital and its classic excursions, an evening in the forests of Dilijan, and the long road south to Goris and the Wings of Tatev. Because the overnights are placed carefully, no day is spent entirely in the car.
The plan below uses four nights in Yerevan, one in Dilijan and one in Goris. It works from spring to autumn and, with the adjustments described further down, in winter too.
| Day | Route | Drive time (total) | Overnight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yerevan city (arrival day) | minimal | Yerevan |
| 2 | Echmiadzin and Zvartnots, Yerevan museums | about 1 hour | Yerevan |
| 3 | Garni, Symphony of Stones, Geghard, Lake Sevan, Dilijan | about 3–3.5 hours | Dilijan |
| 4 | Dilijan, Haghartsin, Goshavank, back to Yerevan | about 2–2.5 hours | Yerevan |
| 5 | Khor Virap, Areni, Noravank, on to Goris | about 5 hours | Goris |
| 6 | Khndzoresk, Wings of Tatev, Tatev Monastery, back to Yerevan | about 5–5.5 hours | Yerevan |
| 7 | Gyumri, Amberd or a slow Yerevan day | 0–4 hours | Yerevan |
Drive times are for a private car in normal daytime conditions. Mountain sections and winter weather add time.
Drive time: only the airport transfer. Zvartnots airport is about 20–30 minutes from the centre, depending on traffic.
Keep the first day light. Check in, then walk the centre: Republic Square, Northern Avenue, the Opera and the Cascade, where the climb to the top gives the best city view and, on clear evenings, a view of Ararat. If you land in the morning with energy to spare, the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd is a sobering and important introduction to the country. Allow about two hours.
Where to eat: Central Yerevan, between the Cascade, the Opera and Republic Square. The streets around Saryan Street are known for their wine bars.
Drive time: about 30 minutes each way.
Spend the morning in Echmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Together with the Zvartnots ruins, the cathedral and churches form a UNESCO World Heritage property that UNESCO describes as illustrating the development of the Armenian central-domed church. See the Mother Cathedral, the churches of St Hripsime and St Gayane, and the Mother See grounds. Stop at Zvartnots, the ruins of a round seventh-century cathedral, on the way back.
In the afternoon, visit the Matenadaran manuscript museum or the History Museum on Republic Square. If it is a weekend, browse the Vernissage open-air market. Many museums close one day a week, often Monday, so put this day on a day when they are open.
Where to eat: Lunch back in Yerevan. Dinner in the centre. If you want the religious and architectural context explained on site, the Echmiadzin and Zvartnots tour covers this morning with a guide.
Drive time: about 3–3.5 hours in total. Yerevan to Garni takes 40–50 minutes, Geghard is 15 minutes further, Geghard to Lake Sevan is about 1 hour 15 minutes, and Sevan to Dilijan is 30–40 minutes.
Pack an overnight bag and head east. Stop at the Charents Arch, then spend about an hour at Garni Temple, the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded temple in Armenia. Below it, walk among the basalt columns of the Symphony of Stones. Have lunch in Garni village. A lavash-baking demonstration can be requested, subject to availability. Then visit Geghard, the monastery partly carved out of the cliff, which is part of the UNESCO-listed upper Azat valley.
In the afternoon, drive north to Lake Sevan and climb to Sevanavank for the view across the water. Then cross the pass to Dilijan, where you arrive in time for dinner.
Where to eat: Lunch in Garni village. Lake trout on the Sevan shore if you are hungry again. Dinner in Dilijan.
Drive time: about 2–2.5 hours in total. Haghartsin and Goshavank are each about 20–30 minutes from Dilijan, and Dilijan to Yerevan is about 1.5 hours.
Dilijan is about forests rather than views, so this day works even when it is cloudy. Start at Haghartsin Monastery in the woods above the town. Continue to Goshavank, a medieval monastery and former school in the village of Gosh, and come back for a late-morning walk through Sharambeyan Street’s restored old houses and craft workshops. If you enjoy walking, Dilijan National Park has short forest trails close to town.
After lunch, drive back to Yerevan via Sevan and arrive in the late afternoon.
Where to eat: Dilijan’s centre and the old quarter.
Alternative: For the north instead of Goshavank, the UNESCO-listed monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin are roughly 1.5 hours further north via Vanadzor. Returning to Yerevan from there takes about 3 hours, so this makes a long day. It is better as an extra eighth day.
Drive time: about 5 hours in total. Yerevan to Khor Virap takes about 45 minutes, Khor Virap to Areni about 1 hour, Areni to Noravank 15–20 minutes, and Noravank to Goris about 2.5 hours over the Vorotan pass.
This is the first of two long days, so leave by 08:00 with an overnight bag. Ararat is usually clearest in the morning, and Khor Virap is where it looks closest. Spend an hour there, including the steep ladder into St Gregory’s pit if you like. In Areni, visit the Areni-1 cave, where archaeologists found evidence of winemaking about 6,000 years old, and stop for a tasting in the village (subject to availability). After lunch, drive into the red-rock canyon to Noravank.
Then make the long drive south through Vayots Dzor and over the pass into Syunik. If you reach Goris with daylight to spare, Old Khndzoresk is about 14 km away. It is an abandoned cave village with a long suspension footbridge and makes a short evening walk.
Where to eat: Lunch in the Areni area. Dinner in Goris.
Drive time: about 5–5.5 hours in total. Goris to the Halidzor cable-car station takes about 30 minutes, and the drive back to Yerevan takes 4.5–5 hours.
Leave Goris early enough to be at Halidzor when the cable car opens at 10:00. If you didn’t see Khndzoresk the evening before, go there first, at around 08:30. The Wings of Tatev, the world’s longest reversible aerial tramway according to the operator, crosses the Vorotan gorge to Tatev Monastery in about 12–17 minutes. Spend an hour or more in the monastery complex on its rocky spur above the gorge. Ride back to Halidzor and have lunch there. The cable-car complex operates a restaurant near the Halidzor station.
After lunch, start the long drive back to Yerevan. Break it at Areni or at a roadside café in Vayots Dzor.
Wings of Tatev facts (checked November 2026):
Gentler alternative: If two five-hour days in a row sound tiring, spend a second night in Goris. Sleep in Goris after Tatev, and visit Khndzoresk and the town’s old houses the following morning before driving back. This turns the trip into eight days, or you can drop day seven.
Drive time: 0–4 hours, depending on your choice.
After the south, a flexible last day protects you from weather delays and early flights.
Keep Yerevan, Echmiadzin, Garni, Geghard, Sevan and Dilijan as planned, since they work all year. For the south, check road reports the evening before day five. The Vorotan pass can be snowy, and short daylight leaves little room for delays. The Wings of Tatev runs a winter timetable, with flights every 30 minutes and lower ticket prices. Replace Amberd with Gyumri or with Tsaghkadzor, a ski resort about an hour from Yerevan. In summer, some drivers take the Selim (Vardenyats) pass from Sevan straight to Vayots Dzor as a shortcut, but it is regularly closed after snowfall, so don’t rely on it in winter. See best time to visit Armenia and ask about our winter Armenia ideas.
The week has two long driving days, so consider the gentler version with two nights in Goris. Children tend to enjoy the Symphony of Stones, lavash baking in Garni (on request), the climb into the Khor Virap pit, the Areni cave, the swinging bridge at Khndzoresk (hold hands; it moves) and the cable car itself. Child seats can be requested for private transport; confirm them in your written quote. More ideas are in Armenia with kids.
Spend longer in Vayots Dzor. Break up day five with a night in the Areni or Yeghegnadzor area so you can taste at two or three wineries (subject to availability) without the long drive to Goris afterwards. Then continue to Goris and Tatev the next day. The Areni Wine Festival is held in the village in early October; in 2026 it took place on 3 October, according to armenia.travel. In Yerevan, spend an evening in the wine bars around Saryan Street. See the Armenia wine experience and our wine and food tours.
Several parts of the week work on public transport (checked November 2026):
Full details are in getting around Armenia.
Self-drive gives you the most freedom and often the lowest cost for a group sharing a car. The main roads to Sevan, Dilijan, Areni and Goris are paved highways. The trade-offs are real, though. City driving in Yerevan is assertive. Rural roads can have potholes, livestock and unlit stretches. The Vorotan pass is a long mountain drive. You also return from Tatev after five hours at the wheel. Nobody explains the sites, and the driver can’t join tastings in Areni.
A private driver solves the fatigue and the wine problem and brings local road knowledge, especially useful on the southern days. Drivers aren’t necessarily licensed guides, so agree the route and stops in writing and bring a guidebook.
A guided private tour adds a guide who explains the history, the church traditions and the architecture, and who adjusts timing around weather, closing days and crowds. It is the most expensive option but the most relaxed, and it makes the most of the days you have. Group tours are cheaper and sociable, but they follow fixed routes and rarely include overnights in Goris on your preferred dates.
Many travellers mix the options: they explore Yerevan independently and book a driver or guide for the days outside the city. For price ranges, see Armenia travel costs and budget.
Yes, for the main highlights. A week covers Yerevan, Echmiadzin, Garni and Geghard, Lake Sevan and Dilijan, Khor Virap, Areni and Noravank, and Tatev with a night in Goris, plus a flexible last day. You would need extra days for the far north (Haghpat and Sanahin), Jermuk or serious hiking.
Spend four nights in Yerevan, one in Dilijan and one in Goris. Many travellers keep their Yerevan hotel booked throughout, or leave luggage there, and travel to Dilijan and Goris with an overnight bag.
Any day from Tuesday to Sunday. The Wings of Tatev cable car runs Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays, from 10:00 to 18:00 (19:00 from May to September), according to the operator (checked November 2026). It can also close for weather or technical reasons, so keep a spare day if you can.
Partly. Yerevan, Echmiadzin, Sevan, Dilijan and Gyumri can be reached by minibus, train and ride-hailing apps such as GG and Yandex Go. The southern loop to Noravank, Goris and Tatev is very hard on public transport within this timeframe, so most travellers book a driver or a tour for those two days.
Mostly. Yerevan, Echmiadzin, Garni, Geghard, Sevan, Dilijan and Gyumri work all year. The road south crosses the Vorotan pass, which can be snowy, and the Wings of Tatev runs a reduced winter timetable. High routes such as Amberd and the Selim pass shortcut are often closed. Leave buffer time and check road reports.
About 17–21 hours over seven days on this route, depending on your choice for day seven. The two southern days account for roughly 10 hours of that. The other days range from almost no driving in Yerevan to about 3.5 hours.
Practical details change. We checked these sources when we last updated this guide; please confirm time-sensitive information before you travel.
Tours that match what you are reading about
A full week: the capital, the classic day trips, Sevan and Dilijan, Aragats or Gyumri, and the deep south with Tatev, the Wings of Tatev and Khndzoresk.
Matches: History · Monasteries & faith
Noravank on the way south, a night in Goris, the long cableway ride over the Vorotan gorge to Tatev, and the cave village of Khndzoresk.
Matches: History · Monasteries & faith
A high mountain lake with a 9th-century monastery on its peninsula, the wooden balconies of Old Dilijan and a monastery in the forest.
Matches: History · Monasteries & faith
Itineraries
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