Armenia travel guide: monasteries, the Caucasus and the wine route

In a cave in the Vayots Dzor, archaeologists uncovered a wine press, fermentation jars and grape seeds dated to around 4100-4000 BC: Areni-1 holds the oldest known winery in the world, 6,100 years old.

All around, the village of Areni and its estates, Old Bridge, Trinity and Zorah nearby, are reviving the local Areni noir grape. The typical visit: the cave first, then one or two wineries for a tasting.

In early October, the Areni wine festival brings the whole valley to life. If you make only one wine stop in the Caucasus, make it this one: nowhere else can you raise a glass above six millennia of winemaking history.

Under the dome of the gavit, a shaft of light falls from the oculus onto the carved stones: you experience Geghard as much through your ears and skin as through your eyes. Part of the monastery is cut straight into the cliff of the upper Azat valley, rock-hewn chapels and tombs included.

A UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000, the complex is considered the high point of medieval Armenian architecture. The acoustics of the cave chamber alone are worth the trip.

Allow a good hour to explore the rock-cut rooms, ringed by a spectacular amphitheater of cliffs. If you only pick one monastery, make it this one: the most intense in the country, just 9 km from the Garni temple.

A monastery set on a small hill, the plain and its vineyards below and, behind it, the snowy mass of Mount Ararat: Khor Virap delivers Armenia's most famous image, just a few kilometers from the Turkish border.

The site is also a pillar of national history: Saint Gregory the Illuminator is said to have spent thirteen years imprisoned in a pit here before converting the country to Christianity. People come as much for that founding story as to gaze at the biblical 5,165 m peak, which stands on Turkish soil.

At 45 minutes by road from Yerevan and free to enter, it's the easiest excursion in the country. No other site puts Ararat this close to your lens.

The cabin swings out over the Vorotan gorges and the monastery appears, perched at the edge of the void. Arriving at Tatev by air remains one of the great thrills of a trip to Armenia.

A major intellectual center in the Middle Ages, Tatev has to be earned: you reach it via the Wings of Tatev, the world's longest reversible cable car at 5,752 m, certified by Guinness World Records, for a crossing of about 12 minutes.

Budget around 9,000 AMD (~€21) for the round trip, then one to two hours to explore the monastic complex above the gorges. This is the site that single-handedly justifies pushing on into Syunik: farther, wilder, unforgettable.

Water of an almost unreal blue and crisp high-mountain air: Lake Sevan, sitting at nearly 1,900 m above sea level, is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in Eurasia.

On its northern peninsula, Sevanavank monastery, founded in 874, keeps watch over the water. A few flights of steps take you up to the most photographed panorama on the lake.

You climb, take your photos, then head back down for grilled sig fish at the lakeside shacks. An hour's drive from Yerevan, it's the perfect lakeside breather between two days of monasteries, and the natural gateway to Dilijan.

Yerevan comes as a surprise: pink tuff facades, the fountains of Republic Square, lively terraces late into the night. The Armenian capital is best explored on foot, coffee in hand.

Two landmarks set the tone. The monumental staircase of the Cascade, an open-air contemporary art museum, offers a view of Ararat. The Matenadaran holds more than 17,000 ancient manuscripts, the written memory of the nation.

Plan two days: museums, the GUM market for dried fruit, the Vernissage on weekends for handicrafts. Yerevan is also the best base in the country: most of the major sights can be visited as day trips from its hotels, under 2 hours away by road.

This is the spiritual heart of the country. Etchmiadzin cathedral, seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, is regarded as one of the oldest Christian cathedrals in the world.

The ensemble has been on the UNESCO list since 2000, together with the circular ruins of the Zvartnots temple, whose re-erected columns stand out against the sky. Between them, these two sites tell the story of the birth of history's first Christian state.

At 20 km from Yerevan, the outing fits into half a day: marshrutka to Etchmiadzin, a visit to the cathedral, then a stop at Zvartnots on the way back. It's hard to understand Armenia without coming here: this visit hands you the keys to the rest of the trip.

A Greco-Roman temple standing above a Caucasus gorge: Garni stands apart. It's the only Hellenistic temple preserved in the entire region.

Built in the 1st century, in 77 AD according to the inscription of Tiridates I, it collapsed in the earthquake of 1679 before being rebuilt stone by stone between 1966 and 1976. Its 24 basalt columns tower over the Azat gorges.

The visit costs about 1,500 AMD (~€3). Then walk down into the gorge: the "Symphony of Stones", a natural basalt colonnade, extends the visit by a spectacular hour. Choose Garni for the counterpoint: after the Christian monasteries, this pagan temple tells the story of another Armenia.

The road winds along the floor of a red-cliffed canyon near Amaghu, then Noravank appears, seemingly ablaze in the evening light. The jewel of the Vayots Dzor lives up to its reputation.

The complex is famous for the two-story Holy Mother of God church and for its bas-reliefs carved by Momik. Late in the day, the light literally sets the rock on fire.

Entry is free and an hour is enough to wander between the churches and the foot of the cliffs. Its position on the Yerevan-Tatev road, a stone's throw from Areni, makes it an obvious stop: this is the monastery to pick for color, where Geghard plays on dark stone and Khor Virap on the panorama.

In the green Debed gorges, in the far north of the country, Haghpat and Sanahin face each other across the valley. The atmosphere here is greener and more secretive than in the south.

These two complexes from the 10th-13th centuries are UNESCO-listed as the pinnacle of Armenian religious architecture: Haghpat inscribed as early as 1996, joined by Sanahin in 2000. In the Middle Ages, they ranked among the country's great centers of learning and manuscript illumination.

Allow half a day to link and visit both monasteries. It's the perfect stop on the road from Yerevan to Tbilisi via Alaverdi: while most travelers race for the border, you'll have these masterpieces almost to yourself.

Wooden-balconied houses, sloping streets, deep forests as far as the eye can see: Dilijan, nicknamed Armenia's "little Switzerland", is a complete change of scenery at the heart of a national park.

A few kilometers away, Haghartsin monastery (13th century) rises out of the forest like an apparition, one of the most romantic sights in the country.

People come here to slow down: hike the marked trails of the Transcaucasian Trail, sleep in a guesthouse, visit Haghartsin, free to enter, in the calm of the morning. Choose Dilijan if you want to add green nature to an otherwise mineral trip: it's the exact counterpoint to the arid plateaus of the south.

Twelve leaning slabs close in around an eternal flame, in a silence that even tour groups respect. Built in 1967 on a hill in Yerevan, Tsitsernakaberd honors the victims of the 1915 genocide.

The twelve slabs represent the twelve lost provinces. The adjoining museum retraces, with restraint, the tragedy that shaped modern Armenian identity.

Allow about an hour and a half for the memorial and museum together. It isn't a pleasant visit, but it illuminates everything else: you can't understand Yerevan, or the diaspora, without coming to this hill.