Let Yerevan be the rooted start to your offshoot Armenian ventures, and capitalize on an orchard of possibilities.
With the Hrazdan River as your companion, take a stroll through the height of culture, a showcase of Armenian history, and the shadows of brutal Soviet architecture. OR just let your tastebuds frollik as regional flavors gather togehter, mingling over your dinner plate with a vineyard varietal to pair.
PCR Testing in Yerevan
I recommend Vardanants Center for Innovative Medicine for fast and affordable results. The test costs 9000 AMD, both card and cash are accepted. Try to arrive before the lunch time rush or suffer the que consequences. Results must be picked up in person.
18/1 Vardanants st. / +374 (60) 59 21 00 / [email protected]
Remember to always check your personal information (name, passport ID and date of birth) upon receiving the results. This information must be accurate for the test to be accepted. A printed copy of the results is recommended as some countries will not accept e-results.
Transportation in Yerevan
Quick Facts
- Yerevan Card for the freebie fans
- Metro available
- Train available: International & Domestic
Yerevan Card
If bargains bring you bliss it may be worthwhile to pick up a Yerevan Card.
- Free ride from the airport using GG ride app
- Free Beeline SIM card
- 3x free metro rides (maximum of 15x)
- Free excursion:
- Visit Garni and Geghard with a lavash class & lunch
- Echmiadzin (Mother Cathedral, St. Hripsime, Treasury Museum) and Zvartnots Temple with a dolma class & lunch
- Megerian Carpet Factory
- Free map of Yerevan
- Free access to over 30 museums (including Yerevan Brandy Company)
- Discounts to restaurants and shops
The number of free metro rides and price varies depending on the plan type. This perk provider can be purchased online or throughout the city.
| Plan | Price | Metro |
| 1 day / 24h | 29 USD | 3x |
| 2 days / 48h | 37 USD | 3x |
| 3 days / 72h | 44 USD | 3x |
| 5 days / 120h | 51 USD | 5x |
| 1 week / 168h | 56 USD | 7x |
| Unlimited (1 Year) | 60 USD | 15x |
| Kids | 37 USD | – |
Metro in Yerevan
A single line studded with just ten stops makes navigation elementary. Purchase a bingo chip to cover the 100 AMD toll.
With stations open from 0630 to 2300 and trains arriving every ten minutes, the metro is a useful alternative to taxing about to Sasuntsi Davit (train station), Republic Square / Hanrapetutyan Hraparak, Yeritasardakan (Cascade), Marshal Baghramyan (Lovers’ Park), or Zoravar Andranik (Cathedral).
Additionally, a hot spot when it comes to free wifi.
Trains in Yerevan
The station at Tigran Metz Ave (Sasuntsi Davit metro stop) covers all tracks save for the summer, June to September, Shorza line. Set forth from the Kanaker station to behold the Caucasus largest body of water, Lake Sevan.
Tigran Metz station ticket counters are open from 0900 to 1800. The counters to your right sell a domestic delight. The counters to your left leave you with Georgia. Your choice. Passports and cash are required for both options. The daily domestic trains are divided between 1st class (plush seats) and 2nd class (wood seats).
Early bird? Shed your baggage and leave it lying in a locker or at luggage storage.
Places to Eat in Yerevan
Chayniy Domik
A charming tea house sits nestled in the park. Finish out a serendipitous stroll by simmering out over a plate of dolma and a twisted tea.
Mer Taghe
Two words… Lahmajun & Libations. If you’re looking for a quick and casual meal, nothing beats beer and pizza. Seating is limited but with speedy table turnover there’s not much of a wait.
Dargett Craft Brewery
The nation’s first craft brewery was also first to tap an Armenian IPA, cider, and fruit beer. With over 18 beers in rotation and flights available, both the choosy hophead and indecisive drinker are able to quench their thirst.
Trying to keep things balanced, Dargett also offers a daunting food menu. No need to dawdle, pizza or a meat platter pair perfectly. With live music, outdoor and two floors of indoor seating, the place remains packed.
Derian Restaurant
Dazzle your entourage as Derian does not disappoint. The superior service and tablecloth aesthetic allude to fine dining with the only illusion being the price (and perhaps a smidge of nicotine smog if you’re a non-smoker). Allow your tastebuds a lunchtime trip to Western Armenia as well as the Near East as you make your way down the menu. Keep it au naturel and sample the highlighted chee kufta.
Eat&Fit Healthy Food Cafe
Feeling slightly withered from last night’s debauchery? As they say, you are what you eat. Crawl forth and reclaim your health with a nutritiously delicious kickstart to your day be it salubrious salad or a rejuvenating juice.
Places to Drink in Yerevan
A kaleidoscope collection appeases the preferences of any drinker.
Beatles Pub
On your search to quench the Lonely Heart (or more so liver) submarine down from the streets into this retro pub. Look Across the Beatles’ Universe at walls and napkin holders reminiscing of Yesterday’s decades. With a Little Help from their Friends, the Lennon vision is rifted only by the sounds of varying classic rock.
Roza
Intimately simple. Sift through an array of dialogues while sipping a masterful cocktail.
Hemingway’s Pub
A railing of crowded sidewalk tables provides a fresh outdoor setting. Lose track of time with a midday liquid muse helping to inspire the writing of your next story post.
Calumet Ethnic Lounge Bar
Resembling a dark den far more than a lounge bar, hibernate yourself into a cushioned curl. Music soothes languid limbs as low tables scattered with beers provide sustenance during this dormant state.
Kong Cafe & Cocktail Room
Saunter towards your reserved table, bar seats solacing the ill-prepared. A dolled up drink and a handsome hors d’oeuvre entertain the early night.
Rio Bar
This colorfully casual hangout evokes a competitive outburst from its patrons, perhaps over courtship but undoubtedly over sportsmanship. Challenge your comrades to a tournament of foosball or ping pong to determine who buys next round.
Stoyka Pub
Barstools and parlor pleasantries unable to contain your dance desires? Hip shake to hedonism at this after hours club and allow yourself to synchronize to the beats of international hits.
Things to do in Yerevan
Alphabet Memorial
An epitaph on a single stone commemorates most, but what arrangement of words can convey the significance of the man who created the alphabet itself?
With pious purpose Mesrop Mashtots crafted the 36 initial symbols for Bible translation. A meaningful mission for Christianity as Syriac scriptures required interpretation, but even more so for national identity as the alphabet preserved the Armenian language.
16000 years later and with just three additional letters added, 39 massive stone markers stand written across the slopes of Mount Aragats near Oshakan, Mashtots’ final resting place.
A 40 minute ride from Yerevan, the Mashtot Memorial is worth every letter.
Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex
After 50 years the Armenian people were finally granted a place to honor the 650,000 – 1.2 million lives lost to the systematic massacres of the Ottoman Empire.
A pendant spears upwards piercing the sky. 12 stone slabs, the lost provinces of Western Armenian, bow their heads together huddled around the eternal flame, a rememberance of the countless Armenian victims.
In dedication to the 80th anniversary, the free museum was discreetly constructed into the hillside so as not to detract from the memorial. Poignantly, the museum stares out across the Ararat Valley at Mount Ararat.
In dedication to the 80th anniversary, the free museum was discreetly constructed into the hillside so as not to detract from the memorial. Poignantly, the museum sorrowly stares out across the Ararat Valley at Mount Ararat.
Exhibits written in Armenian, Russian, and English unfold the tragedy, but guided tours can also be purchased in advance for those with reading qualms.
Yerevan Brandy Company
Victory Bridge may appear as the brandy battlefield…
Two factories, both alike in dignity, in fair Yerevan, where we lay our scene… One might imagine a rivalry between the Ararat and Noy brandy factories as the two buildings remain in standoff, divided by the Hrazdan River. In actuality, they fall under the same ownership and are connected by Victory Bridge.
Yerevan Ararat Factory
Distill yourself from the plebes with a brush up on the brandy production process. Follow an award winning historic tale from vine to bottle and finish with a taste of happily ever after.
Daily scheduled tours are available in Armenian, Russian, and English. Reserve your tasting glass at Ararat.
| Price (AMD) | Tour | Tasting |
| 4500 | X | 3 stars brandies 10 yr brandy |
| 7500 | X | 3x flavored brandies |
| 10000 | X | 1 collection brandy 10 & 20 yr brandies |
Yerevan Noy Wine Brandy Vodka Factory
A museum for those who prefer magic to science. This tour does not reveal any secrets regarding brandy production. Instead, prepare to be amazed by the shared memorabilia and trivia tidbits, but even more so by the tasting finale.
Visit Noy website for more information. Tours supposedly need to be booked in advance via phone or email, but if you’re feeling bold, there may just be a spare snifter about.
(+374 10) 547-048 / (+374 77) 036-311 / [email protected]
| Price (AMD) | Tour | Tasting |
| 3500 | X | – |
| 5000 | X | 1 collection wine5 & 10 yr brandiesfruit & chocolates |
| 1500 | X | 2 collection wine10 & 20 yr brandiesfruit & chocolates |
Erebuni Fortress
A Brief History: The country capital actually began with the founding of this Urartian fortified city by King Argishti in 782 BC. An ancestry laden with invasion depicts perseverance as the city barely survived until eventually expanding and becoming the city Yerevan.
Grab a ride out to the outskirts to explore the remnants of the fortress first used to defend Urartia’s northern border.
Cascade Complex
For those lacking in the gift of drone sight, aerial views must be claimed by foot. Atop the Cascade Complex all are awarded with a panoramic picture of Yerevan, the speciality edition including the faint outlines of Mount Ararat rising from the horizon.
An eclectic sculpture garden serves as the red carpet (or in this case green) rolled out before the cascading limestone stairs. As if a crate of curiosities had been overturned, all its contents exposed for those to gawk at, pick your path around the paparazzi to reach the base and begin your 572 step ascent.
Each subsequent level showcases a sculpture or fountain exhibit and an excuse to catch your breath. For the delicate daisies who would undoubtedly wither under sunshine covered exertion, the complex innards do include escalators in addition to art displays.
Victory Park
A Brief History: Arabkir City Park was rebranded as Victory Park following the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany in WWII. The park along with a larger than life Stalin monument were presented to the public in 1950 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Sovietization of Armenia. Foreshadowing an expiration for dictatorship, the statue pedestal was styled similar to that of a basilica Armenian church.
A tumultuous removal of the Stalin statue occurred in 1962 and 5 years later was replaced with Mother Armenia. Sword drawn and resting across her palm, her intimidating presence stands guard over the country symbolizing peace through strength.
Tucked behind the top layer of the Cascade Complex, reigns the towering Mother Armenia and Victory Park. First impressions register a twinge of the twilight zone with military weapons flanked by a ferris wheel.
A peculiar pair, the park contains both a small amusement park as well as the Military Museum of the Ministry of Defense. The statue pedestal was converted into the free museum, its location adding to the defensive symbolism of Mother Armenia.
GUM Market
Sorry to disappoint as this isn’t a bubblegum bazaar, but the Russian abbreviation for Main Universal Store or Главный Универсальный Магазин.
Tantalize your taste buds with a rainbow array of market stands. Nature’s candy shop showcases fresh, dried and preserved fruits along with nuts, spices and sujukh, a stick of fruit syrup encased nuts (Armenian churchkhela).
Grown out of your sweet tooth? Stay grounded with the assortment of vegetables. Meet the bread bakers and learn their lavish lavash process.
Prices are determined by weight so easy on the heavy hand pours. Open daily from 1100 to 1700. Don’t forget your cash.
Kond Tunnel
Just shy of a half kilometer (0.3 mi), the graffiti spattered pedestrian tunnel (dimly) lights a path from city center to the kid’s amusement park along the Hrazdan gorge.
Children’s Railway
Creep through the Kond tunnel to hop aboard this toy train. Children’s railways were opened during Soviet times as an educational experience for youth to role play with the training wheels on.
Now a majorly defunct design, passengers are still able to chug along this surviving railroad line. The tracks are open daily 1000 to 2100 from May to October, and tickets are 300 AMD.
Museums
Need some entertainment for a rainy day or just an escape from the heat? Assuming it is not a Monday, enjoy the mind enhancing delights of a museum.
Ticket prices vary per museum and guided tours will usually cost you an additional fee of ~2000 AMD. Free explorations are granted to both Yerevan Card holders as well as kids under 7.
| Museum | Description | Price (AMD) | Address |
| Aram Khachatryan House-Museum | Composer | Adult 800 Student 300 | 3 Zarobyan str. |
| Avetik Isahakyan House-Museum | Poet | Adult 500 Student 300 | 10 Zarobyan str. |
| Cafesjian Museum-Foundation | Art | Free | Cascade |
| “Erebuni” Historical-Archeological Reserve-Museum | Archeology | 1000 | 38 Erebuni str. |
| Hovhannes Sharambeyan Centre of Popular Creation | Folk Art | Adult 1000 Student 300 | 64 Abovyan str. |
| Hovhannes Toumanyan Museum | Poet | Adult 500 Student 300 | 40 Moskovyan str. |
| Komitas Museum-Institute | Composer | Adult 1000 Student 300 | 28 Arshakunyats ave |
| Matenadaran | Manuscripts | Adult 1500 Student 300 | 53 Mashtots ave. |
| “Mother Armenia” Military Museum | Military | Free | Park “Haghtanak” |
| Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide | Armenian Genocide | Free | 8/8 Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex |
| Museum of Literature and Art After Yeghishe Charents | Art | Adult 1000 Student 300 | 1 Arami str. |
| Museum of Modern Art | Art | 500 | 7 Mashtots ave. |
| National Art Gallery of Armenia | Art | Adult 2000 Student 1000 | 1 Arami str. |
| Sergey Parajanov Museum | Film Maker | 1000 | Dzoragyugh, 15-16 eth. qrt. |
| State Museum of Armenian History | Armenian History | Adult 1500 Student 500 | 1 Arami str. |
| Ter-Ghazaryan’s Micro-Art Museum | Art | 2000 | 8 Abovyan str. |
| Yeghishe Charents House-Museum | Poet | 1000 | 17 Mashtots ave. |
| Yervand Kochar Museum | Artist | Adult 800 Student 300 | 39/12 Mashtots ave. |
Places to Stay in Yerevan
Duck Hostel
Well it certainly will suffice for the budget traveler. A single floor within a shared apartment building contains mixed dorms, a kitchen, and terrace.
The building entry is passcode protected, a secret unbeknownst to me. Patience and quick reflexes rewarded me entrance, following the exit of a building resident. An unlocked hostel door revealed an unmanned front desk which displayed the Whatsapp numbers for two unresponsive hosts. Thankfully, a bleary eyed guest gestured me to an open dorm room bunk.
All but one of the bathroom doors remained mysteriously locked through my stay. A flashlight shower initially deceived me into believing the sole available bathroom lacked electricity, but later illuminations revealed the work of an untimely power outage.
Interaction with the two hosts was limited to distrusting eyes and a “what do you want” as I attempted to refill my water bottle. Duck, duck, goose… I’ll choose someone else next time.
Ugly duckling ostracization makes for a minor complaint. Overall there was no issue outside of the initial lockout. I was able to “checkin” straight off the 0700 sleeper train and able to checkout using a blend of euros and dram (cash required).
