Handpicked experience · Yerevan
Yerevan, Armenia
An eleventh-century monastery above the chairlifts, the only carved cross where Christ has Mongol features, and a forest town with the world's second-best tap water.
Ridgeline views reached by cable rather than on foot
A monastic complex nine hundred years older than the resort below it
Carved crosses on a headland above one of the largest high-altitude lakes anywhere
A timbered mountain town with workshops along its main street
A car and driver for the day, with the order of the stops in your hands
A private day of nine to ten hours from Yerevan taking in the ropeway at Tsaghkadzor, the monastery on the Sevan peninsula and the forested town of Dilijan, with your own vehicle and driver and room to add a stop if something catches your eye.
Three places with real distance between them, so a good part of the day is spent on the road and the private vehicle is what makes the sequence work. Each stop is short and mostly outdoors. The ropeway runs seasonally and its ticket is bought at the station rather than included, which is worth knowing before you plan the day around it.
Above the chairlifts at Tsaghkadzor stands a monastic complex begun in the eleventh century, with churches added over two hundred years and a scriptorium that produced manuscripts through the medieval period. It predates every piece of sporting infrastructure around it by roughly nine centuries. The two coexist without much comment: skiers in the car park, tenth-century masonry up the slope.
The peninsula monastery is surrounded by khachkars, the carved stone crosses that are Armenia's particular art form — no two are alike, and there are thousands across the country. The one here that people come to see shows the Crucifixion with Christ given distinctly Asian features, carved during the period of Mongol domination. It is the only known khachkar of its kind, and it is a small, strange record of who was in charge when the mason was working.
Dilijan sits in deep forest and was treated for most of the twentieth century as a place to send people to think. The state built rest houses there for composers, writers and film-makers, and a good deal of Soviet Armenian music was written in those wooden buildings. The old centre has been restored to its timbered nineteenth-century form, with balconies, galleries and craft workshops along one street.
A much-loved Soviet comedy has a character insist that Dilijan's tap water is the second finest anywhere, beaten only by San Francisco. The line became famous enough that the town built a drinking fountain with the exchange engraved on it, which is now the thing everyone photographs. The water is, in fact, very good.
The ropeway is seasonal, and its ticket, along with any site admissions, is settled on the spot. All three stops are higher and cooler than Yerevan. Meals are taken as the day allows rather than included. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Nine to ten hours from Yerevan. The three stops are genuinely far apart, so a good share of that is road time, which is what the private vehicle is for.
No — the ticket is bought at the station, and it runs seasonally. Worth confirming it is operating before building the day around it.
A complex begun in the eleventh century, with churches added over the following two hundred years and a scriptorium that produced manuscripts through the medieval period. It predates the sports infrastructure by about nine centuries.
It shows the Crucifixion with Christ given distinctly Asian features, carved during Mongol rule. It is the only known khachkar of its kind, out of thousands across the country.
Because the state sent its artists there. Rest houses in the woods were built for the creative unions, and a great deal of the country's twentieth-century music was composed inside them.
A well-known Soviet comedy has a character claim Dilijan's tap water is second only to San Francisco's. The town built a fountain with the dialogue engraved on it, and it is now the most photographed thing in the centre.
No — food is taken as the day allows and any site admissions are settled on the spot. The vehicle, driver, fuel and water are covered.