Khor Virap, Garni, Geghard and Charents Arch Tour Yerevan

Khor Virap Monastery and the view of Mount Ararat

Khor Virap stands on a low hill in the Ararat plain, a few hundred metres from the Turkish border, and it offers the closest view of Mount Ararat from Armenian soil. The monastery grew around the pit where Saint Gregory the Illuminator was held for years before he cured King Tiridates III and led Armenia to Christianity in the early fourth century. Visitors can still climb down the ladder into the pit.

Many travellers ask whether a Khor Virap tour is worth the drive from Yerevan, and the answer is yes: it is the classic Ararat postcard. The best time to visit Khor Virap is a clear morning, when the peak is sharp above the fields, so our day trip begins here and gives you time for photographs and a short walk on the hill.

Garni Temple in the Azat gorge

Garni Temple is a first-century Hellenistic building with a colonnade of 24 slender columns, standing on a cliff above the Azat river gorge. It was probably built for the sun god in the reign of King Tiridates I, and after an earthquake in 1679 it was rebuilt from its original stones in the 1970s. Next to it you can see the remains of a Roman bathhouse with a mosaic floor.

If you plan a Garni Temple tour, give yourself about forty minutes to walk the site and look into the gorge. Garni Temple tickets are not included in the price, so the entrance fee is paid on the spot, and opening hours change by season. A guide helps you read the pagan temple against the Christian monasteries you visit later.

The Symphony of Stones

Below Garni, the walls of the Goght gorge are lined with tall hexagonal basalt columns that hang like the pipes of a giant organ. They formed when lava cooled slowly and cracked into regular prisms, and the local name, Symphony of Stones, comes from the way the wall looks and, in wind, sounds. It is one of the most photogenic natural spots near Yerevan.

A short path leads down from the viewing area to the river for the best angle. The entrance fee for the Symphony of Stones is not included in the tour price, so bring a little cash. Wear shoes with grip, because the steps can be slippery after rain.

Geghard Monastery

Geghard Monastery sits at the end of a narrow valley, where its chapels are cut deep into the cliff. The name means the Monastery of the Spear, linked to the lance said to have wounded Christ and once kept here. The main church dates from 1215, and the rock-cut chambers behind it, with their echo and carved khachkars, are the reason the complex is on the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the upper Azat valley.

A Geghard Monastery tour from Yerevan is often the favourite stop of the day for its atmosphere. Cover your shoulders and knees as a sign of respect, and spend time in the dark chapels where choirs still test the acoustics.

Charents Arch and the return to Yerevan

The tour also stops at Charents Arch, a stone arch dedicated to the poet Yeghishe Charents. On a clear day the arch frames Mount Ararat across the valley, which makes it a favourite place for a last group photograph.

After the stop the vehicle returns to Yerevan along the same valley road. Many visitors use this last stretch to look back over the day, because it links so many layers of history, from the sacred monastery on the plain and the pagan temple on the cliff to the volcanic columns in the gorge. Expect to be back in the city after about eight hours in total.