Armenian Highlands

The Air France flight we recommend lands at Zvartnots International Airport outside Yerevan. We will transfer you straight to the Grand Hotel Yerevan, where you can catch a good night's sleep at the start of your Armenian adventure.

Armenia’s charming and vibrant capital city, Yerevan, founded in 782 BC, is so named because it's believed that Noah, sighting dry land, cried in Armenian “Yerevats! Yerevats!” (“It’s appeared! It’s appeared!”). We begin our morning with a walk through this friendly city, uncovering layers of history among streets lined with lively cafes and wine bars, fascinating museums, symmetrical squares and soviet era architecture. We’ll pay our respects to the reported 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives during the genocide in 1915, followed by a light lunch at an art gallery and museum house. We’ll break the 3.5 hour drive to Gyumri with a visit to the 10th century Amberd Fortress in the foothills of Mount Aragats which, standing at 4,090 metres, is Armenia's highest mountain. Arriving in Gyumri in the early evening, we’ll check into our hotel and, if there’s time, walk to Vardanants Square. Dinner will be at a small family owned restaurant in the city.

Bidding farewell to urban Armenia, we’ll take a short transfer before jumpng on our bikes near the village of Musayelyan. At 2,000 metres above sea level, this is the highest point on our journey through Armenia’s highlands. We’ll cycle along an old Soviet-era road, passing through expansive steppe and alongside rolling hills. After lunch in a village west of Stepanavan, named in 1923 to honour the Bolshevik leader Stepan Shahumyan, we’ll cycle along a river and through meadows to reach the town itself. Tonight we’ll stay in a modern, family owned guest house and enjoy dinner cooked by the family.

After breakfast we’ll continue our journey into a very different landscape on foot, through forested hills and meadows to Pushkino. There we will hop on our bikes and cycle along the southern edge of the Dzoraget river gorge. The gravel road is barely used, and a little rough in places so patience and concentration is required (there is the option of taking a smooth tarmac road much of the way too). After lunch we cycle out of the gorge and descend across another - the Debet river canyon - to our accommodation, a modern concept hotel that is run as a social enterprise. Income is invested into delivering educational programmes to more than 2,000 children in the surrounding rural communities. Dinner will be with our friends at their guest house, which is a short walk from the hotel.

There is no better way to start the day than to walk unencumbered through the quiet villages, rolling hills and wooded hillsides of the Armenian countryside. Starting from the hotel we’ll walk out through the peaceful village of Debet into the hills to Yeghegnut. There we’ll be met with our bikes for a short cycle to the nearby village of Dsegh, once home to the 'Poet of All Armenians', Hovhannes Tumanyan. After visiting his former home, we’ll wind our way along another quiet old road and along the river Marts. Tonight we’ll stay in simple, comfortable log cabins beside a rushing river where our host Davit will look after us.

Davit’s cabins sit within a wild and forested landscape, unfenced and unexplored. We’ll set off on foot to walk through two of our favourite villages. Following a river through the forest, we'll then climb up and over the hill to Atan, passing grazing horses and shepherds. By bike we will make our way through Davit’s ancestral homeland, where his family has lived for seven generations. After lunch we’ll cycle gently downhill for 18 km where we will be met by our transfer vehicle which will take us back to the Grand Hotel Yerevan, where our journey began. Our final dinner will be at one of our favourite restaurants in Yerevan.

We have designed this journey to align with the Air France flight that departs Yerevan this morning. Assuming you are taking this flight, we will drive you to the airport and say our goodbyes.