Tatev Day trip from Yerevan

Tatev is one of the expensive day trips from Yerevan, costing around 15000 AMD or 40 USD per person in a group tour set up. Other day tours cost 10000-12000 AMD or less.

Tatev is about 250 kms from Yerevan city, hence the tour takes full day, starting 7 AM and ending 10 PM.

Tatev tour typically includes the following stops/attractions

• Khor Virap church near Turkey border
• Areni Winery
• Areni 1 cave (1000 AMD entry ticket extra), (our tour didn't stop at Cave 2)
• Noravank Monastery
• Shaki Waterfall
• Lunch stop 
• Spandarian Reservoir photo stop 
• Tatev Cable car ride to see monastery (9000 AMD cable car ticket extra)
• A stop at mini Stonehenge kind of rocks by the highway 

I will write briefly about each of the above stops

#1 Khor Virap church near Turkey border

Our first stop was a church near Turkey border. Need to climb about 100-150 steps. 

#2 Areni Winery

Armenia's oldest winery, wasn't as big and grand as the one we saw in Georgia. We were given a brief walkthrough of the room where wines were stored.

#3 Areni cave 1

Areni has 2 sets of caves. First cave had a 1000 AMD entry ticket, approx 3 USD)

Cave 2 was slightly ahead but our tour van didn't stop at Cave 2)

#4 Noravank Monastery

Armenia claims to the first country that declared Christianity as state religion. This church- main one was closed for visitors, a secondary church was open. Few restaurants are also available in the campus.

View from the monastery 

#5 Shaki Waterfall

Nice wide waterfall. Some 500 meters walking needed from parking. No one was taking bath under the falls. It was possible to climb up by the side and see the falls from top- there was another access road from the top side.

#6 Lunch Stop

Your tour operator will stop at some restaurant on the way for lunch. They will also tempt your to pre-order. The place we stopped during Tatev trip was reasonably priced compared to restaurant the previous day near Sevan Lake. Veg options are limited, but you will get bread, rice, salad, french fries, Pizza etc.

#7 Spandarian Reservoir photo stop 

#8 Tatev Cable car ride to see monastery

Tatev is some 250 kms from Yerevan and was the main attraction of the trip. It has a church on top, accessible via cable car that costs 9000 AMD or 2000 INR approx. There is a longer road option that is cheaper but takes 40 minutes one way - tour operators are not keen to use this road to take us there. They would rather rest near cable car station and make us spend another 2000 INR per person.

When we reached there there was lots of mist- visibility was zero. I didn't see a point spending another 2000 INR and going to top only to see white cover everywhere. The church campus looks like below, visibility permitting. You will be given some  90 odd minutes to go up in cable car, view the church and come back. Just enough time, no buffer to wait for clouds to clear etc.

You can also hire a 4x4 jeep and enjoy some ride in the area. There is a good restaurant- I ordered some noodles and waited for an hour for the folks to return

The Tatev cable car ride is the most expensive part of the trip- when we visited it was all cloudy and visibility was zero. Thus I decided to save 2000 INR and not to take cable car ride further up. 

#9 Stonehenge of Armenia

Some other tours seem to have another spot called Khndzoresk bridge, which wasn't included in our tour though.

With whom to book tours in Armenia? 

I booked through an operator named Ofelya Tour- they don't have a physical shop, just operate from a car parked by the roadside near Republic Square. I paid 15000 AMD or 3500 INR. We were taken in an old Honda Odessy car. A bigger minibus would have been more comfortable- you can try with other operators who may charge a bit more. 

Map link

 Similar: Visiting Armenia- first impressions * Sevan Lakes day trip *