Top Things To Do in Yerevan, The Capital of Armenia
Already in Armenia capital city Yerevan or planning a visit soon? Looking for tips about things to do in Yerevan? Keep reading and scrolling down to reap the best experiences from your Armenia capital visit.
Located in the heart of Armenia, this sunny city is amazingly cultural and friendly, so your trip to Yerevan is going to be altogether enjoyable. With numerous points of interest, Yerevan is one of the best cities for exploring nightlife as well, with its pubs, discos and sky bars.
Top Things to do in Armenia capital: Explore Top Symbols of Yerevan from Above
Erebuni Fortress is the first place we recommend to visit. In 2018, Yerevan will witness the celebration of its 2800th anniversary. Yerevan is older than the Eternal City of Rome, yet, it has not retained its eternity. Maybe Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune and luck, was more powerful than her Armenian equivalent. Nevertheless, we are lucky enough to have this Urartian stronghold, dated back to 782 B.C, which became the foundation date of Yerevan.
Photo credits: Artem Avetisyan
Mother Armenia is the next thing to see in Yerevan during your trip. This is a monumental statue of a woman dominating the city center. The powerful lady holding a sword has replaced the Joseph Stalin statue installed on the same pedestal in the 1950s. It is worth mentioning that the Stalin statue in Yerevan was the last one dismantled in the USSR, back in 1962. In the early 1960s, Georgians would come to Yerevan to visit the statue of their beloved compatriot.
Photo credits: Wild Armenia
Tsiternakaberd is a worthy place to visit if you have heard about the Armenian Genocide. This Memorial Complex has a museum as well, and if you want to go into the details, reasons, and causes of the first massacre of the 20th century, then visit this museum, housing very rich documentation about the genocide. The spectacular view of mountain Ararat enhances the impressiveness of this must-see place.
Photo credits: Wild Armenia
Top Things to do in Armenia capital: Try local food in Yerevan
Yerevan Tavern ($) is one of many high-quality restaurants in Yerevan. They have several branches in Yerevan, each with a different trademark. The one on Teryan Street displays traditional Armenian bread- lavash baking process. In other branches of this restaurant, you can enjoy Armenian ethnic music in the evenings, with live performance.
Photo credits: Tavern Yerevan
Tospia($) is another great restaurant serving local food. It is located on one of the central streets of Yerevan. Musical events are also available in this restaurant, so you can introduce yourself to different styles of Armenian music here.
Photo credits: Tospia Restaurant
Lavash ($$) will be a great option for you if you want to have a good choice of Armenian dishes. The interior design is very modern and attractive and you can also buy local village products from here.
Photo credits: Lavash Restaurant
The Club ($$) is an artistic place with a restaurant and a tea room. The restaurant is a nice blend of Armenian and French cuisine, with excellent service. They also have movie screening evenings where films in their original language (subtitled English) are displayed.
Photo credits: The Club
Dolmama ($$$) is a restaurant located in one of the old buildings of Yerevan, and its interior is so exquisite that looks like an appetizer. Their specialty is tolma, a traditional Armenian meat dish, renowned for the patience of its cooks, as each individual small meatball is wrapped in a grape leaf.
Photo credits: Dolmama Restaurant
Bon appétit!
Top Things to do in Armenia capital: Visit Gems of Yerevan
Yerevan Republic Square is formed by the chief architect of modern Yerevan, Alexander Tamanyan. It is a perfectly organized space with a neo-classical style of buildings, which are mainly used today for administrative purposes. The pink color coating the majority of the town ’s buildings lead to the stereotype that Yerevan is a pink city, whereas an observant walking tour will reveal buildings of many colors. If you visit the square by night, you can see its main attraction: the singing fountains.
Photo credits: Suren Manvelyan
Yerevan Cascade is another place to visit in Yerevan. It’s very charming, with a nice sculpture garden and architecture perfectly blending with a landscape. Once you start to climb up the huge staircase, the breathtaking panorama of Yerevan with Biblical Ararat will gradually be unveiled. Note that the statue of Alexander Tamanyan at the very beginning of Cascade is misleading because he is not the author of this monument.
Photo credits: Diego Delso
Opera House. Awarded Grand Prix in Paris World Fair of 1937 is the next place in our top list. It has a very active square called Liberty Square, which is a child-friendly place with its rental bikes and cars. Take a moment to imagine a huge Lenin statue looming in front of you, surmounting this building. There was such a proposal by Soviet Moscow, but luckily Alexander Tamanyan, its architect, persuaded Soviet leaders that Lenin has no role in opera and this crazy plan soon became forgotten.
Photo credits: Wild Armenia
Top Things to do in Yerevan: Listen to the Narratives of Yerevan
History Museum of Armenia is one of the most amazing museums in the world, with such an abundance of archaeological, artistic and historical artifacts representing a single nation and country and this opinion is shared by many tourists. Be ready for a lot of information, because the museum covers periods from the Paleolithic to Early Smartphone Age. There is an internationally recognized artifact here: the oldest leather shoe in the world, excavated in an Armenian cave.
Photo credits: Hayk Barseghyan
Matenadaran is the next museum to visit in Yerevan. Here you can find a trove of illustrated manuscripts, both Armenian and foreign. The largest Armenian parchment manuscript, weighting 26 kg, will, with its dramatic history, express the unprecedented attitude of Armenians to books. The book survived the genocide thanks to two women who split the manuscript, weighing 28 kilos, and carried each half with them while fleeing to Western Armenia, on their trek to survive the genocide taking place in Eastern Armenia (nowadays Western Turkey).
Photo credits: Azat Gevorgyan
Parajanov Museum. A trip to this museum is another great thing to do in Yerevan. The museum of this versatile artist, housing his art, collages, assemblages, drawings, installations, dolls and hats, this museum is truly a feast for the eyes. Here you can also get an idea of what Parajanov was like as a world famous film director. The museum building overlooking Hrazdan river gorge is a beautiful replica of his Tbilisi house.
Photo credits: Wild Armenia
Yerevan Brandy Factory “Ararat“ with the famous “Ararat Museum” can truly become one of the highlights of your Armenia trip. If you ask any Armenian what is the most famous Armenian brand, the majority of them will mention “Ararat” brandy. Learn more about Armenian brandy and its history by checking out “Armenian brandy: legends and reality” article.
Top Things to do in Armenia capital: Discover Alternative but Awesome Yerevan
The Folk art museum has a very rarely unique reason to be visited: it houses the miniature sculptures of Armenian master Edward Khazarian next to embroidered, wood carved and silver artefacts. This master was the founder of micro sculpture in the world and he was so good in doing macroscopic work that he used to inscribe all 200 phone numbers on his own fingernail so as not to lose his friends’ contacts.
Cross stone Workshop Spot is a perfect place to get an insight about Yerevan masters. Visit this place while walking downtown Yerevan. These decorative stone crosses are unique to Armenia, thus it is very important to preserve the traditions of their making. Because of this, the workshop is of particular importance. You can also experience the process of making a cross-stone. Ask these friendly masters to pass their tools to you, and inscribe the next pattern yourself. Find more information about this place here․
Kond neighbourhood is a part of authentic Yerevan. You can consider this trip a short hike, as you are going to walk up the steep narrow streets of this multilayered neighbourhood to reach. This is the only part of Yerevan when you are going to find late 17th century buildings. One of the old Yerevan mosques, currently non-functioning, also survives here․ In 1915, this mosque sheltered a few families who escaped the genocide. These people could have never imagined that the mosque would save their lives as they had become victims of the Ottoman’s Islamic Regime.
Top Things to do in Armenia capital: Make Memories at the Photo Spots of Yerevan
Hrazdan Gorge makes the location of Yerevan geographically special, as it is the best place for photo tours. Visit Victory Bridge, named after the victory carried out in WWII by the USSR, and take pictures of the prehistoric gorge. If you are lucky enough, Biblical Ararat will show its double picks, ensuring fantastic photos.
Photo credits: Aghvan Asoyan
Victory Park is another fantastic spot to take pictures of Yerevan, due to its high location. Even though Mother Armenia holds a sword, don’t get scared to take her pictures, she never minds it. Ask Kim Kardashian, she did it during her Armenian tour. Don’t forget to pay special attention to its highly decorative pedestal, housing the War Museum.
Photo credits: Amos Chapple
The Botanical Garden is worth visiting, especially in autumn, because the colors here are amazingly nice. There are more than 100 species of endemic, rare and declining plants, so if you are a nature lover or have a botanical background, then this place may be of particular importance for you. It’s a very nice spot for cycling, so don’t hesitate to take a rental bike with you.
Photo credits: Artsrun Ganjalyan
Enjoy your stay in Yerevan!
