About Armenia

Not an obvious choice when planning your next adventure, but Armenia delights all those who make the journey there. This landlocked Caucasian country is home to a cosmopolitan capital city, Yerevan, windswept mountains, timeless villages occupied by shepherds and a wealth of monasteries and churches. Yerevan may still have some landmark Soviet-era monuments, but nowadays the city has more of a Mediterranean feel with its café culture where you will find yourself lingering for hours over a coffee.

Early Christian influences and the impact of centuries of Ottoman and Persian occupation are evident in the plethora of stone churches hidden in verdant gorges and medieval monasteries and fortresses pepper the countryside. Be intrigued by monasteries precariously perched high up in lofty gorges, such as Noravank, 1st century Garni Temple, which dominates the valley below from its advantageous position, or Geghard monastery, cut into the side of a cliff.

Make sure you spend time at Lake Sevan and taste the trout from its clear alpine waters. Wander through the field of khachkars at Noraduz, hundreds of cross-stone memorials, and pay a visit to Armenia's Stonehenge at Karahunge. Don't leave the country without tasting the brandy, claimed to be a favourite tipple of Winston Churchill.