Cycling Armenia: Yerevan to Haghpat

This is the fourth of seven parts detailing my cycle tour around Georgia & Armenia in August and September 2024. Here are links to Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Five, Part Six and Part Seven. I had considered riding this section in three days, but the temperatures were forecast to be above 35°C, so I decided to take it easy and ride to Haghpat over four days.

I was happy with the decision as it gave me more time to take interesting diversions and discover more of rural Armenia. Highlights of this section included Bjni Fortress, Lake Sevan, Fioletovo and the Monasteries at Haghpat and Sanahin.



Leaving Yerevan was surprisingly straight forward. I joined a road alongside the Hrazdan River which was very quiet and mostly flat, before climbing out of the valley after around 8km.

This was a great route to avoid cars, and traffic was still light through the posh suburb of Arabkir. I rejoined the river valley following pleasant trails and small paved roads as far as the town of Nor Hachn.





Nor Hachn was quite busy and not a very charming town. I delayed riding on the main H5 highway as long as possible, but had to join it for a stretch to Argel. It wasn't very pleasant, with cars driving quickly and sometimes passing a bit too close for comfort.

After Argel it was much better, following the nice paved road into Bjni. I climbed to the Bjni fortress, which was sacked by the Mongol conqueror Timur (Tamelane), and which offers very nice views of the gorge and surrounding countryside. In Bjni there are also mineral water springs where I filled my bottles up with natural sparkling water, complete with its own electrolytes!



I spent one night in Bjni, which was a charming little town, but there wasn't too much to see apart from the castle and fountains. I had considered several different routes out of Yerevan. The most ambitious was to ride up to Geghard Monastery and continue over Azhdahak mountain on dirt roads and trails, before descending towards Gavar on the southern side of Lake Sevan. This route is certainly possible to ride, but it is long, steep and remote. Given the very high temperatures and exposed nature of the mountains, it seemed prudent to save this for a future trip.



Another option was riding to the east of the main M15 highway, passing through Geghashen and Zovashen. This is a similar length to the route I took but more hilly and with more off-road sections. I think it would be a nice option, but I was fairly happy with the route I chose - it was only the stretch between Nor Hachn and Argel that wasn't so enjoyable.



= I left Bjni the following morning and continued heading north-east towards Lake Sevan. The first part of the ride was very nice on a good quality paved road alongside the Hrazdan River. There was a short and scenic climb, followed by a nice descent to Hrazdan Reservoir. Here, a large airplane was resting on an island in the reservoir, begging the question of how it got there!

After circling the reservoir the route joined the H1 road, following it for about 20km through Hrazdan and various smaller towns. I didn't enjoy this section much. The road was busy, although very wide, through Hrazdan and continued to be quite uninspiring all the way to Sevan - with the road quality deteriorating quite badly at times.

Lake Sevan

I think my negative impression of this section was partly influenced by the strong headwind I was battling, or maybe I have just been utterly spoilt by the scenery so far on the trip.

The town of Sevan itself was a rather unattractive concrete jungle. There are plenty of hotels there, but I presume tourists just use it as a base to explore more interesting and scenic places around the lake.

Lake Sevan is a huge freshwater lake situated at high altitude and is undestandably a major attraction in landlocked Armenia.



In Sevan, I turned off just before the road joined the main M10 highway around the lake - this slight diversio nfollowed a beautiful balcony road. It was extremely quiet and had some fantastic views looking down at the lake as well as the emblematic Sevanhank Monastery.

Probably the main attraction on the lake, Sevanahank is a small complex dating from the 9th century. It previously was situated on an island in the lake, however, since the lake was partly drained in the mid 20th century, it has turned into a peninsula.

It was very crowded when I visited on a Sunday afternoon, with mostly Armenian tourists admiring the fantastic vistas.



After the balcony road there was a short section on the M10 alongside the lake. This is a major road, almost like a motorway, which was very wide at first, but became narrow and congested close to the junction with the M14.

Traffic was heavy enough that cars were moving very slowly and so it wasn't dangerous, but I wouldn't recommend cycling around the lake itself for any appreciably distance, at least not on this busy northern end.



I left the main road as soon as possible, and began a short climb up from the lake through the village of Semyonovka. If, like me, you are riding to Dilijan, this is the way to go. It climbs on a very scenic and quiet road and avoids the dangerous tunnel on the main highway.

The descent down to Dilijan was a lot of fun on a good paved road. The first part was very quiet with lots of hairpin bends. The second part joined the main road, but it was very wide at this point and, in any case, I was descending at a similar speed to the traffic so the cars weren't really an issue.

Dilijan & Fioletovo

I stayed just one night in Dilijan, which is another major tourist center. It wasn't the most impressive town, but I think the beauty is in its surroundings. Apparently there is some very nice hiking in the Dilijan National Park.

My plan was to to climb west out of the valley and then follow the road north into the imposing looking Debed Canyon.



The climb out of Dilijan on the M8 wasn't too bad. The road was in good condition and traffic wasn't too heavy, although I did once have to jump out of the way of an oncoming car overtaking another at extremely high speed.

I turned off onto a gravel road just before the village of Fioletovo. I highly recommend this, following the road all through Lermontovo until it rejoins the main road at the top of the pass.

The roads were part gravel, part cobbles and part paved, but all were in pretty good condition and easily rideable with gentle gradients.



Fioletovo and Lermontovo are Molokan villages. The Molokans were ethnic Russians exiled to the far reaches of the empire in the 19th century for refusing to give up dairy before Easter, and in doing so defying the authority of the tsar. Their name derives from the Russian word for milk - 'moloko'.

The people here looked very Slavic, with lots of blonde hair and blue eyes, and they spoke Russian. I had a short chat with a guy called Ivan who was friendly and was explaining a bit about his history. The villages are quite poor, agricultural settlements, where apparently the way of life has changed little since they first arrived several generations ago. The houses are very colourful and intricately decorated, contrasting with many of the more austere Soviet style buildings in Armenia.

The scenery was very picturesque here, with high mountains on both sides, with just a thin strip of agricultural land nestled next to the pass.




Rejoining the M8, it was a fast descent to Vanadzor. I bypassed the town center, taking a bumpy track over the railway where it joined the M6 road.

I was a bit apprehensive about riding on the M6, as it is the main highway running north out of Armenia. To be honest, the traffic was not bad at all in this section. There were a few trucks, but the road was quiet enough that they could leave plenty of room when overtaking. It was also gently downhill so I made fast progress. I found the round later on to be a bit busier around Alaverdi, and have heard that it gets particularly busy and dangerous for riding as it continues into Georgia.

It was possible to avoid the roads by taking trails over the mountain from Dilijan to Debed. I considered this, but they were extremely steep in places, with long sections around 20% gradient. With a loaded bike and rough terrain I decided that this wouldn't be much fun.

Debed Canyon

The ride from Dilijan finished with a short, steep climb and descent into Debed. I had considered riding onto Haghpat this day, but wanted to do more exploring on the gravel trails in this area, so didn't want to rush through. Debed is situated at the start of the eponymous Debed Canyon - a beautiful deep gorge formed by the Debed River. The village itself didn't have much to see, but was in a picturesque mountain setting.

The following day I descended out of Debed and crossed the canyon, taking a beautiful gravel road up towards Dzoragyugh. This was in pretty good condition and was all rideable with steady gradients. The hairpin bends offered glimpses of the valley and led at the top to a nice open plateau.



I continued along dirt roads, stopping at the ruins of the charming Hnevank monastery and church complex. After crossing the river there was a spectacular climb up to Arevatsag, with a great surface and fantastic views the whole way.

There are two route options from Arevastag. The simple way is to join the paved road and follow it into Odzun. The alternative, which I took, is to follow a grass and dirt track along the upper edge of the gorge. This route was a little bumpy in places, but mostly smooth and offered fantastic views overlooking the Debed Canyon. Ride with GPS shows this part of the route to be very hilly, but that's a tracking error because the trail was so close to the cliff edge. In reality it was almost flat.



Along with the riding around Vardzia and Ninotsminda, this was probably my favourite part of the tour so far. The trails were completely empty and in good condition, and the views climbing up to the top of the canyon and then riding above the canyon itself were spectacular.



Another treat lay in store shortly after I joined the paved road at Aygehat. In the town of Odzun there is a magnificent church. Originally dating from the 5th century it is one of the oldest in Armenia. It has beautiful colours and decoration on the outside of the building, and an austere but imposing interior.

Next to Odzun church there are some small stands and bars selling refreshments. Since it was around 38°C, I was happy to provide them with some custom.



From Odzun the route followeds ome more excellent gravel trails and minor paved roads to Hagvi. Here I had planned to descend on a steep trail down to Alaverdi. Upon seeing the trail I changed my mind! It wasn't only very steep, it was also bumpy, narrow and overgrown. On a full suspension mountain bike I would have gone down, but on a loaded touring bike I thought better of it.

Instead I retraced my route slightly and descended the hairpins of the H35 road down into the valley.



There were roadworks in the valley going into Alaverdi, which was annoying but also slowed the traffic down and so it felt very safe, despite there being quite a few trucks. I took the back route through Alaverdi which was an interesting town.

It has been a major copper producing centre for 3,000 years and had a very industrial feel - a stark contrast with the rural villages through most of the valley. The town had a major metal plant in Soviet times and there is still a lot of rusting infrastructure from this period - including cable cars and elaborate pulley systems.



It wasn't far from Alaverdi to my turn up to Haghpat. Just before the turn I stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant next to the river. Unfortunately they had sold out of most of the interesting things on the menu, but I did manage to get some meat and potatoes.

In general I liked Armenian food, it seemed to have quite a noticeable Persian or Middle Eastern influence. Personally though, I found Georgian food to be more consistently excellent - even in smaller villages.



After lunch, all that remained was the shortish climb up to Haghpat. It was close to 40°C and the average 10% gradient didn't look too appealing. In the end it wasn't too bad, the road surface was in perfect condition and I slowly and steadily inched my way to the top. It was necessary to avoid a few cows on the way up, which could just about be made out through the sweat and sunscreen soaked glasses!

I was happy when the houses of Haghpat appeared and was even rewarded with a short descent riding in the center of town to finish.



I stayed at Haghpat Hotel for two nights, situated right in the heart of the village. The owners here were extremely friendly and hospitable and I had a couple of great meals on the balcony admiring the large monastery complex.

Haghpat Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the main attraction in the area. In the early evening I had a look around and was extremely impressed by how well preserved the details were.



The monastery complex features many buildings including churches, libraries and chapels. The style is a mix of Byzantine and Armenian, and there is a theory that its construction was overseen by the same architect that rebuilt the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The decoration is simple and almost iconoclast in places, with only Armenian crosses (Khachkar) visible.

However, elsewhere there are impressive murals of Christ and the founding sponsors of the monastery. You can wander freely around the site and also enjoy its vantage point situated half way up the mountain. The story goes that it was built here, rather than on the top to show humility. The founders didn't want to give the impression that they were challenging God!

In the square outside the monastery there are small stands selling trinkets, pommegranate themed clothing, postcards and other items. There are also some vans selling fresh fruit. I indulged in some delicious figs, plums and blackberries.

The following day I would explore more of the area on foot.



Part 1 - Kutaisi & Akhaltsikhe

Part 2 - Vardzia & Ninotsminda

Part 3 - Gyumri & Yerevan

Part 5 - Stepanavan & Tbilisi

Part 6 - Mtskheta & Roshka

Part 7 - Shatili & Mutso


Georgia & Armenia Tour Overview


Cycling in Georgia


Cycling in Armenia


Cycle Touring Guides