Category: Armenia 🇦🇲

Where Next Barney’s route guide to Armenia

Ed Gill writes »

In June and July 2022, I spent five weeks riding and exploring Armenia’s backcountry and trails, entering from Georgia in the north-east, heading south down the eastern side of the country to the Iranian border, before making my way back up to Yerevan on the western side.

In this guide, I’ve tidied up and summarised the routes I took into 8 sections for anyone who is considering a trip there. By and large these routes are good for mid-weight and lightweight dual-sport bikes with decent 50/50 tyres and similarly equipped 4x4s, though the latter should proceed with more caution than the former.

From the muddy mountains of the country’s north-eastern Tavush and Lori regions to the searing heat along the border with Iran, Armenia is an explorer’s delight. The country is slightly sleepier but no less beautiful and the people no less welcoming then its slightly more brash, northern neighbour, Georgia.

Follow this link to read the whole guide, complete with GPX files!

Thanks Ed!

~~~

Adventure Trend’s Armenia Country Profile

Transcaucasian Trail nears completion

Rebecca McPhee, Explorersweb »

Since 2015, the Transcaucasian Trail Association (TCTA) has been developing a 3,000km hiking trail across the Caucasus Mountains. The finished Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) will consist of two 1,500km sections spanning Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

The northern route follows the Greater Caucasus Mountains and connects the Black and Caspian Seas. The southern route spans the Lesser Caucasus Mountains from the Black Sea to the Aras River.

While the trail is still being developed in Azerbaijan, there are currently hundreds of kilometres of trail open to the public. The TCTA hope that a 1,200km route from northwest Georgia to southern Armenia will be fully open by 2022.

More »

» Transcaucasian Trail

Watch Noraly from ItchyBoots.com Travel Through Georgia and Armenia as She Rides Around The World

We last connected with Noraly transiting quickly through Russia and the border crossing into Georgia. With this video series we follow her progress in Georgia.

Ep. 96 – Noraly crosses into Georgia
And heads to Tbilisi, the capital city.

Ep. 97 – Boom! Noraly surprises us by crossing into Armenia
In the video she tells us why.

Ep. 98 – Noraly highlights the people of Armenia

Ep. 99 – Noraly visits The Republic of Artsakh
Artsakh is a breakaway state that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan

Ep. 100 – Noraly returns to Armenia

 

The 10 least-visited European countries

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recently released their annual Tourism Highlights report which tracks international tourist arrivals.

Here is a list of the European countries with the least international tourist arrivals (Some, I imagine, is simply due to their size):

  • San Marino – 60,000
  • Liechtenstein – 69,000
  • Moldova – 121,000
  • Monaco – 336,000
  • Macedonia – 510,000
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina – 777,000
  • Luxembourg – 1,054,000
  • Armenia – 1,260,000
  • Serbia – 1,281,000
  • Montenegro – 1,662,000

Of note, the UNWTO did not publish the data for Belarus and Slovakia.