Garni and Geghard
A Greco-Roman temple on the edge of a gorge, and a monastery cut into rock twenty minutes away.
Duration
5 hrs – 7 hrs
Best time
In the morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman temple in the former Soviet Union: a first-century Ionic temple, probably to Mithra, spared by Christianisation because it served as a royal summer residence. It collapsed in an earthquake in 1679 and was rebuilt stone by stone in the 1970s, on the edge of a gorge whose walls are basalt columns.
Geghard, twenty minutes away, is the opposite: a monastery several of whose churches are cut entirely into the cliff, hollowed downward from the rock, with not a single block brought in. The acoustics of the chambers are extraordinary, and singing is often performed there.
Getting there
Thirty to forty kilometres east of Yerevan. Both are done in the same half day, by taxi hired by the hour or by marshrutka from the bus station.
What the price covers
Geghard is free; Garni charges, rate to be confirmed
What to bring
- Covering clothes
Rules on site
Negotiate the taxi for both sites with waiting time included, otherwise getting back from Geghard is difficult. Covered shoulders and a headscarf for women at Geghard, which is a working monastery.