1. It’s very easy to stay in Yerevan and do day trips to outlying places. We loved our hostel (Yerevan Hostel), found the staff extremely helpful, and found the tours they offered perfect and affordable.
2. Food is very cheap! That being said, there are expensive areas in the city where you can buy the exact same food for a much higher price. Do not eat near the underground mall where things are overpriced. We loved a place called “The Green Bean” which offered tasty, organic food for extremely good prices ($3 a meal? I can’t even buy a Latte for that at home!)
3. Armenia is a very cheap place to travel. Food, tours, museum entrances…everything is very affordable. We found that Armenia was cheaper than nearby Georgia, and MUCH cheaper than Azerbaijan.
4. It’s absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t even read my books in many of our car rides as my eyes were glued to the window. Yerevan sits in a plateau, and the mountains that surround it are simply magnificent.
5. Seeing the vestiges left by Soviet rule are so interesting! What stuck out most to me were the Soviet era cars and buses.
6. Monasteries! If you want to see a few monasteries a day, you should definitely visit Armenia. I don’t think there was day where we did not visit one!
7. The people in Armenia are absolutely the kindest and most hospitable people in the world. Fine, I may be biased as I’ve only been now to 56 countries. But really, everyone we encountered was so eager to help us, whether it was passers-by who happily directed us places, taxi drivers, or waiters, we found that everyone we met offered help without being asked, and with a friendly smile.
