Joel Balsam is a travel journalist and editor whose work has appeared in TIME, National Geographic Travel, The Guardian, BBC Travel, American Airlines, Travel + Leisure and more. He is the Lonely Planet guidebook author for Armenia, Morocco and France.
All hikes up Mount Aragats start from Lake Kari, which can be reached by road from Byurakan.
Aragats has four peaks, all of which you can climb. The tallest and most challenging being the northern peak, which is 4,090m high and requires ropes and wading through snowfields. The 8.5km trip takes about two days and is for experienced trekkers/mountaineers only.
An easier, though no less fulfilling option, is to climb the southernmost peak, which spans 4.7km to reach the 3,893m-high summit. Hikers also sometimes climb the western peak (3,995m) and the eastern peak (3,908m).
On your way up or down to the lake, don’t miss Amberd Fortress, a well-kept 7th-century stone fortress that commands beautiful views over the plains. For something totally different, 20km northeast of the town of Byurakan is a field of monuments to the Armenian alphabet, which was built in 2005 to mark the 1600th anniversary of Mesrop Mashtots inventing the language.
Many hikers stay in Yerevan and come up to Mount Aragats on day trips, but I'd recommend you stayat Lake Kari, or the nearby towns of Byurakan and Ashtarak.
At a glance
Destinations
Mount Aragats
Activity
Adventure, Hiking & Trekking, Active, Walking, Nature & WildlifePhysical Level
Moderate
Duration
2 days

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Mount Aragats from Lake Kari
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