Cable car and other Armenia Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: A cable car goes from Alaverdi up the steep mountain to Sanahin. It goes from behind the post office, just north of the city centre and busstation. Buses comming from Vandazor stops at the cable car stop.
The cable car is not running all day. When I was in Alaverdi, in June 2003, it was running as follow:
07.15 - 09.45
11.00 - 14.00
15.00 - 19.30
23.15 - 23.45
00.15 - 00.45
It is very cheap. One way costs 50 drams.

Leave a Comment

'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: I went to Tabriz in Iran by bus from Yerevan. A few weeks before leaving home I booked a ticket via email through Tatev Travel, but not until I picked it up I had to pay for it, 17 000 drams (about 40 dollars). I was going to Tabriz, but the price was the same for Tehran, to where the bus was continuing. There is supposed to be a bus every day, but when I arrived to Yerevan I was told the Monday bus was cancelled and I had to leave one day earlier.

At 10.15, 15 minutes late, the bus left Kilikya Avtokayan in Yerevan. It was a big comfortable and air-conditioned bus with Iranian plates. It is a long journey. A man on the bus was sick and we stopped several times for him to go out (once we stopped by some cherry trees with yummy cherries). After 5,5 hours we passed Goris and a litter further south it was time for food break and we stopped by a restaurant.

The journey through southern Armenia was very long, it doesn’t look so long on the map, but there are many high mountains (with beautiful views) and no tunnels.

The tip is to long, but continues below...

Leave a Comment

Website: www.tatev.com

'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: At 20.30 we arrived to the border, where it took two hours on the Armenian side. I was the last one to be ready as the Russian controller took long time to check my passport. Not until everyone was seated in the bus and we crossed a bridge all women took their scarves on. As we arrived on the Iranian side all our passports were collected and we waited. While I waited I changed money at an exchange office and bought some crisps at a shop. Everyone changed the time on their watches back 1,5 hours. At the Iranian side of the border it took 1,5 hours before we were finished and could continue.

Before arriving in Tabriz we stopped for another food break. Back in the bus I wished I was going to Tehran because I wanted to sleep, but suddenly we where in Tabriz and there only I and another passenger left the bus. The driver of the bus asked the other passenger to take me to my hotel in the same taxi as he was taking (even if I don’t speak Farsi and they didn’t speak English) and I was glad for not being left alone in the outskirts of Tabriz in the middle of the night, even if there were other taxis around.

I had been told the bus ride between Yerevan and Tabriz should take 14 hours but it took more than 18 hours. It didn’t feel so long, but it was inconvenient to arrive in the middle of the night.

Leave a Comment

'Mode': TO
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: There is a marshrutka (minibus) at 9.20 from Ortachala in Tbilisi to Vanadzor. It leaves earlier if it gets full, which was the case when I travelled with it. To Ortachala you can take marshrutka 94 and 118 from Marjanishvili (from outside McDonald’s). I arrived at the station around 8.00, bought the ticket and had some tea and bread. At 8.45 the bus was full and left Tbilisi. We were going very slowly and after a while we stopped and the driver fixed the engine. Almost all the way the road was bad with lots of potholes. Before the border the road only became more narrow and it was slowly going up and up, and we did not meet any other vehicles for a long time. The border crossing was Mughanlo.

Getting the visa was easy. I filled in a form and paid 30 dollars, they put the data in the computer and stamped the visa. There was no comments about my Azeri visa.

In Stepanavan the marshrutka stopped outside an office for money exchange and I changed my last laris into drams.

The bus ride took between 5 - 6 hours and the price was 16 lari.

In Vanadzor the bus stopped at the bus station, next to the train station.

From Ortchala in Tbilisi there are also several buses a day leaving for Yerevan.

Leave a Comment

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus

Leave a Comment