Tuesday 30th April – Yerevan

• Arrival in Yerevan and meet your guide at 10am in the hostel foyer.
• Morning departure to Goris via scenic route crossing mountains.
• Lunch at an Armenian Borat house for home brewed coffee, roast chicken, and for those brave enough… vodka.
• Arrive at Mirha hotel.
• Meet other group members.
• Visit the “old village” cave city on the outskirts of Goris, Capadocia of Armenia.
• Dinner in an all-Soviet collectors house for traditional Armenian dishes and wine.  Chance to buy Soviet memorabilia
• Overnight in Goris.

Wednesday 1st May

• Breakfast in the hotel.
• Visit Tatev Monastery using the longest cable car in the world, 5,700 meters!
• Traditional Armenian lunch in Goris.
• Met by our trusty fleet of vans for the highlight of this trip, the transfer to Nagorno-Karabakh, one of 4 unrecognized breakaway frozen conflict zones in the former Soviet Union.
• Check into Jazz Club Hotel
• Visit the foreign affairs department and get our Nagorno-Karabakh visas. It is optional to have it in your passport, as this stamp means you cannot enter Azerbaijan.
• Leisurely walk into town for a Walking tour of Stepankert, one of the smallest and slightly quirkier capital cities of the region.
• We also take the time to visit the fabulous Soviet-era amusement park and drive the dodgems!
• Visit to the national stadium for a look around.
• Pub crawl throughout the town.
• Overnight in hotel.

Thursday 2nd May

• Visit the extremely disturbing museum to fallen soldiers in battles during war with Azerbaijan.  Museum contains a variety of objects and photographs and tells of horror stories about the war.
• A stop for a private tour of a brand new but never properly used Stepanokert airport
• Drive by military base with chance to see tanks on a training course
• No visit without a photo op near the Tank monument, a first captured tank in the war
• #TRIP HIGHLIGHT# picked up by the Lada fleet to visit the “DMZ” abandoned town, Agdam AKA “The Hiroshima of the Caucuses”, situated at the front line of this frozen conflict zone – very off the beaten track.
• #NOTE# Technically it is not allowed to visit here, so the situation will be judged when we arrive. People will have to strictly follow instructions here.
• Quick lunch stop along the way to Gandzasar.
• Visit to the Gandzasar monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in the world, tracing its roots to 600 AD, it survived multiple bombing attempts by Azerbaijan during the conflict.
• Explore ancient cemetery around the monastery.
• Drive to a wacky village of Vank to see Titanic and Seastone hotels, strange places built by a local eccentric billionaire, and a real weird treat of the trip.
• Return to Stepanokert to have dinner at Ureni – a traditional Karabakhi restaurant.
• Overnight in Stepanakert.

Friday 3rd May

• Departure to Yerevan.
• Visit to a Papik and Tatik monument
• Stop at the Armenian Stone hedge, twice as old as the English one.
• Roadside lunch on way to Yerevan.
• Visit Khor Virap, an ancient monastery overlooking Mount Ararat.
• Check into Envoy Hostel.
• Chance for R&R in the hostel. 4 person, twin, and triple rooms are available for little extra costs. Please let us know if advance.
• Dinner in a traditional Armenian Restaurant.
• Night on the town in Yerevan. Yerevan is a very young party town and will provide for a great night out!
• Overnight at the hostel.

Saturday 4th May

• Visit the Gerhard monastery, one of the oldest churches in Armenia, carved entirely out of the mountain!
• Visit town of Garni and site of 2000-year-old pagan temple
• Visit to Armenian Genocide monument and museum.
• Lunch at one of the outdoor restaurants in the hills of Yerevan.
• Dinner in a famous traditional Armenian restaurant in downtown Yerevan.
• Pub-crawl and overnight in Yerevan.

Sunday 5th May

• Walking tour of Yerevan
• Visit the cascades waterfall art installation as well as the opera house and parliament
• Soviet Market!!!! Chance to buy USSR branded jackets and all kinds of USSR kitsch.
• Free afternoon for last minute shopping or some rest.
• Overnight train to Tbilisi departing at 21:30 pm.

Monday 6th May

• At 3.30am we pass through the Georgian Border, and the guards come onto the train to stamp passports.
• 7:00 am arrival in Tbilisi.
• End of Group A.

Group B – Georgia

• Arrival in Tbilisi
• Check into Envoy Tbilisi Hostel.  4 person, twin, and triple rooms are available for little extra costs. Please let us know in advance.
• Breakfast at a traditional Georgian restaurant
• Walk around Tbilisi, Independence Square, parliament, “dry bridge”
• Visit to “Baraholka”, an all-Soviet memorabilia market with the chance to buy military hats, medals, pins, stamps, and caucuses-style swords and knives!
• Lunch in the most hard to find local gem called Sofia Melnikova café for a variety of Georgian specialties, like best hand made khinkali in the city
• Visit Narikala fortress overlooking Tbilisi using a cable car
• See Kartlis Deda (Mother Georgia) monument above Tbilisi
• Relaxing time in traditional Georgian/ Turkish baths with local beer
• Overnight in Tbilisi.

Tuesday 7th May

• Departure to Gori – The hometown of the infamous Joseph Stalin! Journey takes only a few hours. Stalin is still very heavily regarded here, which makes for some interesting conversations with the locals.
• Visit THE Stalin Museum and Stalin Statue. The museum tour includes his former train and the house he was born in.
• Visit the Akhaltsihe cave city, a 3000-year-old settlement overlooking Potshovi river.
• Transfer back to Tbilisi.
• Free evening or a visit to one of the first Irish pubs in the Soviet Union called The Hangar and / or visit to a local hangout called Dive Bar
• Stay overnight.

Wednesday 8th May

• Up early to drive towards Stepansminda, near the Russian border
• Stop at Ananuri fortress overlooking Zhinvali reservoir
• Visit a massive, Soviet “Georgia – Russia Friendship” monument overlooking Jvari pass
• Visit the beautiful Trinity monastery with views of beautiful Mount Kazbegi (5,035m)
• Lunch at the house of eccentric “Mother Georgia” local grandma for variety of traditional dishes including hand made (by you) Khinkali
• Transfer back to Tbilisi before taking the overnight train to Zugdidi in Western Georgia.

Thursday 9th May

• Zugdidi → Abkhazia border crossing. This is a very tense border, where very few tourists cross, and is one of the most heavily militarized places in Europe.
• Transfer to Sukhum, the capital of the breakaway republic, and until recently war-torn city.
• Walking tour of Sukhum. During Soviet times Abkhazia was the pearl of Soviet tourism, and whilst many Russians still come here its glory days have passed.
• Dinner at Naartaa, a traditional Abkhazian restaurant specializing in shashlik and wine
• Bowling at a local nightclub.
• Overnight in Private hotel

Friday 10th May   

• Drive to New Athos.
• Visit beautiful New Athos monastery built in the 1880s by Tsar Alexander III of Russia
• Visit to the wonderfully quaint and beautiful Psyrtskha Train Station and a small Soviet hydro electric station hidden in the cliffs.
• We jump on the New Athos cave metro to visit one of the largest and most spectacular caves in the world!
• Continue to an amazing lake Ritsa with stops in Iupshara canyon bound by massive limestone cliffs
• See beautiful Lake Ritsa, home of one of Stalin’s favorite dachas
• Late lunch in a traditional Abkhaz house restaurants for a choice of fresh lake trout, smoked meet and cheese
• Return to Sukhum for dinner and a few sundowners overlooking the Black Sea.
• Overnight in Sukhum.

Saturday 11th May

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the burned out Abkhaz parliament for some urban exploration.
• Stroll through the old, half abandoned military sanatorium and botanical garden full of Lenin mosaics, old cinemas
• Hit the beach before a night out in Sukhum, coupled with traditional food and drinks on the promenade.
• Depart towards the border with a stop at “Istochnik”, a hot spring resort for a chance to get a water massage and a relaxing swim in many pools
• Stop to see the “flaming” spring
• Cross into Georgia proper and board an overnight train to Tbilisi.

Sunday 12th May

• Early morning arrival in Tbilisi.
• End of tour.

Disclaimer: This trip takes us not only to two frozen conflict zones, but also certain areas that are at times heavily affected by the situation on the ground. If a certain activity, or even country cannot be visited due to the situation on the ground, YPT Group will arrange an acceptable alternative activity, but will not be held in any way liable or responsible. A full copy of our terms and conditions is available on request.  *YPT terms and conditions apply to this trip. Customers are responsible for their own visas, but YPT can help if you require assistance. Most countries do not require a visa into Georgia or Armenia.  If they do it is a 1-2 day eVisa.  

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