Tatev
Armenia · Syunik · 1600 m
Description
Tatev (Տաթև) is a ninth century monastery on a promontory above the Vorotan gorge in the far south of Armenia, and for four hundred years it ran a university that was the intellectual centre of the medieval Armenian world. Getting there used to mean an hour of hairpins down one side of the gorge and up the other. Since 2010 the Wings of Tatev cable car crosses the whole canyon in twelve minutes, five point seven kilometres in a single span, which the Guinness records call the longest non-stop reversible aerial tramway in the world and which is now the reason many people come at all.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 to 2 days (optimal 1 day)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Wings of Tatev cable car over the gorge
- Tatev Monastery and its university halls
- Vorotan gorge and its viewpoints
- Gavazan swinging pillar in the courtyard
- Satan's Bridge travertine arch and its hot springs
- Old Halidzor and the abandoned gorge villages
- Tatevi Anapat hermitage in the gorge floor
- Zorats Karer standing stones at Karahunj(Day trip)
- Goris cave dwellings at Old Khndzoresk(Day trip)
- Syunik mountain honey and its village stalls