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Visiting Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is a travel experience that unfolds on multiple levels: observation, sensation and listening.Visually, the city reveals itself as both refined and austere, with its pink neoclassical buildings, monumental architecture, water features, cafés and incredibly young population.
It is a city where I never once felt unsafe, not even while travelling alone.
Perhaps because the streets are constantly filled with people, police officers, public maintenance workers and employees who all seem to contribute to keeping the city remarkably orderly.
And yet Yerevan is not only a safe and welcoming capital.
It is also a city crossed by deep tensions, geopolitical shifts and collective fractures that emerge continuously in private conversations, in people’s stories and even in the smallest everyday details.
In recent years, Armenia has begun a slow and complex rapprochement with Europe, gradually distancing itself from its historical dependence on Russia.
A transition that, however, requires a kind of “pacification” that clashes with very recent wounds, such as the loss and exodus from Artsakh.
During my trip, I met people who told me about this city through their lives, their work and their fears. Some of their stories will become separate in-depth articles, because Yerevan is one of those places that cannot be explained through a simple list of things to see.
And yet, within all this complexity, it remains an extraordinarily vibrant capital, full of art, markets, theatres, cafés, bookstores and corners seemingly designed to make you slow down.
This guide was born from that exact feeling:
the desire to tell you what to see in Yerevan, but also why this city deserves to be understood beyond its most aesthetic images.
Besides saving this article and using it as a travel companion, I also suggest taking a look at my Instagram, where I share the most interesting parts of my journey through Armenia.
And maybe it is also a way not to lose sight of each other.
Republic Square
Ph. Yuri Oparin
A civic, transitional and deeply lived-in space filled with elegance and beauty.
Often described as one of the most beautiful neoclassical and modern squares in Eurasia, Republic Square is a large circular space framed by ministerial buildings — including the Government Palace and the former Trade Union and Communications buildings — as well as museums such as the National Gallery and the History Museum of Armenia, plus the imposing Marriott Hotel.
In front of the museum stands one of the city’s most iconic fountains: the Singing Fountains.
The Singing Fountains
A spectacular system of fountains combining water, lights and music.
However, there is one important detail: to see them functioning, you need to visit Yerevan between late spring and early autumn.
From May to October, around 8 pm, the square hosts a daily light-and-music show that transforms the entire area into something almost surreal, where water seems to dance with light and sound.
Republic Square Metro Station
erevan cosa vedere
This is not just the ideal metro stop for exploring the city centre.
It is also an incredibly interesting place to photograph, thanks to its monumental skylight shaped like a flower or shell — a recurring architectural motif you will notice throughout Yerevan, including at the Cascade complex.
Inside that skylight, one of the city’s monumental fountains rises from underground, visually connecting the metro station with the city above through the movement of water.
Opera and Ballet Theatre
Its full name is the Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet “Alexander Spendiaryan”, named after the Armenian composer and conductor whose statue stands in front of the main entrance.
Around him, you will usually find street artists, teenagers playing football, children learning to ride bicycles while their fathers hold the back of the saddle.
The theatre itself reflects Soviet-era architecture blended with the neoclassical aesthetics beloved by Tamanyan and early twentieth-century Armenia.
Walking around it, you will not only admire the elliptical structure but also feel the vitality of the city’s ballet and symphonic seasons.
Ticket prices are surprisingly affordable. Take advantage of it.
Hyusisayin Poghots (Northern Avenue)
I am also mentioning it as Northern Avenue because it is easier to remember — but let’s try not to flatten places into easier versions of themselves. Learning to pronounce names properly is also a way of respecting them.
This elegant commercial boulevard creates a visual and urban connection between the Opera House and Republic Square.
The original project, designed by Alexander Tamanyan, remained unfinished for decades before being revived between the late 1990s and early 2000s through expropriations and private investment.
The goal was clear: transform it into a luxury boulevard filled with expensive apartments and international brands.
Tashir Street Shopping Gallery
At the centre of Northern Avenue you will notice the entrance to an underground gallery.
Below the boulevard lies a shopping centre of polished floors, transparent storefronts, luxury brands and local businesses.
But this is not just a shopping mall.
The Tashir Street Shopping Gallery belongs to the Tashir Group, a diversified holding founded by Armenian-Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan.
He is a key investor in Armenia’s economy, a financier of diaspora-related initiatives, but also an important economic actor within Russian political and financial networks linked to the Caucasus.
A particularly interesting figure in the current political climate, where:
- the Armenian government is trying to reduce dependence on Russia and move closer to Europe and its economic and tourist flows,
- elections are approaching and opposition campaigns are funded by the same oligarch,
- and Prime Minister Pashinyan is experiencing declining popularity because of his perceived willingness to compromise and “pacify”, while even some pro-Russian opponents present themselves as defenders of Armenian memory and recent collective traumas.
Cascade Complex
Perhaps this is where I should have started.
The Cascade is not simply a monument.
To approach it, you are almost forced to experience it from afar first — seeing the entire structure rising above the city before slowly walking closer and changing perspective step by step.
Tamanyan Square
Before reaching the Cascade, you will pass through Tamanyan Square.
The man represented there is Alexander Tamanyan himself, the architect who designed modern Yerevan’s urban plan during the 1920s.
I should say he welcomes visitors, but in truth he seems far too concentrated on the documents spread across his architect’s desk.
Tamanyan was a Soviet architect of Armenian origin whose vision shaped the elegant and monumental identity of Yerevan by combining neoclassical aesthetics with socialist urban planning, all built around the city’s iconic pink volcanic tuff stone.
The Cascade
The Cascade itself was one of Tamanyan’s visions. You will rarely see anything quite like it elsewhere.
It is the symbolic and visual heart of Yerevan.
Much more than a series of fountains, it is a monumental stairway interwoven with modern art installations, gardens and flowerbeds that change with the seasons.
This is also where you may witness one of the most beautiful sunsets of your life, directly facing Mount Ararat.
And that deserves its own section.
Cafesjian Center for the Arts
From Tamanyan Square all the way up through the Cascade — both inside and outside — you will encounter a remarkable collection of contemporary artworks by Armenian and international artists.
You do not simply admire the art here: you move through it, trying to decode and understand it.
As you take the internal escalators leading to the top of the Cascade, you will find yourself surrounded by installations, sculptures and objects that transform the monument into a living contemporary art space.
This vision was largely shaped by philanthropist Gerard Cafesjian, who passed away in 2025.
One of the most beautiful surprises Yerevan has to offer.
Mount Ararat
Let us pause for a moment here.
Because Mount Ararat — clearly visible from the benches, stairways and gardens of the Cascade — is not simply part of the landscape.
For Armenians, it is part of an inner geography, of their mindscape.
Today, the symbol has even been removed from passport stamps.
And yet this mountain, located in Turkish territory since 1921, remains central to Armenian collective identity.
Those same years marked the completion of the Armenian genocide carried out by the Young Turks, an event that caused mass displacement, diaspora and the depopulation of Armenian territories.
When Soviet Russia decided to support Atatürk’s Turkey during the early 1920s, the Caucasus was redrawn according to strategic interests rather than cultural or historical continuity.
Moscow wanted stable relations with the new anti-Western Turkish republic while maintaining control over a region considered strategically essential.
In this geopolitical reorganisation, Armenia lost territories to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Many Armenians still perceive this fragmentation not only as a historical wound, but as the beginning of a long condition of geopolitical vulnerability.
Ararat is therefore a unique symbol:
something Armenians visually live with every day, while simultaneously watching it being symbolically removed from their national identity.
Vernissage Market
I will say it directly:
this is one of the most beautiful open-air markets I have ever seen in my life.
And as you probably know, I have seen quite a few.
It is called Vernissage because, since its origins, artists have gathered here to display and sell their paintings.
Most jewellery is handmade silver, often featuring distinctive local designs.
There is craftsmanship everywhere:
vintage objects,
incense,
tiny decorative items,
wooden chessboards,
and more than 300 metres of stalls.
Not every vendor accepts cards — when they do, it is usually indicated — but there are ATMs nearby.
You can wander through improvised flea-market corners filled with old Soviet relics, Armenian books and faces that make you want to stop and ask everything about their lives.
I often do.
Partly because I shoot portraits with a 35mm lens, which forces me to get physically close to people, speak to them and flirt a little with human connection before asking permission to photograph them.
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral
ph. tigran kharatyanunsplash
Surb Grigor Lusavorich — Saint Gregory the Illuminator — is one of the most important figures in Armenian Christianity.
According to tradition, he converted King Tiridates III to Christianity in 301 AD, making Armenia the first Christian nation in history.
Modern Armenian national identity still strongly revolves around this primacy, constantly repeated with pride by locals in a country that remains overwhelmingly Apostolic Christian.
Religion here is not necessarily tied to conservatism or extremism.
Rather, it is deeply connected to identity because:
- Armenia is the only almost entirely Christian country in the Caucasus,
- and religious leaders often stand at the forefront of preserving the memory of the Armenian genocide and the still-open wound of Artsakh.
The Cathedral of Saint Gregory the Illuminator is the largest cathedral in Armenia and the second largest in the Caucasus.
Personally, however, I would not define it as the city’s most beautiful church.
Built in 1997 in a modern reinterpretation of ancient Armenian religious architecture, it follows a Greek-cross plan and can host up to 1700 worshippers.
Saint Anne Church and Katoghike
In the middle of central Yerevan, surrounded by boulevards, pink stone buildings and Soviet architecture, stands Saint Anne Church beside the tiny medieval Katoghike Church (Holy Mother of God Church).
Katoghike is particularly important because it is the only surviving ancient church in the city and also the only Catholic church, while most of the others are twentieth-century Apostolic constructions.
Yerevan Central Railway Station
Yerevan’s central railway station still preserves much of its Soviet aesthetic:
monumental geometry,
massive volumes
and the socialist star crowning the façade.
Originally built and expanded during the Soviet era, it once represented one of the main infrastructural links between Armenia and the rest of the USSR, in a time when trains symbolised movement, collective identity and belonging to a vast interconnected territory.
At the entrance, one of the old Soviet-era public water dispensers still survives.
The architecture itself contributes to the atmosphere:
the clock tower,
the monumental arches,
the imposing proportions.
All of it reflects the Soviet vision of railway stations not merely as transit spaces, but as monumental symbols of socialist modernity and progress.
From Yerevan station, it is still possible to take the overnight train to Tbilisi, which takes roughly ten hours.
The station itself has three levels:
hotel rooms upstairs,
and an underground pedestrian tunnel connecting directly to the metro station.
Luna Park
In the upper part of Yerevan, not far from Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral and just beyond the Cascade complex, there is a small amusement park that feels like a bridge between two different layers of the city:
the monumental and tourist-oriented one, and the quieter, residential and everyday one.
From late spring throughout the entire summer, it becomes a surprisingly pleasant place filled with families, children, fountains and softly lit rides — the perfect place to escape the heat during warm evenings.
Out of season, however, the atmosphere changes completely.
The still rides, semi-deserted pathways and faded colours transform the amusement park into something suspended in time, with an aesthetic reminiscent of forgotten post-Soviet spaces.
Visiting during the colder months can almost feel like an involuntary urbex experience:
slightly creepy at times,
yet incredibly fascinating for exactly that reason.
The Blue Mosque of Yerevan
In the heart of Yerevan, surrounded by traffic and modern buildings, the Blue Mosque is one of the most unexpected and peaceful places in the Armenian capital.
It is the only active mosque in Armenia today, mainly attended by the country’s small Muslim community and closely connected to the nearby Iranian cultural centre.
Its internal courtyards, trees and blue tiles create a surprisingly calm atmosphere.
But its presence also tells an important geopolitical story.
Relations with Iran remain strategically crucial for Armenia, particularly in terms of energy and regional trade.
For Yerevan, Tehran represents one of the few stable regional connections in a geopolitical landscape marked by closed borders and historical tensions with both Azerbaijan and Turkey.
What makes the Blue Mosque especially interesting is the way this diplomatic complexity quietly emerges inside the urban landscape itself:
in a deeply Christian and Apostolic capital, a Persian mosque still occupies a central and unexpectedly harmonious place within everyday life.
Historic Bookstores
Let us learn a small travel mantra:
never leave a city without spending at least part of your money in a local bookstore.
Bookstores — together with cinemas, theatres and independent cultural spaces — are often among the first places at risk when tourism and rising rents begin reshaping cities.
What we choose to support as travellers directly influences what cities are able to preserve.
The bookstore I had most wanted to visit was called Luys:
wooden carved interiors,
ancient books,
an almost magical atmosphere.
Unfortunately, today it only survives online, in photographs and old Instagram posts from those lucky enough to have seen it before it closed in 2025 due to unsustainable rent increases.
So instead, let me recommend two bookstores that I genuinely loved and sincerely hope will still exist when you visit Yerevan.
Epigraph Art Shop
A tiny two-floor bookstore hidden behind a beautiful carved wooden door, without any obvious storefront facing the street.
Inside, you will find Armenian novels and poetry — including translated editions — together with art supplies for people who paint and draw.
Zangak Bookstore
Larger and more dynamic, Zangak includes a café-like area where people gather to work, study, practise languages and have conversations over coffee.
Both bookstores invite you to stay,
not simply to buy something and leave.
Monumental Fountains of Yerevan
Yerevan’s monumental fountains deserve a dedicated section of their own.
For much of the year — especially from late spring to summer — the sound of water constantly accompanies walks through the city, transforming squares, boulevards and parks into much more liveable spaces despite the intense heat.
Water itself seems to play a fundamental role in Yerevan’s urban identity:
a continuous element of movement and freshness within a landscape largely built from pink volcanic stone.
(And an important practical note:
you barely need to carry a water bottle in Yerevan — there are public drinking fountains approximately every 200 metres.)
The most famous fountain is obviously the musical fountain in Republic Square, but the city is filled with monumental water features often ignored by traditional travel guides.
Particularly interesting are:
- the fountain inside Republic Square metro station,
- and the fountains surrounding Vernissage Market.
Other beautiful fountains worth seeing include:
- the fountains along Northern Avenue,
- the fountains of the Cascade,
- the fountains around Swan Lake near the Opera House,
- the fountains inside English Park,
- and the water features along Italy Street in front of the Italian Embassy.
One important thing to know, however:
Yerevan’s fountains are not active all year round.
They are generally switched on between May and September, occasionally until October during warmer years.
Throughout winter and part of spring, the city remains almost entirely without running water features.
If you want to experience Yerevan at its liveliest, freshest and brightest, it is definitely worth planning your trip from mid-May onward.
Going to Museums and Theatres in Yerevan
Going to museums and theatres in Yerevan means entering a city where art feels much more widespread and deeply integrated into everyday life than one might expect.
Besides the better-known institutions — such as the Cafesjian Center for the Arts inside the Cascade — several other places deserve attention:
- the Sergei Parajanov Museum, dedicated to the visionary Armenian-Soviet filmmaker,
- the National Gallery of Armenia overlooking Republic Square,
- and the Matenadaran, an enormous archive of ancient manuscripts preserving centuries of Armenian culture.
But Yerevan is also a city of smaller hidden spaces:
bookstores hosting figurative art exhibitions,
cafés transformed into micro-galleries,
courtyards where concerts and readings quietly take place.
Even inside Zangak bookstore, for example, it is easy to stumble upon temporary exhibitions, illustrations or artistic installations reflecting the city’s contemporary creative energy.
Perhaps this is also why Yerevan feels so alive:
art here does not remain confined within museums,
but constantly spills into ordinary life —
dynamic,
messy,
and still transforming.
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