Individual / Exclusive Tour to Lake Arpi

• Dashtadem Fortress
• Monastery Complex Marmashen
• Akhuryan River
• Spring Heghnar
• "Lake Arpi" National Park

Let's continue to get acquainted with the lakes of Armenia. Today we will discover Lake Arpi with all its unique charm. Along the way, we will also visit the Dashtadem Fortress and the Marmashen Monastery.

The first point of the tour is the Dashtadem Fortress. Written sources did not contain any information about the time of its construction. The castle-citadel is the most ancient fortification. It is assumed that the castle was built by the Kamsarakans in the 7th century on the foundation of the structure of the Urartian period. This is a quadrangular, hall-like, three-storey building fortified with towers, erected with purely hewn stones of reddish tuff.

The hall is vaulted, the walls are plastered from the inside, the floor is paved with slabs. There were no windows, lighting was carried out by means of light openings in the ceiling. An Arabic inscription has been preserved on the southwestern tower, indicating that in 1174 the Sultan of Ani ibn Shavur Shattadin fortified the castle-citadel from the outside with polygonal and round pyramidal towers. The internal premices of the towers had windows. The only entrance was opened in the southwest corner, the door wa made of stone.

The next point of our tour is the Marmashen monastery complex (X-XIII centuries) located in the valley of the Akhuryan River. It is one of the best monuments of the Armenian architecture and was an important cultural and religious center of medieval Armenia. Marmashen suddenly opens up to visitors’ eyes, it is not visible from the road. The monastery made of red tuff fits the yellow-green mountainous landscape, and the Akhuryan River serves as a background. The monastery complex consists of the Large and Small (Upper) groups of monuments. Katoghike Church, three unnamed churches, a porch-gavit and a cemetery are within the Large Group. A church and the adjacent cemetery are within the Small (Upper) group of monuments. 

          «Spring Heghnar» memorial is also located in the territory of complex. The spring has a secret: water will come out of it only if you perform a certain action. If you do not know what action to perform, you will have to wait for a long time. Many people have no patience, so Heghnar remains dry.

          We will have a rest on the bank of the Akhuryan River, which is really beautiful.

Then we will continue our path to the "Lake Arpi" National Park. 

«Lake Arpi» National Park is located in the north of the Shirak region, nearby the borders with Turkey and Georgia. It is located at an altitude of 1500-3100 meters above sea level and occupies an area of ​​21.179 hectares. The National park is a place of distribution of a unique transcaucasian ecosystem. The variety of landscapes includes subalpine meadows, mountain ledges, lakes and swamps. It is a paradise for hundreds of species of migratory and non-migratory birds, some of which are registered in the international Red Book. According to scientists, more than 190 species of birds live in this area, 120 of them give birth to offspring here.

Lake Arpi is the habitat of the largest colony of the Armenian gull and the only breeding site of the Dalmatian pelican in Armenia. Other endangered species that can often be noticed in the park are the corncrake, black stork, common shelduck and common crane.

89 species of butterflies and about 700 species of vascular plants have been found in the Arpi National Park, including a number of endemics of the Caucasus and Armenia. But the most amazing fact is that  the park is the only habitat of the Darevsky's viper in the world!

On the shore of Lake Arpi we will have dinner: our traditional delicious fish and pork barbecue. Those who wish can walk in the forest and go fishing.

Departure: 08:00

Arrival: 22:00

Departure place: Hakob Hakobyan str. 1

1 person - 60.000 AMD,

2-3 persons - 40.000 AMD,

4-10 persons - 30.000 AMD,

11-20 persons - 20.000 AMD,

21-30 persons - 17.000 AMD