Yerevan Advice

[Segedunum]

Hello all,

In June I'll be having a brief (three days or so) visit to Yerevan. I see it has a small Metro network (with some architecture similar to what you might see in Moscow, it seems) but know little else about the city, the transport, etc.

Is there anything worth seeing or anything I should know in particular? From what I've read, the Metro is paid for at ticket booths using cash, one trip at a time. I'm not sure if the Armenian national network has much to offer of interest (or the frequency to do much) but I'm open to suggestions.

Also open to anything generally touristy - I'm not intending on this being a proper rail trip as such.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[StephenHunter]

Always worth reading this before you go:

Armenia travel advice

FCDO travel advice for Armenia. Includes safety and security, insurance, entry requirements and legal differences.

www.gov.uk

FCDO advises against all travel to parts of Armenia.

Armenia-Azerbaijan border

The border with Azerbaijan remains closed. FCDO advises against all travel to within 5km of the entire eastern border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, due to tensions between the 2 countries.

M16/H26 road between Ijevan and Noyemberyan

FCDO advises against all travel along the M16/H26 road between the towns of Ijevan and Noyemberyan, due to border tensions.

Find out more about why FCDO advises against travel...

 

[stadler]

Hello all,

In June I'll be having a brief (three days or so) visit to Yerevan. I see it has a small Metro network (with some architecture similar to what you might see in Moscow, it seems) but know little else about the city, the transport, etc.

Is there anything worth seeing or anything I should know in particular? From what I've read, the Metro is paid for at ticket booths using cash, one trip at a time. I'm not sure if the Armenian national network has much to offer of interest (or the frequency to do much) but I'm open to suggestions.

Also open to anything generally touristy - I'm not intending on this being a proper rail trip as such.

Many thanks in advance!

Yes they replaced tokens on the Metro with paper QR tickets last year. You just buy a ticket with cash each time you want to ride. As with most ex Soviet countries there are no day rover tickets for the Metro so you have to buy a ticket for each and every ride.

The metro is the only metro in the world to have one carriage trains. They have an interesting one stop shuttle (like our Waterloo & City line) which normally uses one coach trains. For some reason the trains are very short and even the main line only gets up to three carriages maximum.

They also have buses and trolleybuses if you are interested in those. I am not sure if they are all replaced yet but they still had a couple old Soviet models of trolleybuses in use when i last went. They are worth a ride on.

The mainline railway there is definitely worth having a look at. Armenia is one of the few places to still have the old RVR ER2 units in passenger service. They are definitely worth a ride on while they still survive. Very old units full of character which are unrefurbished and look almost the same as they did in Soviet times. They also have modern EP2D units which run some services so you might have to check a few trains to find an RVR ER2 unit. The current operational fleet is made up of 8x old RVR ER2 units and 4x new EP2D units.

 

[Segedunum]

Yes they replaced tokens on the Metro with paper QR tickets last year. You just buy a ticket with cash each time you want to ride. As with most ex Soviet countries there are no day rover tickets for the Metro so you have to buy a ticket for each and every ride.

The metro is the only metro in the world to have one carriage trains. They have an interesting one stop shuttle (like our Waterloo & City line) which normally uses one coach trains. For some reason the trains are very short and even the main line only gets up to three carriages maximum.

They also have buses and trolleybuses if you are interested in those. I am not sure if they are all replaced yet but they still had a couple old Soviet models of trolleybuses in use when i last went. They are worth a ride on.

The mainline railway there is definitely worth having a look at. Armenia is one of the few places to still have the old RVR ER2 units in passenger service. They are definitely worth a ride on while they still survive. Very old units full of character which are unrefurbished and look almost the same as they did in Soviet times. They also have modern EP2D units which run some services so you might have to check a few trains to find an RVR ER2 unit. The current operational fleet is made up of 8x old RVR ER2 units and 4x new EP2D units.

Thanks. It seems that they do online tickets (which I didn't expect) with the EP2D trains doing the counter-peak services to/from Gyumri and the ER2 one arriving in the morning and leaving Yerevan in the evening peak (helpfully their website even shows you a picture).

 

[stadler]

Thanks. It seems that they do online tickets (which I didn't expect) with the EP2D trains doing the counter-peak services to/from Gyumri and the ER2 one arriving in the morning and leaving Yerevan in the evening peak (helpfully their website even shows you a picture).

Oh that is a great feature. I never realised the website told you. That is very helpful. Interestingly they seem to charge a slightly higher price for the new EP2D trains compared to the old ER2 trains.

 

[dutchflyer]

This thing-charging more for newer stock, is in fact fairly common in other countries even further away too- f.e. in Bangkok the citybuses have no less as 4 different farelevels.
I visited both Georgia and in and out of Armenia , und not into Azerbaijan due to its nasty visa-procedure then, some years ago, overland via Turkey-by coach/long-distance bus. And back on a soviet-style sleepertrain from Yerevan to Tbilisi. My main interest were the then remaining tram/trolley networks and confirm above: its not a particular very interesting city for touristy things.
For more info-and also many other such cities on this world:
metro and tram: urbanrail.net
Trolleybus: trolleymotion.eu

 

[Vectron]

There is also a Children's Railway which may be worth a visit.

Read about a visit here: http://jonathansworldlyimages.com/p...us-moldova-russia-azerbaijan-armenia-georgia/

and go to 8th July

 

[WessexEclectic]

Have you tried asking Radio Yeravan?....

 

[ainsworth74]

There is also a Children's Railway which may be worth a visit.

Read about a visit here: http://jonathansworldlyimages.com/p...us-moldova-russia-azerbaijan-armenia-georgia/

and go to 8th July

Apparently it closed in July 2024 according to an Instagram post made on 3 July 2024:

Voskey Yerevan on Instagram: "У многих из нас детская железная дорога ассоциируется с самыми тёплыми воспоминаниями ⠀ Родители, бабушки и дедушки водили нас туда, где мы проводили целые дни, катаясь на поездах и аттракционах, бросая монетки в фонтан

1,962 likes, 73 comments - voskey_yerevan on July 3, 2024: "У многих из нас детская железная дорога ассоциируется с самыми тёплыми воспоминаниями ⠀ Родители, бабушки и дедушки водили нас туда, где мы проводили целые дни, катаясь на поездах и аттракционах, бросая монетки в фонтан, фотографируясь...

www.instagram.com

многих из нас детская железная дорога ассоциируется с самыми тёплыми воспоминаниями
⠀
Родители, бабушки и дедушки водили нас туда, где мы проводили целые дни, катаясь на поездах и аттракционах, бросая монетки в фонтан, фотографируясь с пони и заводя новых друзей.
⠀
Ещё пару лет назад дорога хоть и была частично заброшена, но иногда функционировала и служила площадкой для различных мероприятий.
⠀
Сегодня, ДЖД превратилась в полностью заброшенное и сломанное место, а недавно появилась новость о её окончательном закрытии.
⠀
Мы решили сделать пост, чтобы рассказать вам всю историю. А в субботу встречаемся на прощальном фестивале

For many of us, the children's railway is associated with the warmest memories

Parents and grandparents took us there, where we spent whole days riding trains and rides, throwing coins into the fountain, taking pictures with ponies and making new friends.

Just a couple of years ago, the road, although partially abandoned, sometimes functioned and served as a venue for various events.

Today, the Children's Railway has become a completely abandoned and broken place, and recently news appeared about its final closure.

We decided to make a post to tell you the whole story. And on Saturday we will meet at the farewell festival

 

[Djgr]

Worth mentioning that Armenia has its own alphabet. And whilst there probably is English on the Yerevan Metro, we didn't spot it and went in exactly the wrong direction!

 

[Bungle158]

I was there in 2023. Interesting city, but hardly a tourist magnet. I was impressed by distant views of Mt Ararat. The Childrens' Railway was operating, but in very poor condition.

The metro system is small but offers a glimpse of a Soviet era network. It's very noisy.

Some very nice restaurants, reasonable shops and bars

 

[superalbs]

What locos are running on the children's railway? The TU2s are marked as written off.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 May 2025 ==

EDIT: Oh, apparently it closed in July 2024. That's sad.

 

[Bungle158]

What locos are running on the children's railway? The TU2s are marked as written off.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 May 2025 ==

EDIT: Oh, apparently it closed in July 2024. That's sad.

There was just one operating in 2023. Looked like a scaled down 1950s style Russian diesel. The train just ran less than 1Km on a very poorly maintained singlebline, before reversing back.