What a visitor's money does in Armenia: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Armenian Dram (AMD) · 1 EUR = 417 AMD · 1 USD = 363 AMD
Dram. Exchange booths are everywhere in Yerevan, honest, and post the rate; dollars, euros and roubles all change. Cards are taken in the capital and in Dilijan and less so in the villages.
Avoid: the standalone machines in the tourist streets, which charge
Use: Ameriabank, Ardshinbank, ACBA
Bank machines are free with most foreign cards; decline the conversion. Withdraw in Yerevan or Goris before the monastery roads.
A short ride in Yerevan: 600–1,500 dram across town — very cheap
From the airport: From Zvartnots to the centre 3,000–5,000 dram on the app; the kerb asks for twice that
Cheaper than a street taxi and much cheaper than the airport kerb.
Khorovats (barbecue), dolma, lavash from a tonir, and a table that does not end — Armenian hospitality is a meal. The Ararat brandy factory tour, the Areni wines, and a café culture that fills every pavement. A dinner out is 8,000 dram.
Trout from the rivers, khorovats, and the mineral water the town was built on. The restaurants on Sharambeyan street and the guesthouses do the cooking; the forest villages sell honey and the wild herbs.
Goris is the base: khorovats, the local sweet sujuk (walnuts in grape syrup), and mulberry vodka. The café at the monastery does lunch; the villages sell honey and cheese on the road.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
YerevanArmeniaA pink-stone city older than Rome under a mountain that belongs to Turkey, a cascade to climb, the best brandy in the world, and cafés that never close
DilijanArmeniaThe Armenian Switzerland: a spa town in a forest, wooden balconies, monasteries hidden in the woods, and a lake an hour away
TatevArmeniaA monastery on a cliff above a gorge, reached by the longest cable car in the world, in the far south where the roads are the point