Travel guide

When to go to Armenia: weather and what is open, month by month

You can take day trips from Yerevan in any month: the BarevTrip catalogue has 34 routes, 31 of them with no seasonal limits, and only three run in the warm season — “Amberd Fortress & Byurakan Observatory” from June to October, “Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari” and “Grand South Loop: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Karahunj & Sevan” from May to October. The average daily temperature in Yerevan at the Arabkir station (WMO 1991–2020 normals) runs from −2.4 °C in January to 25.7 °C in August; in July Sevan, one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world, and Jermuk are cooler by 8.8 and 9.0 degrees. Mountain roads close in winter: to Amberd Fortress and Lake Kari, according to the Rescue Service bulletins of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, from late November or mid-December until mid-May or early June. The catalogue price is per car, not per person. Seasonal routes: “Amberd Fortress & Byurakan Observatory” — sedan 37,500 AMD, minivan 52,500 AMD; “Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari” — sedan 38,000 AMD, minivan 53,000 AMD; “Grand South Loop: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Karahunj & Sevan” — sedan 105,000 AMD, minivan 130,000 AMD. Nights and holidays carry no markup.

Published · Facts checked · 14 min read · Mikayel Melkumyan
Still water of Parz Lake mirrors a steep slope of autumn forest: orange and red trees among bare grey trunks under an overcast sky, with a strip of green grass along the shore© BarevTrip
Contents
  1. Temperature and precipitation by month: five stations
  2. When it is hot and when it freezes
  3. Mountain roads: what closes in winter
  4. Hours that change with the season
  5. Days off and events
  6. Month by month: what it means for your trip
  7. By tradition
  8. What to check on site

Temperature and precipitation by month: five stations

There is no single norm for Armenia: the WMO normals are given by station, and the stations in the set stand at altitudes from 818 to 3,227 m. Below are five of them along the catalogue routes. These are average daily temperatures, not daytime highs. Rain and snow are not separated in the precipitation figures. Day length is for Yerevan on the 15th of the month.

Yerevan/Arabkir, 1,113 m: °C / mm

January
−2.4 / 27.9
February
0.5 / 26.9
March
6.6 / 35.3
April
12.3 / 53.5
May
17.0 / 51.6
June
22.2 / 22.8
July
25.6 / 19.2
August
25.7 / 8.1
September
21.2 / 13.6
October
14.5 / 27.2
November
6.7 / 28.6
December
0.2 / 25.9

Sevan, 1,917 m

January
−4.9 / 20.9
February
−4.4 / 27.2
March
−0.5 / 46.5
April
4.6 / 71.5
May
9.4 / 92.7
June
13.9 / 81.7
July
16.8 / 64.4
August
17.1 / 39.4
September
13.5 / 38.0
October
8.8 / 47.7
November
2.4 / 34.1
December
−2.5 / 20.0

Dilijan, 1,256 m

January
−0.9 / 21.4
February
0.0 / 28.0
March
3.8 / 48.5
April
8.1 / 74.3
May
12.4 / 102.4
June
16.5 / 95.3
July
19.2 / 75.1
August
19.1 / 51.8
September
15.1 / 45.6
October
10.1 / 48.6
November
4.3 / 33.2
December
0.6 / 22.5

Goris, 1,403 m

January
0.2 / 29.2
February
0.9 / 43.4
March
4.4 / 71.0
April
8.7 / 86.2
May
13.2 / 108.1
June
17.2 / 84.0
July
19.7 / 46.3
August
19.6 / 34.4
September
15.5 / 63.8
October
10.8 / 60.7
November
5.5 / 48.6
December
1.9 / 30.0

Jermuk, 2,064 m

January
−6.8 / 66.5
February
−5.4 / 67.1
March
−1.1 / 84.2
April
4.2 / 104.8
May
9.1 / 100.1
June
13.6 / 63.5
July
16.6 / 42.2
August
17.2 / 23.4
September
13.2 / 32.8
October
7.3 / 59.5
November
0.3 / 59.5
December
−4.5 / 61.5

15th: day length, sunset

January
9 h 37 min, 18:00
February
10 h 41 min, 18:36
March
11 h 54 min, 19:08
April
13 h 15 min, 19:40
May
14 h 23 min, 20:10
June
15 h 01 min, 20:32
July
14 h 45 min, 20:30
August
13 h 47 min, 20:00
September
12 h 29 min, 19:12
October
11 h 11 min, 18:23
November
9 h 58 min, 17:45
December
9 h 20 min, 17:37

Over a year Yerevan gets 340.6 mm of precipitation, Dilijan 646.6, Jermuk 765.3. Yerevan is driest in August (8.1 mm, 1.9 days with at least 1 mm of precipitation) and wettest in April and May; in the mountains the peak is May: Dilijan 102.4 mm and 15.8 days with at least 1 mm of precipitation. The stations are in towns, not at monasteries: the figures for Goris are the nearest in the set to Tatev, those for Sevan to Sevanavank. More on Sevan and Dilijan in the articles on Lake Sevan and on Dilijan.

Lake Sevan in winter at dusk: snow-covered mountains along the far shore, dark blue water and gulls flying in a pink and violet sky© BarevTrip

When it is hot and when it freezes

The same WMO files count hot and frosty days, averaged over 30 years. In Yerevan at the Arabkir station the maximum rises above 30°C on 26.9 days in July and 26.4 days in August, and above 35°C on about ten days in each of those months. In Sevan there is less than one day a year above 30°C, in Dilijan in August 6.7. There are no frosts in July and August at any of the five stations; in Yerevan the main months with nights below zero run from November (5.5 days) to March (7.8 days), in October and April they are fractions of a day; in Sevan in March there are 25.1 such nights, in Jermuk in April 14.9. At the high-mountain Aragats station (3,227 m) in May there are 25.1 nights with a minimum below zero, in June 6.4. The 1991–2020 records: 41.9 °C in Yerevan in August and −26.8 °C in Sevan in March — extreme values over 30 years, not norms.

BarevTrip tip: in July and August plan the day so that you are up high by noon — Sevan, Dilijan, Jermuk, Tsaghkadzor; see Khor Virap in the morning in those months, with an 08:00 pickup (about Khor Virap); for the route Echmiadzin, Zvartnots & Khor Virap the catalogue advises a 09:30 pickup — it matches the opening of Zvartnots at 10:00 and of the treasury museum at 10:30.

Mountain roads: what closes in winter

Every morning, around 08:00 Yerevan time, the Rescue Service of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs publishes a road bulletin. By the issues of the last two winters, the road to Amberd Fortress and Lake Kari was closed from 24 November 2024 to 11 May 2025 and from 13 December 2025 to 3 June 2026; from 4 June 2026 the issues say “roads are passable”.

What the bulletins said

From the Amberd weather station to Lake Kari and Amberd Fortress
closed in winter and spring; in 2026 it opened on 4 June
Selim Pass (the bulletins call it the Vardenyats Pass)
on 13 February 2026 — “closed to all types of transport”; more often — restrictions for vehicles with trailers and passage with chains
Road to Tatev and Goris
on 22 January 2026 the Noravan–Goris and Tatev–Shinuayr–Goris sections were closed to all types of transport, with passenger cars allowed on Noravan–Lutsen–Tatev

Routes

From the Amberd weather station to Lake Kari and Amberd Fortress
Amberd Fortress & Byurakan Observatory, Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari
Selim Pass (the bulletins call it the Vardenyats Pass)
Grand South Loop: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Karahunj & Sevan
Road to Tatev and Goris
Tatev Monastery & Wings of Tatev, about Tatev Monastery

BarevTrip tip: from December to April, before a trip to Tatev, over Selim or to Amberd, check the bulletin for the day of departure. The catalogue opens the route Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari from May, but the road to Lake Kari opened after 11 May in 2025 and after 3 June in 2026: in May, check the bulletin for the day of departure.

Lake Kari on Mount Aragats in late spring: dark open water among melting ice floes, snowy slopes and a scree hill with a cross on top, the snow-covered southern summit of Aragats under a deep blue sky, and station buildings at the right edge.© BarevTrip

Hours that change with the season

Entrance tickets are not included in the price of the trip — you buy them on site, separately; it is safer to have cash in drams. The amounts in the “Ticket” column are what the sites themselves charge, not BarevTrip: the site sets them. More on the hours of Yerevan’s museums in the answer “Where can you go from Yerevan on a winter day trip by car?”.

Schedule

Wings of Tatev ropeway
Tuesday–Sunday and holidays; December, “from 2 January”, February — departures 10:30–17:30 every 30 minutes; March–April and October–November — 10:00–17:45; May–September — 10:00–18:45; extra days off are possible because of weather
Armenian Genocide Museum
Tuesday–Saturday: 15 February–15 November 10:00–17:00, 15 November–15 February 11:00–16:45; Sunday 11:00–15:00; closed on Monday; closed on the holidays listed below, except 24 April
Tsaghkadzor ropeway
10:00–17:30
Garni Temple
10:00–21:30 (about Garni Temple)
Zvartnots Cathedral ruins
10:00–18:00, Sunday until 16:00

Ticket

Wings of Tatev ropeway
on site; the fare differs between winter and summer: one way 6,500 AMD (March–November) or 4,000 AMD (December–February), round trip 9,000 or 5,500 AMD, children up to 140 cm tall 1,000 AMD (tatever.am)
Armenian Genocide Museum
free
Tsaghkadzor ropeway
on site; single winter ticket 3,000 AMD (ropeway.am)
Garni Temple
on site; 1,500 AMD, children under 12 free (garni.mus.am)
Zvartnots Cathedral ruins
on site; 1,500 AMD, children under 12 free (zvartnots.mus.am)

Open all year, but not every day: Erebuni Fortress and Museum — Tuesday–Sunday 10:30–16:40, the Matenadaran — Tuesday–Saturday 10:00–17:50, the Etchmiadzin treasury museum — Tuesday–Sunday 10:30–17:30. On Monday Erebuni, the Matenadaran, the Genocide Museum and the Tatev ropeway are closed — this applies to the routes Tatev Monastery & Wings of Tatev and Yerevan, Erebuni, Tsitsernakaberd & Matenadaran. With a 09:00 pickup the twelve-hour Tatev trip ends around 21:00: on 15 December that is three and a half hours after sunset (17:37), on 15 June before sunset (20:32). BarevTrip tip: from November to February ask for an 08:00 pickup on routes longer than eight hours.

Days off and events

The Law of the RA “On Holidays and Memorial Days” names 13 non-working dates: 31 December, 1, 2, 6, 27 and 28 January, 8 March, 24 April, 1, 9 and 28 May, 5 July, 21 September. The dates are fixed and coincide in 2026 and 2027; the days of the week are in our article on the non-working days of 2026–2027.

According to its website, the Genocide Museum is closed on 11 dates: 31 December, 1, 2, 6 and 28 January, 8 March, 1, 9 and 28 May, 5 July, 21 September; on 24 April it has extended hours. The Wings of Tatev ropeway runs Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays, but 1 January is not in the winter schedule: ideas for that day are in the answer “Where can you go from Yerevan on a winter day trip by car?”. Yerevan Day is the second Saturday of October: 10 October 2026 and 9 October 2027.

Events

February
Trndez; the “-46C Winter Festival” in Amasia, usually at the end of the month
April–June
Jazz Day on 30 April; the dolma festival; Yerevan Wine Days on Saryan Street; Yerevan Color Festival
July–August
Vardavar — 98 days after Easter, the date changes each year (2027 dates are in our article on non-working days); Golden Apricot — 11–18 July 2027; Beer Days, Taraz Fest; Navasard on 10 August, Syunik
September–October
Rural Life and Traditions Festival in Dzoragyugh; the wine festival in Areni in early October; the Yerevan marathon; Balloon Week, peak foliage on 15–20 October, a clear horizon in October–November

The flow of tourists is seasonal too: according to Armstat, July–September account for 35.1–36.5% of annual tourist arrivals (2023–2025), and January–March for 17.1–19.7%. The year in figures — How many tourists came to Armenia in 2025 and from where.

Month by month: what it means for your trip

Facts

December–February
Yerevan/Arabkir −2.4…0.5 °C, day 9 h 20 min — 10 h 41 min; the roads to Amberd and Kari are closed; Tatev — winter schedule and prices
March–April
Yerevan 6.6 and 12.3 °C; April is the peak of precipitation in Yerevan and Jermuk; in Sevan in March 25 nights with frost; 24 April is a non-working day
May
Yerevan 17.0 °C; in Dilijan and Goris the wettest month of the year; the catalogue opens the routes Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari and Grand South Loop: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Karahunj & Sevan
June–August
Yerevan 22.2–25.7 °C, days above 30°C: 15.0 in June, 26.9 in July, 26.4 in August; Sevan 13.9–17.1 °C, Jermuk 13.6–17.2; day up to 15 hours; from June the route Amberd Fortress & Byurakan Observatory is open
September–October
Yerevan 21.2 and 14.5 °C, 13.6 and 27.2 mm; from 1 October the Tatev ropeway runs until 17:45; the seasonal routes run through October
November
Yerevan 6.7 °C, sunset on 15 November at 17:45; from 15 November the Genocide Museum’s winter schedule; the first closures of the Amberd road in past winters — 24 November 2024 and 13 December 2025

BarevTrip tip

December–February
Garni Temple & Geghard Monastery, Khor Virap Monastery, Echmiadzin, Zvartnots & Khor Virap, Lake Sevan & Tsaghkadzor; more in the answer “Where can you go from Yerevan on a winter day trip by car?”
March–April
lowland routes and Khor Virap, Areni & Noravank with an 08:00 pickup
May
check the date for Aragats and Kari against the bulletin: the road opened after 11 May 2025 and after 3 June 2026
June–August
in the heat — the mountains, routes Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake, Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank, Khor Virap, Noravank & Jermuk (articles on Lake Sevan and on Dilijan); Tatev with departures until 18:45
September–October
the whole catalogue is open; Khor Virap — in the morning and on a clear day (answer “Khor Virap: when to go for the Ararat view”, article about Khor Virap); in Areni, book a tasting in advance
November
the seasonal routes are closed until May; an 08:00 pickup for trips longer than eight hours
Rows of grapevines in the Ararat Valley; behind them rise Lesser Ararat and Greater Ararat with clouds around its snowy peak, and on the right Khor Virap Monastery and its church with a conical dome stand on a hill.© BarevTrip

By tradition

Vardavar goes back to the pre-Christian veneration of Astghik, goddess of water and fertility; the Church linked it to the Transfiguration of the Lord, while the custom of dousing one another with water remained. Trndez comes from the pre-Christian veneration of fire: in February bonfires are lit by the houses and newlyweds jump over the fire for good luck.

What to check on site

  • The road to Amberd and Lake Kari: opening dates differ from year to year. In May and June check the “Roads in Armenia” bulletin for the day of departure, around 08:00 Yerevan time.
  • Hours for your day: check the winter schedule of Garni Temple and the hours of the Tsitsernakaberd memorial the day before; the Tatev ropeway on 1 January is not in the winter schedule.
  • The ski season in Tsaghkadzor and Jermuk, the swimming season on Sevan, boats and the rope park at Lake Parz: the dispatcher will tell you what is open on your dates.
  • Holidays: the list in the article follows the law; Government decisions on moving days off are not in it, so check the schedule of the place before a trip in a holiday week.
  • Weather: the norms above are 30-year averages, not a forecast. Two or three days before the trip look at the forecast and message the dispatcher, who is available on WhatsApp and Telegram 24/7.

Questions about this trip

How do BarevTrip drivers handle mountain roads in winter?
Our drivers have at least 5 years of experience and know the roads of Armenia's regions, including mountain roads and winter driving. Every car has air conditioning and heating, and seat belts at every seat. The Rescue Service of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs urges drivers to use only winter tyres in winter.
Is there a surcharge for travelling on holidays or at night?
No. The price is the same by day and by night: night pickups and holidays carry no markup. There is only one extra charge, under a rate you know before booking: an unplanned stop, a change of route, or waiting beyond what is included.
What if the bulletin reports a closed road on the day of the trip?
The “Roads in Armenia” bulletin comes out around 08:00 Yerevan time and the default pickup is 09:00, so a closure announced the day before is easier to spot than one on the morning of the trip. We do not promise separate terms for a closed road in advance: the usual cancellation terms apply — free cancellation 24 hours before pickup, or 48 hours before the start for your own route, one free reschedule up to the same deadline, and no prepayments or non-refundable deposits. If a section of your route is closed, message the dispatcher (available on WhatsApp and Telegram 24/7) and pick another catalogue route: lowland ones, such as “Echmiadzin, Zvartnots & Khor Virap”, cross no passes.
Where can I check the weather forecast for Armenia on the days of my trip?
The “Weather in Armenia” feed on the website of the Rescue Service of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs republishes the forecast of the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Environment: as text, with no figures by city. The same feed carries warnings of snow and sleet in the mountains and of a cold snap in the coming days.
Can I take a child seat on a winter trip?
A child seat is free on request and mandatory for children under 7; the seat type comes with the confirmation. Children count as passengers when we choose the car: a sedan takes up to 3 passengers with 3 suitcases or 4 with 2, a minivan up to 7 passengers.

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Routes from this article

Amberd Fortress rising above a lush green meadow: dark basalt walls and round towers crown a grassy hill, hikers walk along a gravel path, and Vahramashen Church and old stone ruins stand on the slope to the left under an overcast sky.
Amberd Fortress & Byurakan Observatory
6 h · 130 km
from 37,500 AMDper car
Lake Kari on Mount Aragats in early summer: a dark scree hill streaked with snow on the shore and its reflection in the calm water, the snow-patched summit of Aragats behind, sunlit rust-brown slopes on the right and a vast cloudy sky in warm low light.
Amberd, Aragats & Lake Kari
7 h · 165 km
from 38,000 AMDper car
Wings of Tatev cables running from the cabin toward a support tower above red-roofed village houses, beside a deep green gorge with snow-capped peaks in the distance
Grand South Loop: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Karahunj & Sevan
14 h · 600 km
from 105,000 AMDper car

Sources and date of check

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