BarevTripParz Lake: loop trail, entry, seasons and how to get there
Parz Lake is a small forest lake in Dilijan National Park, Tavush Province: 110 km and about 1 h 50 min without stops from Republic Square in Yerevan, and 14 km by road from old Dilijan. Its Armenian name means “clear”. There is no separate ticket for the lake and no official opening hours: it is open parkland. A park loop trail runs around the water — 3.1 km, about 1 h 15 min, easy; swimming in the lake is not allowed. On the “Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank” trip 40 minutes are set aside for Parz, enough for a walk by the water: 9 hours, 45,000 AMD for a sedan or 63,000 AMD for a minivan, for the whole car. The default pickup is 09:00; for this route the catalog advises 8:00.
At a glance
- Region
- Dilijan National Park, east of Dilijan, Tavush Province
- Opening hours
- Not confirmed — check on site
- Tickets
- Free entry. Official sources name no separate fee for the lake or the trail: the national park booklet (file of 19 November 2025) lists entrance fees only for the deer nursery, and in the BarevTrip catalogue on 12 November 2026 the stop has no ticket. One travel guide (Caravan, June 2026) mentions paid entry without an amount, so check on site. The car park at the north shore is paid (on BarevTrip trips parking is included in the price of the car); boats, pedal boats and the rope park are paid separately, in season
- Time to visit
- 30–75 min
- Season
- Open all year, with no official closure calendar. In summer the lake is very crowded, and boats and the rope park work in season; in autumn the slopes of the hollow turn yellow and red. In winter the lake freezes, and according to one travel guide the road to it may not be cleared of snow from November to March, with access not guaranteed even by four-wheel drive: check before a winter trip
- Restrictions
- Swimming in the lake is not allowed. The loop trail is narrow and unpaved, with footbridges and about 95 m of height difference, so it is not suitable for a pushchair; from the car park to the shore by the restaurant it is about 100 m on gravel. We found no rules for flying drones in the park: ask the park administration
checked November 12, 2026
Contents
What it is and where it is
Parz lies at the bottom of a forested hollow east of Dilijan and north-west of the village of Gosh: wooded slopes enclose the water on three sides, and a pale rock face rises above the lake. The lake is small — a water area of about 3 ha and a shoreline of about 1.1 km. The dictionary of Armenian place names (1986) describes it as a landslide-dammed lake: a landslide blocked the valley. Springs feed the lake and a stream flows out of it; the average depth is about 3 m, the greatest about 10 m.
Value
- Name
- Parz Lake (Պարզ լիճ, also Lake Parz); in Armenian “parz” means “clear, transparent”
- Province
- Tavush, Dilijan community
- Location
- Dilijan National Park: 14.3 km by road from old Dilijan, about 4 km in a straight line from the village of Gosh
- From central Yerevan
- 110.3 km by road, about 1 h 48 min without traffic
- Elevation
- about 1,330–1,350 m
- Size
- water area about 3 ha, shoreline about 1.1 km; depth about 3 m on average, up to 10 m
- Protection
- Dilijan National Park, 33,765 ha
History by date
There are no ancient buildings by the water. A park information board by the trail says that a small settlement is thought to have stood in the hollow: a khachkar (carved cross-stone) and an old cemetery survive at its southern edge, and the park booklet marks medieval khachkars on the loop trail. We found no dates for them and no entries in the state list of monuments.
What
- no exact date
- a landslide blocked the valley and a lake formed in the hollow — this is how the dictionary of Armenian place names (vol. 4, 1986) describes its origin
- Middle Ages
- khachkars by the loop trail — the park booklet calls them medieval
- 1958
- the Dilijan forests are declared a state reserve
- 2002
- Dilijan National Park, 33,765 ha, is created in place of the reserve; Parz lies inside the park
Today there are a restaurant, boat hire and a rope park by the north shore, and the Transcaucasian Trail crosses the hollow: this hiking route links Parz with Goshavank and Dilijan.
What to see on site and nearby
The loop trail. The main thing here is the park trail around the lake: according to the park booklet it is 3.1 km, about 1 h 15 min, easy. It is a narrow unpaved forest path with signposts and footbridges; elevations range from 1,290 to 1,385 m, a difference of about 95 m. Along the way are a drinking-water spring, medieval khachkars, viewpoints and a section of the Transcaucasian Trail. The trail starts about 200 m from the car park, at an information board with a map. A full loop does not fit into a 40–45-minute stop: a short walk by the water takes about 30 minutes, according to the catalog.
The north shore. Next to the car park are a restaurant, boat and pedal-boat hire and a rope park with ziplines over the water. Boats and the rope park work in season and are paid separately. Swimming in the lake is not allowed. In summer, HIKEArmenia notes, it gets very busy here.
From the car park
- Rope park with ziplines
- about 60 m
- Restaurant and boat hire
- 110–120 m
- Drinking-water spring
- about 110 m
- Toilet
- about 150 m
- Start of the loop trail, board with a map
- about 200 m
- Park boards about the otter and the red deer
- about 100 and 200 m
- Khachkar and old cemetery at the southern edge of the hollow
- about 650 m
Distances are in a straight line from the centre of the car park, based on OpenStreetMap.
Nearby. 3.7 km by road, about 5 minutes away, is the wild deer nursery, a breeding centre for the Caucasian red deer: it is part of the Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake trip. On foot, a trail leads east from the lake to the village of Gosh and Goshavank Monastery — 7.2 km through the forest, about 2 h 50 min, easy according to HIKEArmenia; to the west, a trail leads to Dilijan. These are separate hikes and not part of the catalog’s day trips; you can request an estimate for such a day as your own route.
Hours and tickets
The lake and the trail are open national-park land: there are no official hours either in the park booklet or on the website of the Ministry of Environment. Official sources name no separate fee for the lake: the park booklet lists entrance fees only for the deer nursery, and in the BarevTrip catalog the stop has no ticket. One travel guide (Caravan, June 2026) mentions paid entry without an amount, so check on site. The amounts below are the institution’s prices, paid on site, not BarevTrip prices.
Hours
- Lake and loop trail
- open land, no official hours
- Car park at the north shore
- —
- Boats, pedal boats, ziplines
- in season
- Restaurant at the north shore
- hours not published
- Toilet by the shore
- —
- Wild deer nursery, 3.7 km away
- —
Fee
- Lake and loop trail
- official sources name no separate fee
- Car park at the north shore
- paid; parking is included in the price of the car
- Boats, pedal boats, ziplines
- separately, on site; prices not published
- Restaurant at the north shore
- as per the menu
- Toilet by the shore
- paid, according to OpenStreetMap
- Wild deer nursery, 3.7 km away
- foreigners over 7 — 1,000 AMD, citizens of Armenia over 7 — 500 AMD, children under 7 — free
Entrance tickets are not included in the price of the trip: they are bought on site, separately, and it is safer to have cash in drams.
How to get there from Yerevan and how long it takes
From Republic Square to the car park at the north shore it is 110.3 km and about 1 h 48 min without traffic: along the M-4 via Sevan and Dilijan, with the last 8 km or so on the H-73 road. With stops, the drive takes two hours or more. There is no public transport to the lake. The car stops at the paid gravel car park at the north shore, about 100 m from the water; your driver waits there.
On the “Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank” trip Parz is the third of four stops. Calculated along the chain between car parks, without traffic or stops:
Kilometres
- Yerevan (Republic Square) → old Dilijan
- 97.2
- Old Dilijan → Haghartsin Monastery
- 13.7
- Haghartsin → Parz Lake
- 16.0
- Parz Lake → Goshavank Monastery
- 24.7
- Goshavank → Yerevan
- 118.0
- Total along the chain
- 269.6
Time without stops
- Yerevan (Republic Square) → old Dilijan
- 93 min
- Old Dilijan → Haghartsin Monastery
- 16 min
- Haghartsin → Parz Lake
- 20 min
- Parz Lake → Goshavank Monastery
- 28 min
- Goshavank → Yerevan
- 116 min
- Total along the chain
- 4 h 33 min
The catalog gives 260 km. The stops take 175 minutes: old Dilijan 30, Haghartsin 60, Parz 40, Goshavank 45. Together with the drive that is about 7.5 hours; the rest of the nine is a margin for lunch and traffic. With an 8:00 pickup you are at the lake from about 11:40 to 12:20 and back in Yerevan around 15:30 without lunch or traffic; with a 09:00 pickup, an hour later. You set the pickup time in your request: the default is 09:00, and for this route the catalog advises 8:00.
On the “Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake” trip the lake is the third of five stops, after Sevanavank and Haghartsin, for 45 minutes; from there it is 3.7 km to the deer nursery.
When to go
Both trips with Parz are open in the catalog all year round. The lake has no official closure calendar: the seasons differ in weather, road conditions and what is open on the shore.
At the lake
- Summer
- boats, pedal boats and the rope park are open
- Autumn
- the slopes of the hollow turn yellow and red, and the foliage is reflected in the water
- Winter
- the lake freezes, the forest is under snow
What to keep in mind
- Summer
- very busy (HIKEArmenia)
- Autumn
- boats and the rope park work in season — check on site
- Winter
- from November to March the road to the lake may not be cleared of snow, and access is not guaranteed even with four-wheel drive (Caravan, June 2026)
In winter, ask the dispatcher before the trip whether the road is passable. The drivers of the BarevTrip fleet have at least 5 years of experience and have driven across Armenia’s regions, including on mountain roads and in winter conditions. Cancellation is free if at least 24 hours remain before pickup, and up to the same deadline you get one free reschedule. Weather by month, based on the Dilijan weather station normals, is in the article Dilijan; other winter trips are in the answer where to go from Yerevan for a day in winter.
What to combine it with in one day
Parz is part of two trips in the catalog; prices are for the whole car:
Parz in the programme
- Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank
- third of four stops, 40 min; besides the lake — old Dilijan, Haghartsin and Goshavank
- Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake
- third of five, 45 min; besides the lake — Sevanavank, Haghartsin, the wild deer nursery and old Dilijan; Goshavank optional, at extra charge
Hours, km
- Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank
- 9 h, 260 km
- Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake
- 8 h, 250 km
Sedan / minivan
- Dilijan, Parz Lake, Haghartsin & Goshavank
- 45,000 / 63,000 AMD
- Lake Sevan, Dilijan & Parz Lake
- 47,000 / 67,000 AMD
The first trip goes deeper into the park and includes Goshavank; the second starts at Lake Sevan and adds the deer nursery. How their hours compare is in the answer Sevan and Dilijan in one day. For the town and the places around it, see the article Dilijan; for Sevan, the article on Lake Sevan; for the road itself, Yerevan to Dilijan by car.
You can change the order of the stops for free by telling the driver at the start of the trip. If you want to walk the full loop of the trail, tell the driver: extra waiting is charged as a single surcharge, at a rate known before booking. A qualified guide can be added to either trip for a fixed surcharge, shown on the trip page: the driver does not give tours. With children, see the answer on day trips with kids; all routes are in the trip catalog, and how booking and payment work is on the how it works page.
What to check on site
- A walk or the full loop. The programme allows 40–45 minutes, enough for a walk by the water. The full loop of the trail takes about 1 h 15 min; if it matters to you, tell the driver in advance.
- Boats and ziplines. They work in season, and prices are not published: ask on site.
- Cash. Boats, ziplines, the restaurant and the toilet are paid on site, so bring drams.
- The road in winter. From November to March the road to the lake may not be cleared: ask the dispatcher before the trip.
- Swimming and footwear. Swimming is not allowed; wear closed shoes for the trail, which is narrow, unpaved and has footbridges.
- Drones. We found no rules for flying drones in the park: check with the park administration, +374 60 717121.
Photos
Questions about this trip
How much time do you need at Parz Lake?
Can you swim in Parz Lake?
Do you have to pay to visit the lake?
Is Parz suitable for a trip with children and a pushchair?
Will the driver tell us about the park and the lake?
Can I go to Parz in winter?
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Sources and date of check
- Ministry of Environment of Armenia — “Dilijan Park” package: national park booklet and “Parz Lake Loop Trail” leaflet (files of 19.11.2025) · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 8
- Armenian Wikipedia, “Պարզ լիճ” — with references to the dictionary of Armenian place names (vol. 4, 1986) and the reference book of physical-geographic features of Armenia · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 1, 2
- OpenStreetMap — Parz Lake (way 98662835) and features by the shore: car park, restaurant, boat hire, rope park, spring, toilet, information boards, khachkar · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 1, 3, 4, 5
- OSRM — road routes between car parks: Republic Square, old Dilijan, Haghartsin, Parz, Goshavank, deer nursery · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 1, 3, 4, 5
- HIKEArmenia — “Goshavank to Parz Lake” trail · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 3, 6
- Caravan — “Sevan – Dilijan – Haghartsin – Parz Lake” (17.06.2026) · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 4, 6, 8
- BarevTrip catalog, GET /api/routes (meta.updated_at 2026-11-12) · checked November 12, 2026 · sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
- OpenStreetMap — paid gravel car park at the north shore of Parz Lake (way 98662832) · checked November 12, 2026 · At a glance
- Ministry of Environment of Armenia — National Parks (Dilijan National Park, 2002; no hours or tariffs published) · checked November 12, 2026 · At a glance
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