may be a double post by me) ... am i getting vibes that even though these countries share a border, you can't actually go from Ankara or eastern Turkey into Yerevan, the capital of Armenia? Can you fly in from Istanbul? Do we have to go thru a third neutral country? Help!
Posted by
Cary, NC
687 posts
Relations between Turkey and Armenia are very frosty. No, as far as I know you still can't cross the land border. Where are you starting from? You can cross into Georgia, air or land, no problem. You can fly between Aleppo and Yerevan, although only twice a week, if you are close to the Syrian border. (Perhaps not such a good idea, right now, as when I did it the other way.) You can fly from Istanbul to Tbilisi, but it's not cheap and you still need to get to Yerevan. (I'd recommend stopping off in Tbilisi if you do that, I preferred it to Yerevan.) Do you have the Lonely Planet guide to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan?
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1559 posts
As Kathy pointed out, there are no open border crossings between Turkey and Armenia. By land, you can only cross from Georgia or Iran. As for flights, Turkish airlines only flies to Tbilisi and not Yerevan. Of the star alliance carriers, LOT (Polish airline) flies into both Tbilisi and Yerevan as does Austria and possible Lufthansa. I too am headed for Georgia and Armenia next month but am using LOT since the connections were better for me. If traveling by land, there are a couple of border crossings between W Turkey and Georgia. And from Tbilisi, Yerevan is a 5-6 hr marshrutka ride away. The key is going to be where your return flight leaves from since you will have to retrace your steps or fly. Your best bet for more info is to look at the Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey sections of the Lonely Planet thorn tree forum. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=15
Posted by
Cary, NC
687 posts
@Arnold - where are you flying from? marlys was asking about traveling from Turkey, and a quick check on kayak.com for a random date in September shows no flights from Ankara to Yerevan, and only Aeroflot from Istanbul, via Moscow... @marlys - according to my somewhat dated LP there is a train from Tbilisi to Yerevan but it takes 15 hours! You're definitely better off on a marshrutka. If you take that route and have the time it's worth stopping off in northern Armenia. I blogged my 2009 Caucasus trip, starting here: http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/battered-batumi/
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1559 posts
Kathy: I am flying from the US to Tbilisi with a stopover in Warsaw/Poland. From Georgia, I am taking the marshrutka's to visit Armenia. I am planning on visiting some of the famous monasteries/churches in Debed canyon. Will also be heading south to Goris and the Tatev monastery - planning on riding the longest cable car ride in the world which opened last year. I was agreeing with you that there are no flights between Turkey and Armenia - you have to go via a 3rd country. Marlys is better off flying from IST to TBS (I believe Turkish airlines has 2 flights a day) though not sure of the prices. Or if she wants to go to directly to Yerevan, she could use the star alliance carriers and connect via Vienna, Warsaw and possibly Munich. I am assuming other carries will also be possible through their hub cities.