Things to do in Yerevan

30 activities, venues and outings in Yerevan, from theatres and live music to parks and tours.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

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Arten Theatre
Արդեն
Independent chamber theatre founded in 2022, in a former House of Culture with about 50 seats. Performances, play readings, labs and lectures; the programme is on the website.
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Botanical garden of Yerevan
The collection includes more than 200 species of endemic, rare and declining plants. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to insufficient funds the condition of the park started declining and now it needs a lot of improvements.
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Children's Park
շարժապահեստ Մանկական
Yet another beautiful remnant of Soviet urban planning in Yerevan. The park, opened in 1937, is situated in a gorgeous canyon of Hrazdan river and features a children's railway. Though the park and the railway still function, most of the infrastructure is horribly deteriorated. On the other hand the deterioration gives the feeling of a 'ghost park from a fairy tale' even though it is always populated. From Missak Manouchian Park, go northwest through the Kond Pedestrian Tunnel (which is creepy, but seems safe).
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Children's Railway Park
Miniature railway for children to ride in, established in 1937.
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Circular park
Despite its name, the park's shape is semi-circular. You can see several monuments to important Armenian and Russian imperial figures here.
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Climb the Cascades
(or - before 20:00 - take the escalators inside the art gallery, stepping outside at each level) one evening for the great views of the city and Mt. Ararat, then head across the street to the amusement park inside Victory Park for some cotton candy and a ride on the rickety Ferris wheel.
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English park
One of Yerevan's oldest parks, though smaller in size than it once was. It is popular with couples for wedding photographs.
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Lover's Park
Boghossian Gardens
One of the oldest parks of Yerevan. Renovated in tradition of Japanese landscaping with Armenian spirit. It often hosts open air art exhibitions and concerts. It is best reached by metro, station 'Marshal Baghramian' - perhaps the most underused building and allegedly the best in Modernist style.
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Lyon Park
Vardavar Park
Surrounding the artificial Vardarvar Lake, this park was renamed Lyon Park to honor France's second city. Lyon is a friendship city of Yerevan and the French funded the renovation of the park in the early 2010s.
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Oghakadzev park
Features the Luna Park amusement park, a couple of small lakes and cafés.
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Opera park
Spend a late night at a café in the Opera park, and outside the Melody Café for some of the best people watching in Yerevan.
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Saryan Park
A triangular park with a statue of the painter Martiros Saryan is where painters gather to sell their work. Many more on the weekend than on weekdays.
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Spartak Stadium
This is a mixed-use sports & athletics stadium just south of city centre.
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Sundukyan State Academic Theatre
The oldest modern theatre in Armenia, here you can see the most famous actors of the country perform.
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The Opera House
The building is perhaps modeled after SemperOper of Dresden, however it is supposed to be double as beautiful as the Yerevan building is two sided: One side (entrance from the Theatrical/Freedom square) is home to Opera and Ballet Theatre, while the street side houses the Khachaturian Concert Hall. For music fans, attend cheap and excellent performances at the Opera or the Chamber Music Orchestra. If a national dance group is performing, don’t miss it.
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The Swan Lake park
Karapi Lich
ends with the popular statue of the composer Arno Babajanyan, which brings attention to his famous nose and long fingers. The Swan Lake park usually hosts various open air art exhibitions. Ice-skate with many locals at the Swan Lake (next to the Opera House) during winter months.
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Victory Park
- Amusement park. Features a huge monument of Mother Armenia as well as some Soviet military equipment on display. Very nice view of the city centre.
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Yerevan Circus
A new circus building finished in 2018, on the place of a former one which was demolished in 2012. Opening of the circus was planned for 2020, postponed by the pandemic and as of 2024 it has still yet to open.
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Yerevan Water World
Water park "AquaWorld"
A water park popular with the locals in the summers, it consists of a big open-air water park and a much smaller indoor one. Anybody can cool down there as in total it offers 7 outdoor and 3 indoor pools. There are also wall-climbing facilities. During winter time, the largest pool of the park is turned into an ice skating rink.
12:00–21:00, indoor water park "Aquatek" is open all year round without holidays
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Yerevan Zoo
Zoological Garden of Yerevan
Zoo is home to about 3,000 animals mainly representing South Caucasus and Armenia: bears, goats, snakes, Armenian mouflon and black vultures. Also from other parts of the world: lions, tigers, hyenas and an Asian elephants. It was upgraded and renovated to the modern standards back in 2014.
ClosedAdult 800 dram, children 12-16 years - 500 dram, children 3-12 years - 300 dram
Do Not mapped
Catch a concert
on the Cascades or the Lover's Park, and an art exhibition at Swan Lake park or Lover's Park.
Do Not mapped
Golden Apricot
A fairly well-established international film festival, usually held in July. Armenians take pride in it.
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Hrazdan Gorge partying
Visit one of the themed restaurants in the Hrazdan Gorge to see the locals partying. The food does not tend to venture far from barbecue and crayfish, but it is usually good barbecue, and the prices range from very reasonable to the unreasonable. Check the prices on the hard liquor and wines before ordering a bottle if you’re price sensitive.
Only in summer
Do Not mapped
ReAnimania
An emerging international animated film festival held in autumn.
End of October (Oct 20-26th 2024)
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Yerevan's Birthday
Erebuni Yerevan
Yerevan's birthday is usually celebrated on the second Saturday of October. It's usually a huge event, with central Yerevan being pedestrian only: there are many stages all over the city for theatrical or music (usually thematic - ethnic minorities, folk, jazz, rock, pop and classics) performances with a culmination on Republic Square. The festival is centered around the Erebuni fortress, since it is the cradle of Yerevan. It is hard though to find out the exact dates for the festival.
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Moscow theatre
Opened in 1936, with 4 theatre halls.
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Paplavok Park
Chill out in Yerevan Green Belt.
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Park of Komitas Pantheon
Պանթեոն` Կոմիտասի
A cemetery that doubles as a park.
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Tumanyan park
Part of the Tumo Centre for Creative Technologies.
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Yerevan reservoir
Yerevanyan Lake
Built in 1963, total area is 57.45 ha.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Yerevan (CC BY-SA 4.0).