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Goris
Stone spires and the gateway to Tatev
Stone spires and the gateway to Tatev
The headline experience: a 5.7-kilometre cable car — the longest non-stop double-track ropeway in the world — gliding high above the Vorotan Gorge to the clifftop monastery of Tatev. The 9th-century complex was a great medieval university and remains one of Armenia’s holiest and most dramatically sited monasteries, perched above a plunging canyon.
💡 Ride the cable car both ways for the views, and give Tatev a couple of hours — the swinging pendulum-column and the gorge overlooks are highlights.
On the eastern edge of town, a hillside of pointed tuff pinnacles is riddled with man-made caves — the original settlement of Old Goris (Kyores), where people carved homes, byres and storerooms into the soft rock and lived in them for centuries. You can scramble among the spires and duck into the abandoned dwellings.
💡 Walk up from town in the golden hour — the rock forest glows and the caves are atmospheric; wear sturdy shoes for the scramble.
A short drive away, the dramatic canyon of Old Khndzoresk holds another abandoned cave-village clinging to its walls, inhabited until the 1950s. A 160-metre swinging suspension footbridge strung across the gorge — built by locals in 2012 — lets you cross to the caves, a church and a genuinely thrilling walk.
💡 The bridge bounces — that’s the fun — and the far side rewards with cave dwellings and a hermit’s church; allow a couple of hours for the full loop.
Goris itself rewards a wander — its 19th-century grid of red-roofed tuff houses, leafy streets and small museums has a faded elegance. Between Goris and Sisian stands Zorats Karer (Karahunj), a prehistoric arrangement of standing stones sometimes called the ‘Armenian Stonehenge’, a haunting site on the windswept plateau.
💡 Zorats Karer is a worthwhile stop if you’re driving up from Yerevan — the pierced standing stones and the plateau setting are wonderfully atmospheric.
Goris and the Syunik south set a hearty highland table: khorovats barbecue, khashlama (slow-boiled meat and vegetables), zhingyalov hats — the regional flatbread stuffed with a dozen or more wild herbs, a southern Armenian speciality worth seeking out — and plenty of local cheese, greens and preserves. Guesthouses often serve the best food, home-cooked and generous, with mulberry vodka (oghi) and local wine to toast with. The town has a handful of simple restaurants and cafes, and the Tatev cable-car station has an eatery for the day-trip crowd. It’s rustic, filling and cheap, and the mountain fruit — mulberries, apricots, walnuts — turns up in everything from jam to the fierce homemade spirits.
Drive up the valley for the world’s longest cable car, soaring across the Vorotan Gorge to clifftop Tatev Monastery — explore the medieval complex and the canyon overlooks.
Back toward Goris, lunch on zhingyalov hats — the herb-stuffed flatbread of the south — and khorovats at a guesthouse or town restaurant.
Head to the Khndzoresk canyon and its bouncing 160-metre swinging bridge, crossing to the abandoned cave-village and hermit’s church on the far wall.
Climb to the Old Goris cave dwellings for golden-hour light on the stone pyramids, then a home-cooked guesthouse dinner with mulberry oghi to toast the day.
Goris is 4–5 hours from Yerevan — worth an overnight rather than a day trip; marshrutkas run daily, but a driver or tour gives you the sites en route.
The Wings of Tatev is the reason most people come — buy the return ticket for the full gorge views, and check operating days before you travel.
This herb-packed flatbread is the signature food of Armenia’s south — don’t leave without it; guesthouses make the best version.
Goris sits on the route toward the southeast — check current regional travel advisories for the border areas before planning onward trips.
The Old Goris caves, Khndzoresk bridge and gorge walks all mean uneven, rocky ground — wear proper footwear and carry water.
Even by Armenian standards the south is cheap — home-cooked guesthouse dinners and simple rooms cost very little for genuine hospitality.
Directions on the southern roads and to Tatev, Khndzoresk and the caves.
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Ride-hailing for the Yerevan end — in Goris, arrange a local driver for the sites.
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How guesthouses, drivers and tour operators communicate and take bookings.
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Multi-currency card with strong rates for Armenian dram and card payments.
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The pink capital of Yerevan, artistic Gyumri, forested Dilijan, the stone spires of Goris and the holy cathedral city of Vagharshapat — small Armenia holds remarkable range.