Where to stay in Armenia

Yerevan is the base

• Almost everything in Armenia is a day trip from Yerevan, and most visitors never move.
• The Kentron district - the centre, around Republic Square and the Cascade - is where to stay. Walkable, full of cafes, and the whole city's social life happens on those streets in the evening.
• Accommodation is cheap and there is a good supply of apartments as well as hotels.

A second base

• Dilijan - forested, cool, called the Armenian Switzerland, and a good base for the north and Lake Sevan. Check the route in avoids the M16/H26 road the FCDO advises against.
• Goris - in the far south, for Tatev and the Karahunj stones, and on the road to Iran.
• Lake Sevan - guesthouses on the shore, busy in July and August with Armenians rather than foreigners.

What to avoid

• Anywhere within 5 km of the eastern border with Azerbaijan. The FCDO advises against all travel there, which rules out a strip running the length of the country's eastern side.
• Check where a rural guesthouse actually is against that advice before booking - the villages on that side are not always obviously close to a frontier on a booking site's map.

Practical

• Winter is cold and Yerevan sits at 1,000 m. Heating in older apartments is uneven.
• Summer in Yerevan is very hot - it is a dry basin and it holds heat.
• Petty theft happens - pickpocketing, bag-snatching, theft from cars and burglary involving foreigners. Ordinary precautions.