How safe is Armenia for travelers?

Crime is low

• Armenia has low crime rates and Yerevan is comfortable to walk at night.
• Occasional pickpocketing, bag-snatching, theft from cars and burglary involving foreigners is the realistic risk.
• Carry a copy of your passport rather than the original.

The two places not to go

• Within 5 km of the entire eastern border with Azerbaijan - the FCDO advises against all travel there because of tensions between the two countries, and there is a ceasefire rather than a settlement.
• The M16/H26 road between Ijevan and Noyemberyan - advised against for the same reason. This is in the north and can appear on a route to Georgia.
• Neither is signposted as a restricted zone in a way a visitor would notice. Check the route, not the road signs.

Drugs

• Smuggling drugs carries 4 to 10 years, which is the sentence the FCDO names.
• Using, possessing or trading cannabis, CBD or THC products is illegal here in its own right - CBD included, which is the part that catches ordinary travellers rather than smugglers.
• A medical prescription is not a defence. The FCDO says so directly, which is unusually blunt and worth taking at face value if you carry CBD for anything.

Driving

• The standard of driving is poor and traffic laws are widely ignored.
• Roads deteriorate from November to February.
• Do not drive at night outside urban areas.

Protests

• Demonstrations occur in Yerevan and the larger cities, usually organised by political opposition, and tend to be peaceful. Avoid large gatherings anyway.

The mountains

• Altitude sickness is a genuine risk on Mount Aragats at 4,090 m and around the Aragats lakes at about 3,000 m.
• Weather changes fast and mountain rescue is limited.