Armenia's old capital ANI

[gretarosajulia]

Hi all,
Armenia's old capital ANI lies in the border zone with Turkey, on Turkish territory. If you want to visit the ruins you have to go to Turkey.
But there are vieuwpoints from Armenia. One of them is Haykadzor, not far from Gyümri. I wonder if any of you went there?
Greetings,
Greet

[StephParis]

Hello

I'll tell you in september ! I'm going in Georgia & Armenia in august and one my goals is to reach Haykadzor to enjoy viewpoint over Ani. Only thing I know so far is that it's possible to reach the village without any permit.

[gretarosajulia]

Thanks Steph! We are planning to travel in May 2023 so it would be great to hear you in September.
The whole area seems to be full of impressive old ruins - Yereruyk basilica, in Haykadzor there is Karmirvank and there is a karavansaray at Jrapi. We want to try to visit border regions Anipemza and Kharkov. I think we'll have to apply one week before for permission to Armenian Ministry of Foreign affairs. The site doesn’t tell exactly how to proceed.

[StephParis]

Hi Julia

I'm back from Caucasus, here is what I can tell you.
The village of Haykadzor is easily accessible, you don't need any permit, but from the so called "Ani view point" you just don't see nothing... unless you have binoculars. And I had not... I could only distinguish some monuments very far away while standing behind barbed wire. Quite disappointing, but the village in itself is interesting and the road to arrive there is even more. I arrived from Gyumri so I went along the border with Turkey : at some points you have better views on the other side than in Haykadzor. I would really recommend to arrive that way. Beware that the road is pretty bad with loads of potholes. They are repairing it so for sure it will be better next year, but not perfect. As I was cycling, I didn't try the other village you mentioned (Kharkov).
Of course you can also join the area from Yerevan : you'll find a better road, but the atmosphere is not the same.

Hope it helps !