Financial Times picks Armenia as hottest tourist destination
08.01.2020,
10:07
The travel experts of the Financial Times have picked the hottest destinations to visit this year and one of them is Armenia.
YEREVAN, January 8, /ARKA/. The travel experts of the Financial Times have picked the hottest destinations to visit this year and one of them is Armenia . A story in the newspaper says Armenia has remained relatively off the radar — attracting fewer than a quarter of its neighbor Georgia’s visitor numbers — though that now seems to be on the verge of change.
Four members of the Financial Times panel picked Armenia as one to watch in 2020 (Wild Frontiers says its forward bookings are up 100 per cent compared with a year go) and the country will get its first low-cost airline links with western Europe.
Ryanair, Wizz and Air Baltic are all due to launch flights, connecting the capital Yerevan with cities including Milan, Rome, Berlin and Vienna.
The Financial Times says the main draw for visitors is the country’s extraordinary collection of medieval monasteries and churches, many of them set among dramatic mountains. Geghard monastery, for example, was cut into the rock of the Upper Azat valley and was completed in the 13th century. It is now a Unesco world heritage site, as are the monasteries at Haghpat and Sanahin. Mt Ararat, viewed from the Armenian capital Yerevan
But Yerevan and the wine-lands are also fascinating. “Yerevan is one of the region’s most exuberant and endearing cities,” says Justin Wateridge of Steppes Travel. “Both country and capital are an unexpected delight that you need to discover before the secret gets out.” Tom Marchant of Black Tomato recommends the newly opened Alexander hotel in Yerevan, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, as well as stopping for a degustation at the Ararat Brandy Company. -0-
Four members of the Financial Times panel picked Armenia as one to watch in 2020 (Wild Frontiers says its forward bookings are up 100 per cent compared with a year go) and the country will get its first low-cost airline links with western Europe.
Ryanair, Wizz and Air Baltic are all due to launch flights, connecting the capital Yerevan with cities including Milan, Rome, Berlin and Vienna.
The Financial Times says the main draw for visitors is the country’s extraordinary collection of medieval monasteries and churches, many of them set among dramatic mountains. Geghard monastery, for example, was cut into the rock of the Upper Azat valley and was completed in the 13th century. It is now a Unesco world heritage site, as are the monasteries at Haghpat and Sanahin. Mt Ararat, viewed from the Armenian capital Yerevan
But Yerevan and the wine-lands are also fascinating. “Yerevan is one of the region’s most exuberant and endearing cities,” says Justin Wateridge of Steppes Travel. “Both country and capital are an unexpected delight that you need to discover before the secret gets out.” Tom Marchant of Black Tomato recommends the newly opened Alexander hotel in Yerevan, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, as well as stopping for a degustation at the Ararat Brandy Company. -0-
