Gyumri Museum Excursions and Guided Visits

Organised tours are a small part of Gyumri. The city is compact and flat, so most visitors explore on foot, and the guided options that do exist are museum excursions, a few day tours from Yerevan and specialist trips to the border-zone viewpoints. This page sets out what each one involves so you can choose before you arrive. Prices are in Armenian dram (AMD) and change, so check each museum’s page on mus.am before you go.

Excursions inside the museums

Each state museum offers a guided excursion in addition to the entry ticket, and it is worth booking in advance if you want English.

  • Dzitoghtsyan Museum of National Architecture and Urban Life, 47 Haghtanak Ave. The 1872 merchant mansion shows 19th-century Alexandropol home life, craft trades and a scale model of the old town. The excursion costs 2,000 AMD in Armenian and 4,000 AMD in English, Russian or French. The entry ticket of about 1,500 to 2,000 AMD also covers the Merkurov House-Museum in the courtyard.
  • Aslamazyan Sisters Gallery, 242 Abovyan St. The gallery opened in 1987 and shows the paintings and graphic work of Mariam and Eranuhi Aslamazyan. The excursion costs 1,000 AMD in Armenian and 2,000 AMD in Russian or English.
  • Mher Mkrtchyan Museum, 30 Rustaveli St, and Hovhannes Shiraz House-Museum, 101 Varpetats St: each offers an excursion at 1,000 AMD in Armenian or 2,000 AMD in another language.
  • Avetik Isahakyan House-Museum, 91 Varpetats St: excursions cost 1,500 AMD in Armenian and 2,000 AMD in Russian, English or German.

Day tours from Yerevan

Marketplace listings sell organised day tours that run from Yerevan to Gyumri and combine the old town, the Black Fortress and Harichavank monastery. Operators and prices vary, so compare what is included, how long you get in Gyumri itself and whether museum tickets are covered. The alternative is to take the train yourself; the Yerevan to Gyumri journey takes about three hours, or 2 h 10 on the Friday to Sunday express, and the timetable is at railway.am .

Ani and Yererouk trips

Hamshen Tour offers trips to the Ani viewpoint at Kharkov and to the Yererouk basilica, at about 8,000 AMD per person. The Kharkov post lies in the border zone, so the operator needs permit registration roughly 35 days ahead; see its tour page at hamshen.am . Do not turn up at Kharkov without a permit. Carry your passport on every trip west towards the Turkey border, which is closed, and do not photograph military sites or the border fence; ask guards if you are unsure.

What is not offered

Gyumri has no hop-on bus tour of the city. Its beers come from the brewery on Yerevanyan Highway and are easiest to try in bars and shops. A forge or mushurba workshop visit can be arranged through your hotel or a local guide; settle the time and fee beforehand.

Read more: Day trips from Gyumri lists the monasteries and viewpoints with distances.

Booking help

Compare organised tours that start in Yerevan on Viator .