Most of tourist Yerevan is concentrated in the Center. The center is very compact and easily walkable, with endless dining and entertainment options. The rest of the city is mostly sleeping or business quarters, so a typical tourist will not have much incentive to leave the center.
Kentron, Center City or Downtown - is central Yerevan, locally called as kentron or just kaghak (meaning 'the city'). This is the heart of Yerevan and indeed Armenia. Though Kentron's architecture is diverse, ranging from Belle Epoque to Soviet Panel blocks, the great majority of the center is in Beaux-Arts tradition. Downtown Yerevan follows Tamanyan's plan for a circular city with two hubs - grand Republic Square, and the more elegant and soft Opera district (Opera house, Freedom Square and the Swan Lake Park). The two are linked with newly-constructed pedestrian-only Northern Avenue. The Main Avenue (standard South European Corso) is still under construction (for last 60 years, though on a greater scale during the last couple of years) and will eventually reach the hill on which the historical Kond neighborhood rests. Kentron is also home to the University City, where the campuses of State University, Medical University, Engineering University, Agricultural University, Economics University, Pedagogical and some other universities come together in one big group. Virtually all of the museums, hotels and popular places to eat and drink are in Kentron, so most visitors will probably not venture much past it.
Barekamutyun - Meaning friendship, Barekamutyun is the area around the metro stop of the same name. This hub is home to Hayastan Hanrakhanut (dept store) which is more of an indoor bazaar than an actual department store. The hub branches off to Kievyan and nearby Komitas streets.
Monument - At the top of the Cascade steps rests the towering monument to Soviet victory in WWII. Directly adjacent is the large construction site of the Cafesjian Museum, which houses a large collection of contemporary art, including perhaps the best glass art collection in the world. Beyond the monument is Victory Park, and the neighborhood around it is known as Monument as well.
Erebuni - In this district is situated ruins of fortress of Erebuni, founded in 782 BC by king Argishti.
Bangladesh - Not much to offer a tourist, the name however is worth an explanation. At the time this was one of the furthest new districts built in Yerevan, and because of the distance, locals quickly began calling it Bangladesh, (not to be confused with Bangladesh country) which has stuck to this day. Apparently, locals considered Bangladesh as a very far place. The biggest outdoor bazaar of Yerevan is located in this district.
Nor Nork district is the last Soviet project of residential expansion of Yerevan. It entirely consists of standardised Soviet Panel blocs. However, every tourist crosses this district on the way to 'obligatory' Garni temple and Geghard monastery (as the highway to that direction is connected to the main avenue of this district). The main attraction of this district would be the Gay Statue, though the name has nothing to do with homosexuality (to avoid this interesting misunderstanding most often the name of the avenue and statue is Romanised as Guy).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Yerevan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Yerevan - updated Apr 2024
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Yerevan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
