Visiting Yerevan, Armenia: Top Sights on Foot

Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, blending ancient foundations with vibrant modern energy. Known for its broad avenues, outdoor cafés, and distinctive pink-stone architecture shaped by master planner Alexander Tamanian, the city offers travelers an unforgettable journey through Caucasus history and culture. Neywo provides a free audio guide for Yerevan featuring 156 narrated places, letting you explore every site at your own pace without schedules or tour groups.

What to See in Yerevan

Exploring Yerevan reveals a dynamic urban landscape where centuries-old fortresses, magnificent religious sites, and world-class museums sit side by side.

Republic Square and the City Center

Republic Square serves as the grand beating heart of the capital. Designed by Alexander Tamanian, the square’s neoclassical buildings are clad in Armenian felsite tuff in warm rosy pink and pale yellow tones. Here you will find the History Museum of Armenia, which occupies the lower levels of the grand government complex and preserves a national collection of 400,000 objects spanning archaeology, numismatics, and ethnography. Just a short distance away lies Charles Aznavour Square, featuring urban sculptures, an outdoor film stars alley, and nearby cultural hubs.

Iconic Cathedrals and Places of Worship

The Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral towers over the city center as the largest cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the world, consecrated in 2001 to mark seventeen centuries of Christianity in Armenia. Down in the Kentron district near the Hrazdan River stands Saint Sarkis Cathedral, the historic mother church of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese. On Mesrop Mashtots Avenue, the Blue Mosque preserves a rare Persian aesthetic as the city’s only active mosque, dating back to the mid-1760s with its striking blue-tiled dome and single surviving minaret. For the country’s Jewish community, the Mordechay Navi Synagogue on Nar Dos Street offers another window into Yerevan’s diverse cultural mosaic.

Cultural Landmarks and Museums

The Alexander Spendiaryan National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre anchors Freedom Square with its neoclassical facade, hosting classical concerts and ballet performances since the 1930s. Art enthusiasts can visit the Sergei Parajanov Museum on Dzoragyugh Street, celebrating the visionary Soviet Armenian film director, or the Martiros Saryan Museum on Saryan Street, dedicated to one of the country’s most celebrated 20th-century painters. High above the city in Victory Park, the Mother Armenia Military Museum and the towering fifty-four-meter Mother Armenia statue watch over the capital’s main axis.

Ancient Citadels: Erebuni and Teishebaini

Yerevan’s deep antiquity comes to life at Erebuni Fortress on Arin Berd hill, founded in 782 BCE by King Argishti I of Urartu, which gave the city its ancient name. Further out on the plain along the Hrazdan River lie the reddish ruins of Teishebaini at Karmir Blur, the last great Urartian stronghold and provincial capital that preserves the dramatic history of the region’s ancient kingdoms.

Explore Yerevan with a Free Audio Guide

Whether you are planning a comprehensive Yerevan self-guided walking tour or looking for the best free walking tour Yerevan has to offer, Neywo helps you experience the city effortlessly. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.

Neywo offers 7 walking tour(s) and 1 bus route(s) across the capital:

• Walk: “Lost Churches and Mosques of Old Yerevan” (3.48 km, 100 min, 8 stops)
• Walk: “Tamanian’s Axis: From the Opera to the Cascade” (1.66 km, 75 min, 9 stops)
• Walk: “Mashtots Avenue: Manuscripts, Library and Mother Armenia” (2.26 km, 78 min, 8 stops)
• Walk: “Hrazdan Gorge: Fortress, Bridges and Vanished Mosques” (3.23 km, 105 min, 10 stops)
• Walk: “Republic Square to the Cathedral: A Capital Takes Shape” (1.36 km, 72 min, 8 stops)
• Walk: “Old Kentron: Katoghike, Puppets and a Composer’s House” (1.83 km, 69 min, 8 stops)
• Walk: “Baghramyan Avenue: Parliament, Lovers’ Park and Artists’ Houses” (1.37 km, 69 min, 8 stops)
• Bus line: “Bus 33: Cathedral, Republic Square and the Blue Mosque” (3.6 km, 15 min, 8 stops)

Download Neywo to uncover every hidden story as you wander through Yerevan and beyond to destinations like Gyumri.