Lernanist. New Winter Tourism Center in Armenia
Our first destination in 2019 was Lernanist village, Kotayk province.
There are about a dozen places to visit soon and the number is constantly growing. We together with our readers are going to have a very long and interesting year. So follow us. I also recommend getting acquainted with some of our previous posts:
Kalavan – The big miracle of the small village
Things to do in Gyumri for 5 hours
Rafting in Armenia – the Success of Conquering river Debed
Armenian camp or “the other side of Lake Sevan”
Yerevan Zipline Airlines – 60 Seconds of Excitement and Surprise
Short information about Lernanist village
Lernanist village was founded in 1828. Previously it was called Upper Achta, and in 1978 it was renamed Lernanist.
It is the largest rural community in Hrazdan region, with a population of 3218. The community has 663 farms. It is located 45 km from Yerevan and 7 km from Hrazdan.
How did we appear in Lernanist?
We got an invitation to visit Lernanist from Hovhannes Margaryan, who is the head of the community stuff. 
He is an enthusiastic person who loves his work and his community very much, who does not save his efforts and energy for the development of the community and raises the tourist attractiveness.
He welcomed us and accompanied us to the sights of the village and the winter recreation area.
A new destination for winter tourism in Armenia
The Lernanist community is a high mountainous area; snow is heavy during winter months; snow cover stays for more than 4 months.
There are declivous slopes which contribute to the development of skiing and other winter sports.
Hovhannes told us that in 2017 for the development of winter tourism in the village of Lernanist a ski trail and a 350-meter ropeway were built with private investments.
In the neighbouring territory there is an appropriate sports equipment supply point, as well as a public catering facility, in the future it is planned to build a guest house and other facilities.
Useful information
| PRICE LIST | ||
| Ropeway – loop-line | 1 hour | 500 AMD |
| 1 day | 2000 AMD | |
| Balloon – sleigh | 1 hour | 500 AMD |
| 1 day | 2000 AMD | |
| Ropeway – loop-line price is not included | ||
| Ski | 1 hour | 1000 AMD |
| 1 day | 3000 AMD | |
| Ropeway – loop-line price is not included | ||
| Snowmobile | 1 circle | 2500 AMD |
| 10 minutes | 5000 AMD | |
| 30 minutes | 12 0000 AMD | |
| 1 hour | 20 000 AMD | |
Historical and cultural monuments of Lernanist
There are monuments of IV-XIII centuries in the community, numerous historical-cultural monuments and chapels.
We managed to visit 3 of the sanctuaries: «St. Mariam Astvatsatsin Church» (1892),
«St. Hakob» chapel (1861 ) ՝ which is known for «St. Avazan» source of healing water,
«Erku quyrer» (two sisters) chapel which was built in 1980 and was fully reconstructed in 2014.
Ethnographic Museum of Lernanist
We also visited ethnographic museum of Lernanist.
The opening of the museum took place in 2015 in the community house of culture. It was built on the basis of samples collected by community resident Davit Hakobyan with the support of the municipality.
A large group from Yerevan
As I said, Hovhannes is working with different travel companies to promote both outgoing and ingoing tourism. As a result of such cooperation, a group of about three dozen young people arrived from Yerevan on the initiative of Gevorg Baghdasaryan.
At the end of the day we joined the same group at Elyanora Hayrapetyan’s house.
The young people have already gathered around the traditional Armenian delicious table. Elyanora welcomes tourists and here they can taste traditional dishes, goods, vegetables, fruits, greens from the village. They can also taste pure honey, home-made butter, cheese, home-made lavash, and they can also organize a master-class of baking lavash.
By the way, a tour like this is organized for January 20, learn more about the tour following the link.
Special thanks
We are grateful to Hovhannes Margaryan for the invitation and warm welcome.
We are sure that a huge flow of tourists is expected in Lernanist, but we also hope that people living in Armenia will rush to reveal this great treasure in the mountains.
