The Legends Trail, Tatev-Khustup Segment: Take the Adventure

​Horse riding

Bagrat Hakobyan or Mikael Shelemetev will organize a horse riding for you in Tandzaver village. You can ride to the "Magic Forest" – with a collection of interesting land-art works in the depths of a cosy forest, Ashkharhates Peak or Mach ancient settlement.

From Bekh village horse riding is organized mainly to the ancient Bekh Anapat /Hermitage/. To organize a horse riding here, you can turn to Davit Hakobyan or make inquiries about it in Bekh village yourself. For many years the villagers have been cooperating with the archaeological expedition, which digs in the Bekh desert every August. The villagers have a lot of experience in transporting the members of the expedition and the guests on horseback from Bekh village to Bekh Hermitage.

From Vachagan and Baghaburj villages horse riding tours are mainly organized to the top of Mount Khustup.

You can turn to Ashot Harutyunyan or Erik Ghonyan for horseback or hiking tours on Khustup slope.

Mountain bikes

You can turn to Bagrat Hakobyan in Tandzaver village or Alen Martirosyan in Kapan to rent mountain bikes. It is quite difficult to climb up the trails by bicycle, that is why we recommend to lift the bicycle by an off-road car to a rather high point, the peak of Khustup or to the base of Khustup on the level of 2000 metres, called Navcha, and from there descend down the slope.

Jeeping tours

The area around Tatev - Khustup part of the Legends Trail is ideal for mountain jeeping tours. You can drive in an off-road vehicle along some inter-village 4x4 tracks, which completely coincide with the sections of the Legends Trail, for example, Tandzaver - Antarashat. Two-thirds of the Bagaburj - Khustup trail (up to an altitude of 2000 meters) can be done by an off-road vehicle. From many villages along the Legends Trail, there are picturesque trails along which you can drive up the nearby mountains in an off-road vehicle car, for example, from Antarashat to Mount Tapasar. To rent an off-road car in Tandzaver village, contact Bagrat Hakobyan, in Vachagan village, contact Ashot Harutyunyan or Eric Ghonyan, for other sections of the Trail contact David Hakobyan and Alen Martirosyan.

​Acquaintance with the ancient bridges of the Silk Road

Discovering and exploring the ancient bridges of the Silk Road is a very interesting adventure in itself. The first bridge along the Legends Trail can be approached from the villages of Okhtar or Vanek. The bridge was built at the beginning of the 18th century on the Achanan River near the village of Vanek, opposite the village of Okhtar, made of reddish-blue basalt, on the ruins of a destroyed 11th century bridge. To find the bridge, you need to go down a hundred meters to the river from the bus stop at the Okhtar village. The second bridge is located 1 km east of the first bridge, downstream of the Achanan River. The foundations of the third bridge of the Great Silk Road can be seen near the Baghaberd fortress. To find it, you need to walk about 150 meters east of the Giratah junction, then leave the highway and go down the old road to the Voghji River. To see the foundations of the bridge, you have to go through a private property, but this is allowed by the law on historical monuments. On the banks of the river you can see the foundations of an ancient bridge that looks like a stone watchtower. There was a customs post that guarded the bridge leading to medieval Kapan. There is another old bridge over the Vachagan river, not far from the river of the same name. This bridge was built in the 19th century, but the technology of its construction does not differ from medieval bridges. This bridge is located on the Legends Trail, on the Vachagan-Bagaburj section.

To take advantage of the tremendous adventure potential of the Legends Trail, we recommend using the services of guides who can also offer adventure quest tours. The starting point of the Quest is the village of Svarants, the final point is Vahanavank. Tourists in Tatev are divided into groups and go to Vahanavank in different directions. The winner is the group that comes to the finish line first. During the game, tasks of varying difficulty are planned, requiring certain physical and mental abilities. For the organization of the quest, please contact Alena Martirosyan.

Here you can find something to your liking - walk along the bridges of the Silk Road, imagining what medieval merchants felt, climb mountain peaks and take a bird's eye view of the world, ride a horse or mountain bike, strengthen the spirit of your team by participating in guided quest tours.

This publication is created with the financial assistance of the European Union. ARK Environmental NGO is responsible for the content; it does not. have to reflect the views of the European Union.

The Legends Trail was created by the European Union and People in Need representative office in Armenia, in the frame of "EU4Tourism: Outdoor adventures on the historic trail in Syunik" project in partnership with ARK Ecological NGO. 

Contacts of the above-mentioned specialists

• David Hakobyan – local guide, organizing master classes, horse riding, and jeeping tours, tel․: +37493049808
  
• Bagrat Hakobyan – horse riding tours and mountain bike rent in Tandzaver, tel․: +374 77899110
  
• Alen Martirosyan - mountain bike rent /Khustup, Kapan/, jeeping and quest tours tel․: +374 98346834
  
• Ashot Harutyunyan - horse riding, off-road vehicle rent, jeeping tours (Khustup, Vachagan), tel.: +374 44444407
  
• Eric Ghonyn - horse riding, off-road vehicle rent, jeeping tours (Khustup, Vachagan), tel.: +374 94227089
  
• Razmik Margaryan - jeeping tour around Kapan, tel.: +374 94620039
  
• Grenik Zalazaryan – horse and off-road vehicle tours to the slope of Khustup, tel.: +374 93747481