Balahovit
Balahovit is a village in the Kotayk Province of Armenia.
The majority of the early settlers of the village immigrated in 1828-29 from Khoy and Salmast in present-day Iran, while some of the immigrants came from Bulankh. It was renamed Balahovit in 1968 at the request of an Armenian-American group, after one of the eight cantons (gavar) of Sophene in Greater Armenia, of the same name. The community has a school, house of culture, and a first aid station, as well as the site of Yerevan Veterinary Institute's experimental station. Balahovit had a kindergarten, but it was closed in July 2004 due to the deteriorating conditions of the educational facility. The local economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, based primarily on grain farming, orchard cultivation, and cattle-breeding. Balahovit has a small minority of Kurds and Russians.
Getting around Balahovit the local way
- Get inYou may be denied entry and turned around at the border, which, if you've come by marshrutka/minibus, means that you will be stranded until you are able to find a new bus or hitchhike back to Tbilisi.
- Get inThere are marshrutkas from Tbilisi to the border for about 17 lari to Yerevan.
- Get inAlso, several marshrutkas leave daily from Akhalkalaki into Armenia (Gyumri).
- Get inMarshrutkas pass through Ninotsminda, so it is possible to jump on there.
- Get inIn both directions, marshrutka leaves quite early in the morning.
- Get inKapan and Kajaran are more frequently served by marshrutkas, but it is a long and mountainous (and therefore expensive) stretch to the border from there.
- Get aroundMost inter-city travel is by 14-seat minibuses or buses.
- Get aroundUnlike many countries in Eastern Europe, many Armenian marshrutkas do not sell tickets beforehand, and do not issue tickets at all.
From Wikivoyage: Armenia, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.