Skip to content
Mixroutes
Vagharshapat
City in Armavir, Armenia

Vagharshapat

Vagharshapat is the fifth largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about 18 km (11 mi) west of the capital Yerevan, and 10 km (6 mi) north of the Turkish-Armenian border.

Plan a trip to Vagharshapat→From Gyumri

It is commonly known as Ejmiatsin, which was its official name between 1945 and 1995. It is still commonly used colloquially and in official bureaucracy, a case of dual naming.

Get in

Getting to Vagharshapat

Marshrutkas to Echmiadzin (line 203) start from the central (Kilikiya) bus station in Yerevan, at least every 30 mins, more often in busy periods, and take 20-30 mins. It is a fare of 250-300 dram, even if you get off early at the Zvartnots ruins. The end of the line in Echmiadzin is on the corner of Movses Khorenatsi street and Baghramyan street, near the Cathedral complex.

See

Worth seeing

The following 5 monuments are listed as World Heritage Sights by UNESCO.

  1. 01
    Cathedral of Echmiadzin

    Gregory the Illuminator and rebuilt and added to for over 1,700 years, Echmiadzin now is the heart of the Armenian Church, and seat of the Catholicos of all Armenians.

  2. 02
    Shoghakat Church

    At the site of the present day church of Shoghakat, there stood an earlier church of the 6th or 7th century which has not survived.

  3. 03
    Zvartnots Cathedral
  4. 04
    Khrimian Museum

    It has been renovated to become a museum of art.

Eat

Where to eat

Echmiadzin kufte is beef ground to a fine paste, rolled into a big ball, and boiled; it's then soaked in melted butter. The town market ("shuka") is one of several places serving it.

How locals move

Getting around Vagharshapat the local way

  • Get inMarshrutkas to Echmiadzin (line 203) start from the central (Kilikiya) bus station in Yerevan, at least every 30 mins, more often in busy periods, and take 20-30 mins.
  • Get aroundZvartnots is 5 km east, back towards Yerevan: take a marshrutka (several alternatives to the 203 for this short hop) or taxi.

From Wikivoyage: Echmiadzin, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-05.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.