Patricia Hepburn
I am in love with Armenia and Georgia. First, I want to mention that I love electronic music and one of my favourite artists is Nicolas Jaar. Couple years ago I listened to one of his albums which is inspired and based on “Colour of Pomegrante” by Sergey Parajanov who is fascinating Armenian directors. His cinema is also influenced by Georgian culture. Since I got familiar with his art, I discovered these unpopular countries and decided to visit. Your company was a great choice, your responses were fast and your guides and drivers were wonderful. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. And thanks to our tour manager who recommended the best restaurants, cafes and bought tickets for a few events for me while I was in Tbilisi and Yerevan. I will always cherish the amazing memories.
Jackie Miller
Hello Lilit,
Thanks for arranging the wonderful journey to Georgia and Armenia. I am impressed by your service. Your guides Vardan and Tazo were very knowledgeable and excellent at their job. Thank you for accommodating our specific requests and modifying the tour. These two countries are definitely worth visiting. I hope to return one day.
Alex Green
My husband and I went on this tour without knowing too much about both of those countries. We were blown away, Armenia and Georgia are not on the list of most Americans, but it should be. The rich culture and incredible cuisine of these countries are things we will always remember. Thank you Arara for this amazing journey. We are recommending your company to our friends.
Amelie Lambert
Dear Arara Tours, this experience was absolutely wonderful! I think we irrevocably fell in love with the
Caucasus with its mesmerizing landscapes, kind-hearted people and fascinating history. Andre especially
loved the Tatev Monastery and the cable car, and I loved the atmosphere of Tbilisi!
The only thing was that the driver in Georgia drove a bit fast, but otherwise everything was good and we
were satisfied.
Dmitry Volkov
Good morning, Lilit! I've already made it home to Ireland, thanks for your concern. I would like to thank
you and the Arara team for organizing this wonderful trip. I truly enjoyed the journey, learned a lot of
new things and met wonderful people in my group with whom we became hearted friends. I will be in
touch with you for my upcoming Georgia trip. Thanks again!
Best wishes
Samuel Hoover
Arara Tours organized a really exciting adventure for us. The routes were fascinating and interesting, we
especially enjoyed walking through the forest trails during the unpleasant heat of the day. I personally
memorized most of all the walk towards Parzh Lake, and of course the episode when we managed to see
the Bezoar goats! It was a really nice surprise on the third day of the trip. I will be really happy to
recommend your company to my friends as well.
Chen Zhao
Truly enjoyed this one week trip to Armenia! The tour was well organized, the hotels were comfortable,
and the food was delicious. It’s only a pity that the weather was rainy for a few days, but this did not
prevent me from enjoying the beauty of Dilijan and Gyumri. The latter became my highlight on this trip.
Patricia Daly and Henry Schreiber
Hi Lilit, We are home and still reminiscing about our trip. I'm recommending it to all my friends who travel. We had a fabulous time and I appreciate all you did to help make the trip a success. It exceeded my expectations. All of the guides were excellent. A special shout out to Tazo who balanced guiding with giving us private time and added sites where he thought we may enjoy seeing something. I also appreciated Vardan's deep knowledge and his recommendation to see Matenadaran which was special and a great way to spend our free day. The days had the right pace and were filled with interesting sites and experiences. We saw so much in each country and got a true appreciation of each. Baku was a nice surprise because I wasn't expecting such sophistication and beautiful architecture. Tbilisi had a more European old city feel while Yerevan was very welcoming and energetic with lots of great restaurants. The mountains and scenery in both Georgia and Armenia were amazing and I really loved having breakfast from the top of the Paris Hotel with Mount Ararat in the background. All of the hotels were great. I am glad we chose the 4 star option. The meals included in the tour were all delicious. We got to try a lot of local foods and wines and miss them now that we're home. I would recommend this tour to anyone who likes to travel. It is not on most American's lists yet but I think it will be in the near future. A lot of my friends were concerned about safety since they didn't know much about the region but I felt 100% safe the entire trip. In fact, I felt safer than I had on many of our other trips even walking around at night in Tbilisi and Yerevan. Again, thank you for your work on this and I hope to return to the region again. All the best, Pat
Terry and Dianne
Hello Sati
Thank you for the reminder about our wonderful South Caucasus trip with Arara. We are now continuing our journey through Europe and are in Norway.
South Caucasus Trip Summary
We thoroughly enjoyed the 13 days touring the three small South Caucasus countries, straddling Western Asia and Eastern Europe, (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia), and highly recommend these countries for a bucket list. Sati, the office coordinator, of Arara Tours based in Yerevan, Armenia was a very good and prompt communicator. She organised the guided tour, separately contracted within each country. Everything went like clockwork, itinerary informative, all accommodation booked, daily tours on time, and the 18 to 21-seater Mercedes vans were comfortable. We did spend a lot of time in the vans to visit the sights.
Our guides Jay and Saddique in Azerbaijan were average. Our Georgian guide Sophie was fun, friendly and well-informed. But the best was Ani (Arni) our Armenia guide, a very well-educated lady in her 30s with impeccable English and a thorough knowledge of history, culture, religion, architecture and archaeology. Ani epitomised everything a guide should be and had translated for the Pope and other visiting dignitaries. Our group of 5 Americans, 2 Canadians and 3 Italians were fun to be with and we all got along very well.
Overall a wonderful experience and we highly recommend Arara Tours for planning and running a comfortable group tour for travellers over the age of 50 years. Thank you, Sati.
Terry and Dianne
Julianna Henderson
Hi, Arara, me and my friends would like to express our sincere gratitude for one of the best trips of our
lives. We are really glad that we chose you to organize this trip. For me, this was one of the longest, but at
the same time the most colorful journeys I've ever had. I took a lot of photos full of unforgettable
memories, learned a lot about the history of the Silk Road and each country in particular. And what a
pleasure and fun it was taking part in master-classes! The wine tunnel in Georgia impressed me so much
that I couldn’t resist buying several bottles of wine, and in Armenia I couldn’t pass by all these colorful
dried fruits. The nature in Kazakhstan was breathtaking, Darvaza gas crater was the highlight in
Turkmenistan. Samarkand was one one of the most beautiful cities we have ever visited. The guides were
brilliant and friendly.
And of course the fast and smooth communication with our tour manager Hayku was beyond praise.
Thank you!
Tyler Brooks
The trip to all three countries was wonderful! I was really impressed by how quickly the tour coordinator
responded to all my requests and gave comprehensive answers to every question I had. I will definitely
consider traveling with you guys to the Central Asia 5 countries.
Highly recommend!
Katherine Miller
Our trip was very well organized and balanced. The hotels were comfortable and convenient located in
the center of the cities and towns, so in the evenings we had the opportunity to enjoy a quiet and pleasant
walk. Special thanks to our guides in both countries, who always gave comprehensive answers to our
questions and were very helpful with advice on choosing restaurants and local dishes. We very much
enjoyed the overnight stays in the regions, rather than in the bustling capitals. Thank you again for the
lovely trip and memories.