Goris

Goris sits in a bowl in Syunik surrounded by columns and cones of eroded volcanic tuff, and it is unusual among Armenian towns for having been laid out to a plan: a Russian-era grid of straight streets and two-storey stone houses with balconies and walled gardens, drawn up in the 1870s. Above the town, in the Old Goris quarter, the rock is honeycombed with dwellings and stores cut by hand, used into the twentieth century. The setting does most of the work.

What you actually see

• The rock pyramids - eroded tuff columns and cones ringing the town.
• The cave quarter - hand-cut dwellings and stores in the cliffs above Old Goris.
• The 1870s grid - straight streets of two-storey stone houses with carved balconies.
• The bowl - the town sitting in a hollow with cliffs on three sides.

When to go

May to October is the season; Syunik winters are cold and snowy and the mountain roads difficult. Autumn colour in the valley is the best of the year. Mornings give the best light on the pyramids.

Honest expectations

The town itself is small and the caves take an hour. Accommodation is guesthouse level. The road from Yerevan is long and crosses several passes.

Nearby

Old Khndzoresk is a short drive east, and Tatev is northwest across the gorge.