South Expedition Compact

Four days, three nights, and the altitude is worked off in steps rather than in one pull: first night Jermuk at 2,080 metres, second night Sisian at 1,600, third night Goris at roughly 1,385. So the line runs downhill, and between each pair of beds lies a crossing that demands more than the destination does. Difficulty 3 of 5, and it comes not from the surface — almost all of it is sealed — but from one track and one pass. Day one hauls itself out of the lowland: the Areni-1 cave sits at 1,010 metres immediately above the trunk road, after which twelve kilometres of asphalt climb into a side gorge to Noravank Monastery at 1,591 metres.

Genuine terrain appears exactly once, at the close of the first day. From the edge of Jermuk a track pulls up to the geysers at around 2,100 metres: coarse gravel, channels the rain has cut into the surface, and streams to be driven through that stand highest in early summer. Off-road factor 4 of 5 — the highest figure of these four days and the reason the route is driven in a 4x4 at all. Low range in, air out of the tyres, gaps kept between vehicles; every crossing is checked before anyone drives it. The track finishes at the spring itself, and everything after that is a matter of the clock rather than of technique.

The second day is the shortest at the wheel and at the same time the one that changes province. Twenty-four kilometres drop from Jermuk to the trunk road, which then heads east and lifts itself over the provincial boundary to 2,344 metres — surfaced along its whole length and still the point that heavy snowfall can close on any day of the year. Beyond it waits Sisian, six kilometres off the highway at 1,600 metres. From there it is four kilometres of made-up road to the stone rows of Zorats Karer at 1,770 metres and seven to the Shaki waterfall at 1,764 metres, where the last few hundred metres turn to gravel.

Day three belongs to Syunik and never stops changing height: 38 kilometres of trunk road down to Goris, then across to the valley station and over the gorge by cableway to Tatev Monastery, perched at 1,580 metres. Its counterpart for a driver lies underneath — tight switchbacks, around 560 metres of fall down to Satani Kamurj, 1,020 metres above the sea, and the same road back up again. To close, a short gravel approach and stairs down into Old Khndzoresk. Day four is nothing but the way home. Where you sleep follows the comfort class, not the town: the Signature class puts you in a spa hotel, the Expedition class in a guesthouse, the Frontier class in a wild camp. Hold the wheel yourself and you take on all of it except the track, where the guide goes ahead. The season for driving it is June to October.