Dilijan

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Todd

(This is published a year after the fact when I found it in drafts. No proof reading)

We took a “GG” (read Uber” from Gyumri to the mountain tourist town of Dilijan. It is a weekend destination from Yerevan and probably the second most popular foreign tourist city in Armenia.

The breakfast deserts. I will admit that every morning I cut the uncut ones and had a small slice of each. Well, “small”. It required a large plate.

We checked into our hotel and I can tell everyone is suffering from a little travel fatigue. I got irritated how the check in counter said that we had to pay for breakfast and to use the spa/pool because we booked via Booking. This is something that I knew and the truth is that the base rate was 40% cheaper via Booking and that even with the things added in, it was still cheaper. I still got irritated. Archer is a little more labile and Rose is acting like she is going to get her top back molars any minute.

Evening in Dilijan Arrival Day

Walked to town, 15 minutes if you able to follow the terrible Google Map directions. I got a grade B- dinner, Katy got a grade A dinner. Went to store to stock up on supplies (read hot chocolate packets).

Full Day #1

Did a tour to a monastery, a “wine and cognac factory”, and a tour of town. It was a woman who owns her own business and provided a different perspective. She helped with the kiddos while seeing the sites.

Going 2 nap less days in a row might have not been my smartest planning move.

We used our “travel baby monitor” and Rose went to bed before dinner opened since the restaurant is 100 ft from the room with no stairs/elevator being a townhouse.

Archer’s favorite part of the winery tour was the giant excavator in the river cleaning it out.
Rose did cause production of bottling to slow down due to the number of people watching her instead of packaging the wine/cognac.
Rose and I went for a walk while they waited for lunch. She was not in the mood to sit peacefully.
Our guide
Archer took ~58 photos of this rock at the winery with my phone so I am including it.

Full Day #2

Rough morning. Kids and I went out to the playground on the roof. Rose had a mega potty accident and I left her 2 phones and toy car on the roof. When I returned in an hour, they were gone. It took a bit for the grumpiness to wear off.

We went to town and went to the big park there and then came back and did some pool time. Archer refused to pool. Rose napped and after nap we did more pool time. We help archer down and forced him to wear a bathing suit. Guess what, he loved the pool. There were 4 different size and bubble effect pools and like 7 sauna rooms (the hot tub was in one). It was great. We did dinner and there was a big dance party going on. The kids went to bed and Katy did a massage.

“ball pIT” has become Rose’s favorite word in Dilijan. Each time she says it is succession “ball” gets shorter and the “IT” gets longer and louder until it’s a 5 second word.

Rose at the pool with her drink. The morning pool session, Archer refused to put on his swimsuit and participate. The post Rose nap pool session we forced Archer to get his swimsuit on, despite a frustrating amount of caterwauling. Guess what, the kiddo loved the pool including the deep pool with super giant floor bubbles. He didn’t want to leave.

We ate lunch on the drive to Yerevan at a brewery. We got our own private structure to eat in. Food was good. We did get the kids rice after we paid the bill. I don’t think the last thing to come out has ever been rice before (we forgot about it, they didn’t).
Our driver mentioned that in this area they sold “pop corn”. I said let’s buy some. Turns out there was some translation error and he really meant corn on the cob. It was really hot. Kinda surprising it was still in season in mid October.
We did go to a church!!! See, we touristy things.

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