Road conditions Armenia to Iran boarder
 

Hi

can anyone tell my how the roads in Armenia towards the Iranian boarder are? Is it good with concrete oder gravel road?

Kind regards
Julian

Hello Julian,

the roads from Tbilisi to Yerevan are in general bad. They are - or they have been - paved but the surface is very even and that limits speed considerably in addition to the curves of mountain roads. I couldn't drive faster than 60-70 km/h but yet a police officer claimed that I had been doing 93! He showed me a picture of my bike with the text showing the speed but in that picture my bike was already parked on the side of the road! He wanted first 45000 drams but was satisfied with 20000. So welcome to friendly Armenia. Other people have been nice and helpful.

I don't know yet the condition of the roads south of Yerevan as I decided to stay here for another night. There seem to be some small roads that probably are not very good as the main roads aren't. We'll see. When do you think you're in Yerevan?

Btw. on the road from Ardahan towards Tbilisi was partly difficult because of road works in the mountains and some 15 km of loose gravel was not nice.

The road from Kapan down to the Iranian border at Meghri is OK, it is used very heavily by Iranian trucks. It is asphalted but with plenty of potholes, though I don't remember it being too bad. Roads are generally not in very good condition in Armenia.

Never had any trouble with the police at all (but I don't speed and don't ever pay them a penny). I found Armenia to be a really lovely country to travel in, and with probably the friendliest and most cultured people in the Caucasus region. A nice change from the horrendous Georgian drivers!

Yeah, for some reason I'm always the one with bad luck. As in a song of Cream they noticed that if there wasn't no bad luck, I wouldn't have luck at all ...

But now, sun is shining in Yerevan and I have a day off.

Armenia is a poor country, so it's no suprise that the country's road network is potholed quite a bit, with repaired and re-repaired patches, and tar snakes galore. Mainly uneven and rutted, but there is surprising good stretches here and there.

In the cities and townships watch out for the manholes in the middle of the road .. often with no manhole covers on them!

I chose the eastern bank option (M14) along Lake Sevan. It was very hard work, especially 2-up; although (@ Lonely Lynx) as you're in Yerevan already, I guess you have no need to go anywhere near Lake Sevan.

Incidentally the scenery from the border crossing – Agarak (Armenia) / Norduz (Iran) - down to Tabriz is absolutely sensational.

best

Keith

Yes, I took another route although I wanted to use the same one as you i.e. to see Lake Sevan. I did not find a bookstore to buy a paper map so I let Garmin to take me to Yerevan and it appeared to be another route.

The road down to Agarak seems quite slow but apparently driveable. An interesting detail is that Google maps show that the eastern road M2 from Goris to Kapan crosses the Azerbaijan border. The paper map which I now have shows that it does not. I don't know if that would be better way than H45.

Julian, are you getting close to me?

LL

Hey LL

I am Batumi. Will stay here for 2 nights then Tbilis. I dont know if I will go on from there. Currently I lack mitiavation to travel onwards to be honest ...

Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk

I was there a two months ago and we drove right down to the South close to the border, on the way make sure to stop at Tatev and take the cable car ride.

The roads are ok. Some parts heavily worn and small random sections of loose gravel without warning so take care at night.

Update on May 2016
 

The route from Iranian Border to Giris ( M2) is paved but in bad maintenance condition that becomes a very slow road. Plenty of uneven re-repaired patches, and imprint of tires of the heavy trucks use.
Any way is and amazing scenery road with high passes and wonderful views.
From Giris to Yerevan, the conditons are better and still a very enjoyable ride.

Pedro

The road from Tbilisi to the border is fine; after crossing the border you will come to a T junction in the highways. Locals refer to the road to the left as the "high" road, it passes very closely to the Azeri border and you can see military posts and trenches to your left as you ride. This road has two passes and you will come to mega tunnel, Lake Sven and then have 4 lane down to Yerevan.

If you turn to the right and take the lower road, it is shorter, but has some unlite tunnels, has one pass and I find it to be much slower as it is used by trucks more than the upper road.

From Yerevan to the Iran border there is currently construction in a few places, broken pavement and lots of potholes and a few gravel stretches which are to be paved.