12 km west of central Yerevan · EU/Schengen, UK, US, Can · AMD

Zvartnots International Airport (EVN) — Airport Guide 2026

Armenia’s only international hub sits 12 km west of Yerevan and is currently mid-way through a $500 million, ten-year expansion — until that lands, expect one busy terminal operating well past its designed capacity.

Quick Reference

IATA / ICAO
EVN / UDYZ

Official name
Zvartnots International Airport

Location
12 km west of central Yerevan

Bus to city
Route 201 (Elitebus) · 300 AMD (~$0.80) · every 30 min 07:00–23:00, hourly overnight · ~30 min to Amiryan St

Bus payment
Cash AMD / TelCell QR / Visa-Mastercard contactless on board

Alternative bus
Line 108 to centre

Ride-hail
Yandex Go / GG · 2,000–3,000 AMD ($5–7) daytime · 20–25 min

Rail link
None

Currency
Armenian dram (AMD, ֏) · 1 USD ≈ ֏368 · 1 EUR ≈ ֏428 · 100 ֏ ≈ $0.27 / €0.23

Visa
EU/Schengen, UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ: 180 days/year visa-free; Russians visa-free

2026 visa measure
Residence-permit holders (US/EU/GCC) visa-free 1 Jan–1 Jul 2026

Lounge
Converse Bank · airside, 3rd floor above duty-free · Priority Pass / DragonPass / LoungeKey · ~25,000 AMD online / 30,000 AMD walk-in

Main carriers
FlyOne Armenia, Armenian Airlines, Shirak Avia, Wizz Air base; Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Air France, FlyDubai, LOT, Aeroflot

Flag carrier
None — Armavia folded in 2013

2026 expansion
$500m, 10-year programme · gates 6 → 16 · second terminal declared urgent by PM Pashinyan, April 2026

Wi-Fi
Free throughout terminal

Local SIM
Team / Viva-MTS / Ucom kiosks in terminal

Named landmark
Zvartnots Cathedral (7th c., UNESCO) — just west of the terminal on the A2

🏢 Terminal — One Building Under Pressure

Zvartnots runs a single passenger terminal, and in 2026 it is visibly straining. Passenger growth outpaced what the building was designed for, and in October 2025 the airport’s operator announced a $500 million, ten-year expansion: boarding gates rising from 6 to 16, and the arrivals, passport-control and customs halls more than doubling in size. In April 2026 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the construction of a second terminal something that “can no longer be postponed,” citing near-rush-hour congestion. That gives you a sense of where the building currently sits.

The practical consequence: passport-control queues can back up significantly during the two peak international banks, which fall in the early morning and late evening. Build margin into departures. The terminal itself is functional — duty-free, cafés, free Wi-Fi — but there is no redundancy if the single terminal is congested.

The route map is a patchwork. Armenia has had no flag carrier since Armavia folded in 2013, so home carriers (FlyOne Armenia, Armenian Airlines, Shirak Avia) and a Wizz Air base share the board with Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Air France, FlyDubai, LOT and Aeroflot. Coverage is reasonable for a capital of three million; onward connections are mostly via hubs rather than direct.

🛂 Border & Visa

For citizens of the EU/Schengen area, UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Armenia is visa-free for up to 180 days within any one calendar year. This is a long-standing policy, not a temporary measure — you arrive, your passport is stamped, and you’re admitted. Russians are also visa-free under Armenia’s Eurasian Economic Union and CIS commitments.

There is a separate temporary measure for 2026: between 1 January and 1 July 2026, Armenia waived visas for residence-permit holders of the US, EU/Schengen states and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE), covering roughly 113 nationalities who would otherwise need a visa, provided the residence permit carries at least six months’ remaining validity. This extends access to non-citizens holding, for example, a US green card or an EU residence permit; it changes nothing for Western passport holders already covered by the 180-day regime.

Registration is only required if you stay more than 90 consecutive days. Short visits need no registration formality. If you are staying past around six months, look at Armenian tax-residency rules separately — that is outside the scope of an airport guide.

Armenia entry by nationality — 2026

Nationality	Entitlement
EU/Schengen, UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ	180 days/year visa-free
Russia	Visa-free (EEU/CIS agreement)
US/EU/GCC residence-permit holders	Visa-free 1 Jan–1 Jul 2026 (permit valid 6+ months required)
Others	Visa required — check Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

🚌 Getting Into Yerevan

There is no rail or metro connection to the airport. The road is the only option, and there are two sensible ones.

🚌 Bus 201 — 300 AMD (~$0.80), ~30 min
The Elitebus 201 departs the terminal every 30 minutes from 07:00 to 23:00, then hourly overnight. It reaches the centre via Mashtots Avenue and stops at Yeritasardakan metro station, with the terminus on Amiryan Street — roughly a 30-minute ride under normal traffic. Pay the driver on boarding: cash in dram, a TelCell QR ticket, or Visa/Mastercard contactless all work. The contactless option is unusual for the region and genuinely useful.

Minibus 108 is an alternative for the centre if the 201 timings don’t suit.

🚗 Yandex Go / GG — Book in the App
Daytime fare to central Yerevan is 2,000–3,000 AMD ($5–7), 20–25 minutes. Late-night surge pushes it to roughly 3,500–5,000 AMD. The drivers waiting in arrivals quote a premium — book through the Yandex Go or GG app instead for a fixed price. A local SIM (Team, Viva-MTS or Ucom kiosks in the terminal) makes both apps work smoothly, and doubles up for the QR bus tickets.

⚠️ Airport Currency Counters — Avoid Them
The exchange desks in the terminal give a noticeably poor rate. Change a small amount of dram — enough for the bus fare — and use a city-centre exchange bureau or pay by card in Yerevan, where cards are accepted nearly everywhere.

🛋️ Lounges & Terminal Facilities

Zvartnots has one lounge, and it is accessible without a business-class ticket.

🛋️ Converse Bank Lounge — Airside, 3rd Floor
The Converse Bank business lounge sits after passport control, on the third floor directly above the duty-free shop. It has food, drinks (alcohol included), free Wi-Fi, showers and a smoking area. It accepts Priority Pass, DragonPass and LoungeKey on a walk-in basis, as well as business-class boarding passes and various loyalty programmes. Walk-in access runs about 25,000 AMD booked online or 30,000 AMD paid at the door. Once the expansion delivers new facilities this is likely to change; for 2026, this is the one lounge you have.

The terminal’s baseline: cafés, duty-free, free Wi-Fi throughout the building. Functional. Local SIM kiosks (Team, Viva-MTS, Ucom) are in arrivals — get one before you leave the terminal if you’re staying any length of time.

🍢 Armenian Food: What to Eat Before You Fly

The airport food options are what they are — café chains and duty-free. Save the following for Yerevan.

🍖 Khorovats — Save It for a Proper Table in Town
Khorovats is Armenian barbecue: skewers of pork, lamb or vegetables grilled over vine cuttings, the standard celebration food. It comes wrapped in lavash, a thin flatbread baked against the inner wall of a clay tonir oven that carries its own UNESCO intangible-heritage listing. Eat it at a proper restaurant in Yerevan, not from an airport counter.

Armenian cooking beyond the barbecue: dolma (vine leaves or vegetables stuffed with spiced mince), harissa (a slow-cooked wheat-and-meat porridge with deep ritual significance in Armenian culture), and gata, a sweet enriched bread. Fruit runs through everything — Armenia treats the apricot as a national symbol, the orange band on its flag, and summer markets carry apricots, peaches, pomegranates and grapes that have no comparison in a supermarket.

🥃 Armenian Brandy — Better Than Anything in Duty-Free
ArArAt is the famous label — Armenian brandy is a point of national pride, reputedly Churchill’s preferred drink, and a more honest souvenir than the usual duty-free options. Coffee is taken as soorj: finely ground, served in small cups, not filtered.

💡 Insider: Zvartnots Cathedral, the Cascade & Ararat Views

🏛️ Zvartnots Cathedral — The Short-Layover Move
The airport is named after the 7th-century Zvartnots Cathedral, whose excavated ruins stand just west of the terminal on the A2 road toward Etchmiadzin — a short taxi ride. Built between 641 and 661 AD by Catholicos Nerses III “the Builder,” it was a three-tiered circular cathedral estimated at 45 metres tall, a scale with no precedent in the Caucasus. An earthquake brought it down within a few centuries; it lay buried for nearly a thousand years before 20th-century excavation revealed the columns and foundations. UNESCO inscribed it in 2000, alongside Etchmiadzin Cathedral — the spiritual centre of the Armenian Apostolic Church — a little further west on the same road.

This is the case for EVN that no other regional airport makes: a UNESCO site that is actually layover-viable without a city-centre round trip.

⏱️ Layover Math — Cathedral vs. City Centre
Zvartnots Cathedral is close enough that a quick taxi out and back is realistic on a 3-hour-plus layover — confirm the round-trip time with your driver and hold a margin for security on return. For Yerevan itself (Republic Square, the Cascade), the calculation changes: 12 km, 20–25 minutes each way by Yandex Go, plus time in the centre, plus an hour back through check-in and security. A 5-hour-plus gap is the honest minimum for a city visit. On anything tighter, the cathedral is the achievable target; the city is for longer connections.

In Yerevan (12 km, ~25 min each way):

Republic Square — the pink-tufa heart of the city, with singing fountains on summer evenings.
The Cascade — a giant limestone stairway climbing the hillside, lined with the Cafesjian sculpture collection, with a clear view back over the city. The best elevated viewpoint in Yerevan.
Tsitsernakaberd — the Armenian Genocide memorial and museum, the country’s most significant site of remembrance. Not optional if you spend any time in Yerevan.
The Matenadaran — the repository of Armenian medieval manuscripts, one of the world’s significant archival collections.
Mount Ararat — the snow cone that dominates Yerevan’s skyline on clear days is not in Armenia. It is across the closed Turkish border. It remains the national symbol regardless.

🌍 Planning the trip? Read our Armenia travel guide — best time to go, where to stay, and how to get around.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get from Zvartnots Airport to central Yerevan? +

Take the 201 airport bus (Elitebus): 300 AMD, every 30 minutes from 07:00 to 23:00, hourly overnight, reaching Amiryan Street in about 30 minutes via Mashtots Avenue and Yeritasardakan metro. Pay on boarding — cash dram, TelCell QR ticket or Visa/Mastercard contactless. Minibus 108 also serves the centre. For door-to-door, Yandex Go or GG costs 2,000–3,000 AMD ($5–7) daytime and takes 20–25 minutes. Book through the app; drivers in arrivals charge more. There is no rail connection.

Do I need a visa for Armenia? +

Citizens of the EU/Schengen area, UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are visa-free for up to 180 days per calendar year — a long-standing policy. Russians are also visa-free. A separate 2026 measure waives visas for residence-permit holders of the US, EU/Schengen states and Gulf Cooperation Council countries from 1 January to 1 July 2026, provided the permit is valid for at least six months. This is relevant if you hold, say, a US green card or an EU residence card but not a Western passport.

What currency does Armenia use? +

The Armenian dram (AMD, ֏). Exchange rates as of 2026: 1 USD ≈ ֏368, 1 EUR ≈ ֏428, and 100 dram is roughly $0.27 or €0.23. Cards are accepted nearly everywhere in Yerevan. Change a small amount for the bus fare at a city-centre exchange bureau, not at the airport currency counters, which give a poor rate.

Can I visit Zvartnots Cathedral on a layover? +

Yes, and it is the most achievable short-layover option of any Caucasus airport. The 7th-century UNESCO-listed Zvartnots Cathedral ruins stand just west of the terminal on the A2 road toward Etchmiadzin — a short taxi ride from the terminal. On a 3-hour-plus layover a quick round trip is realistic; confirm timing with your driver before you leave and hold a security buffer for the return. Built 641–661 AD under Catholicos Nerses III, it rose to an estimated 45 metres before an earthquake brought it down; the excavated foundations and columns were inscribed by UNESCO in 2000.

Can I use Priority Pass at Zvartnots Airport? +

Yes. The Converse Bank business lounge — airside, after passport control, on the third floor above duty-free — accepts Priority Pass, DragonPass and LoungeKey on a walk-in basis, as well as business-class boarding passes. Walk-in access costs about 25,000 AMD booked online or 30,000 AMD paid at the door. It has food, drinks including alcohol, free Wi-Fi and showers.

Is a layover long enough to see Yerevan city centre? +

A 5-hour-plus layover is the honest minimum for Republic Square and the Cascade. The airport is 12 km from the centre — 20–25 minutes each way by Yandex Go — and you need to add time in the city plus an hour back for check-in and security. On a tighter connection, visit Zvartnots Cathedral near the terminal instead, which is achievable on 3 hours.

Which airlines fly from Zvartnots Airport? +

Home carriers FlyOne Armenia, Armenian Airlines and Shirak Avia, plus a Wizz Air base. International carriers on the board include Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Air France, FlyDubai, LOT and Aeroflot. Armenia has had no single national flag carrier since Armavia folded in 2013, so the route map is a combination of home start-ups and foreign airlines.

Is Zvartnots Airport being expanded? +

Yes. A $500 million, ten-year expansion announced in October 2025 will roughly double capacity, raising boarding gates from 6 to 16 and enlarging arrivals, passport control and customs. In April 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared construction of a second terminal something that “can no longer be postponed.” In the meantime, expect a functional but congested single terminal, with passport-control queues that can back up during peak international banks.

What food should I try in Yerevan? +

Khorovats (Armenian barbecue — skewers of pork, lamb or vegetables grilled over vine cuttings) wrapped in lavash (a thin UNESCO-listed flatbread baked in a clay tonir oven), dolma, harissa and sweet gata. For drinks: soorj (Armenian coffee, finely ground, served in small cups) and Armenian brandy — the ArArAt label is the famous one. Summer fruit in the markets (apricots, pomegranates, peaches) is worth treating as a destination in itself.

What is the 2026 temporary visa measure for residence-permit holders? +

Between 1 January and 1 July 2026, Armenia waived visa requirements for residence-permit holders of the United States, EU/Schengen states and GCC countries (Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE), covering roughly 113 nationalities who would otherwise need a visa. The permit must be valid for at least six months at the time of entry. This does not change the position for Western citizens, who are already covered by the 180-days-per-year visa-free regime.

📊 At a Glance — EVN 2026

Feature	2026 Data
IATA / ICAO	EVN / UDYZ
Official name	Zvartnots International Airport
City	Yerevan, Armenia
Distance to centre	~12 km west
Terminal	One (mid-expansion; second terminal proposed)
Airport bus	Route 201 (Elitebus) · 300 AMD · every 30 min 07:00–23:00, hourly overnight · ~30 min
Bus payment	Cash AMD / TelCell QR / Visa-Mastercard contactless on board
Minibus	Line 108 to centre
Ride-hail	Yandex Go / GG · 2,000–3,000 AMD ($5–7) daytime · 20–25 min
Rail link	None
Currency	Armenian dram (AMD, ֏) · 1 USD ≈ ֏368 · 1 EUR ≈ ֏428
Visa — key nationalities	EU/Schengen, UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ: 180 days/year visa-free; Russians visa-free
2026 visa measure	Residence-permit holders (US/EU/GCC) visa-free 1 Jan–1 Jul 2026
Lounge	Converse Bank · airside, 3rd floor above duty-free · Priority Pass / DragonPass / LoungeKey · ~25,000 AMD online / 30,000 AMD walk-in
Main carriers	FlyOne Armenia, Armenian Airlines, Shirak Avia; Wizz Air base; Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Air France, FlyDubai, LOT, Aeroflot
Flag carrier	None — Armavia folded 2013
2026 expansion	$500m, 10-year programme · gates 6 → 16 · second terminal declared urgent April 2026
Wi-Fi	Free throughout terminal
Local SIM	Team / Viva-MTS / Ucom kiosks in terminal
Layover — cathedral	Zvartnots Cathedral (UNESCO, A2 road west) — viable on 3+ hr layover
Layover — city	Yerevan centre — budget 5+ hr; 12 km / 20–25 min each way
Landmarks	Zvartnots Cathedral (641–661 AD, UNESCO), Republic Square, the Cascade (Cafesjian collection), Tsitsernakaberd, Matenadaran, Mt Ararat views (across closed Turkish border)