AROUND
ARARAT
2010.07.24
2010.09.08
RECOMMENDED PLACES TO JOIN
OR LEAVE THE GROUP
The dates in brackets show the planned nights
Note: the real dates can slightly differ (hopefully
not more than plus/minus 1-2 days) from scheduled ones.
General hint:
To see all and cheap
possibilities use search-engines, depending on your country, e.g. Germans can
use www.megaflieger.de or http://www.opodo.de/opodo/StrutsServlet/Home?locale=de_DE,
Polish search-engines www.flight.pl,
www.skyscanner.com, www.aero.pl or websites www.lotmapa.pl, www.whichbudget.com.
Its advised, to use such search-engines only to get
the information, NOT for booking. Cause you have to book your
bicycle too and that causes problems using the search engines. Instead
book directly at the website of the founded airline! At some airlines simply
with a "click", at others by phone. Typical price for a bike is about
25 Euro.
GEORGIA 07.24-25, 08.28-09.08
Tbilisi (July 24). You can book a flight with discount at www.airBaltic.com
from most countries in Europe. Lufthansa flies
from Munich www.lufthansa.com.
Flights to Tbilisi are also available via Moscow http://www.aeroflot.org/
or Minsk http://belavia.by/;
they are not so cheap like AirBaltic via Riga, but not so expensive like via Prague,
Paris, Vienna, Munich.
If you join for the second part of Georgia the most convenient is to take the bus
from Tbilisi, though also it is possible to
reach the group from Turkey.
For example, the buses run from international bus station in Istanbul
to Sadahlo on the Georgia-Armenia border (50 USD, 41
h) or from Trabzon to Batumi and Tbilisi every day.
ARMENIA 07.26-08.09
Yerevan (August 2/3/4). Check the discount flights at www.airBaltic.com
from many cities of Europe. Flights from Vienna https://book.austrian.com/app/fb.fly. Flights to Yerevan are also available
via Moscow http://www.aeroflot.org/ or Minsk http://belavia.by/;
they are not so cheap like AirBaltic via Riga, but
not so expensive like via Prague, Paris, Vienna, Munich.
Look also hints for Georgia. There is bus and train
connection between Tbilisi and Yerevan. Tbilisi
to Yerevan: by train 12 h, 2000-9000 AMD; by bus
7-8 h, 10 USD; minibus 5-6 h. Bus from Batumi (the city you can reach by ferry, for
example from Odessa, or by bus from Istanbul) to Yerevan
12 h, 20 USD.
To reach other parts of the route you have to look for
the public bus service or well developed transport by marshrutkas.
IRAN 08.10-13
We will cycle there only 4 days. It would be more
convenient to join the group in Armenia
before crossing the border to Iran.
Or take a flight to Tabriz, and then reach the group
by bus.
You can also take a bus from Yerevan to Teheran (twice per week 31 h, 50
USD) and get off after the border. Also there are busses from Istanbul
and Trabzon (Turkey)
to Teheran via Maku, where we cycle (August 13).
TURKEY 08.14-27
Doğubayazit (August 14-19). The most convenient way to reach the
group at an intermediate point of the route is to use a well developed public
bus service:
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/trans/Bus/index.html
or railway net http://www.seat61.com/Turkey2.htm.
Look also for local flights from Istanbul to
Van, Erzurum, Samsun, Trabzon http://www.thy.com/en-INT/index.aspx,
and then you can take a bus to Doğubayazit where
we stay 5 days climbing Ararat. There is also a direct bus from international
bus station in Istanbul
to Doğubayazit (~1500 km, 25 h, ticket ~80 lir).
Kars (August 21-23). Buses from Iğdir, Doğubayazit, Erzurum, Istanbul. Every day trains from Ankara and Istanbul.
Flights from Ankara and Istanbul.