Lake Sevan

Sevan is the largest lake in the Caucasus and one of the biggest high-altitude bodies of water in the world: it lies at about 1,900 metres and covers some 1,200 square kilometres. More than twenty rivers feed it and only one, the Hrazdan, drains it. Treeless ridges stand all around, and the water shifts from turquoise to deep blue with depth and weather.

How the lake was drained

In the twentieth century the level of Sevan was deliberately lowered by almost twenty metres, the water released for irrigation and for a cascade of hydroelectric stations. The exposed bed grew over, and the island with the Sevanavank monastery became a peninsula joined to the shore by an isthmus. The ecological damage was severe: the lake bloomed and fish stocks collapsed.

How it is being brought back

Since the late 1960s water has been diverted into Sevan through a tunnel from the Arpa river basin, later supplemented by a transfer from the Vorotan. The level is climbing slowly: by the end of summer 2026 it stood at about 1,900.7 metres, some eighteen centimetres higher than a year before. The rise shows along the shore, where drowned trees and buildings stand in shallow water that was dry land not long ago.

Sevanavank

The monastery on the peninsula was founded in 874. A staircase climbs to two old churches above the water, and that is the view people come for; there are cafes and beaches beside it. The water stays cool even at the height of summer, since the altitude keeps it from warming.

The fish

Sevan holds the endemic ishkhan trout, which became rare after the level dropped. Local fish is served everywhere in the lakeside cafes, but ishkhan is a red-listed species and is best not ordered.

The lake is about an hour from Yerevan on the road to Dilijan, so most people meet it as a stop along the way.

Address

Gegharkunik Province, Armenia · an hour from Yerevan

Opening hours

Always open; Sevanavank open in daytime

Prices

Free

On the map