Ara is an absolute joy to travel with. Goris born and raised, he loves nature and the landscape and can talk knowledgeably on everything from history and archeology to geology and culture. He is happy to design his tour around your interests and is a very safe driver who knows the roads well. I went with him on a day trip to Jermuk and also did a beautiful Sisian tour. Next week we are going on an off-road expedition to see the petroglyphs. Ara speaks excellent English and is happy to talk about Armenian politics and the country’s relationship with its neighbors–he provides fascinating insights into Armenia’s past, present and future. I cannot recommend him highly enough. Liz from America
Ara grew up in the Goris area and you can tell he loves it and cares about the region a
lot. This is what makes his tours so special. He speaks English very well and can explain the significance of each site and the history with ease. He drives well and is generous with stopping for pictures. If you choose to tour with Ara you will learn so much, see amazing sights, and have an overall great trip. Robbie from America
All you travellers out there, planning a trip to Armenia: make sure you get in touch with this fantastic person. Ara was my tour guide for one day in March 2017, taking me on a tour through the Old Khndzoresk Cave City near Goris. It was a blessing to have met him, as he knew so much about the history, politics and culture of the area, as well as Armenia in general. We had some great conversations, and thanks to his excellent English, I could also engage with other local people. Thanks, Ara, for everything! That was a brilliant day! Alicia
If you come to Goris, do yourself the favor of using Ara as your guide/driver. He speaks 
great English and is incredibly helpful, and he gives his tours a personal touch by sharing his own family stories. I met Ara in March 2017, and he drove me around for four days, showing me all the best places in Syunik and Karabakh. He even drove all the way to Yerevan and back in one day for my sake. Thanks for all your help and for getting to know you, Ara! Anna
Ara is an amazing tour guide 
🙂 super nice, super calm great knowledge! We met him in October 2016, it was an awesome tour! I totally recommend 🙂 Ara thank you! Karolina, Poland
Ara not only knows the area and the history but passionately cares about it. He takes the time to show the details that really make this region so unique. And he never stops paying attention to the comfort and safety of those on the tour. Dan
What makes Ara’s tours unique is his passion and knowledge of the area. The sites are beautiful and fascinating but there is an added value to history and appreciation when you are able to see a tourist location through the eyes and the heart of someone who is able to show the location of his grandfather’s cave (small example). I lived in the area for a year and Ara’s tours were the best I’ve taken and one of the reasons for my love of the Syunik region. Ina
Ara is the most wonderful guide. His English is excellent and he really knows his history both ancient and modern. We are so glad he shared the spectacular beauty of his country with us. Valerie, UK
history. His depth of knowledge is huge, his English is excellent, and he was a wonderful companion. We quickly became friends as well as tourists. It was a delight, an honour and a privilege to spend time with him, and to meet his wonderful family. Thank you Ara! You made our visit truly special. Richard, UKI spent four days with Ara touring the Goris area and he absolutely made my holiday work. Ara took me to sites I would never have known about, would never have visited, and he made the whole experience come alive with a great knowledge of all of the places and a great sense of humour. Visiting the City of Caves with him was amazing – he grew up there and knows so much about the whole place. And he managed to get me into places no one ever goes to – like the cheese factory in the nearby village.
He is a terrific, safe, driver – which is very important there. He speaks excellent English. He even, via his wife – supplies picnics for the car journey – we had one memorable one in a storm, at night, sitting in the car.
Ara is an invaluable guide. And loves what he does. Please do book him. I certainly will next time I am back. Brendan, Ireland.
Ara was our guide and driver for the best part of four whole days. He speaks English fluently and is knowledgeable and observant about the country’s history, geography, flora and fauna – and speaks with intelligence, commitment and compassion about the challenges facing contemporary Armenia. Highlights included: Old Khndzoresk’s Cave City near Goris, where his dad was born; Karahundj, the site known as the Armenian Stonehenge (and oh the bird song and beautiful and rare wild flowers); and Tatev. Check out his ‘Off the beaten track’ and ‘Armenian silk road tours’ too. We can’t recommend him highly enough – he is simply the best – and on roads which can sometimes be less than perfect, it’s great to be in the safe hands of such a good driver.
Joanne and Rosie, UK
Ara’s guiding services cannot be recommended highly enough- your trip to Goris and Armenia as a whole will be sorely lacking without his knowledge and insight. The tour we took around Goris with Ara was so enormously enjoyable, informative and dynamic that it became our favourite day of the whole trip.
Book him for as long as possible and you will guarantee yourself an incredible, stress free journey for a very affordable price.
Harriet, Australia.
Goris Tours 
In May 2015, I was on the street in Goris waiting for a marshrutka going to Tatev Monastery. Waited for a long time but it did not appear. Then a nice gentleman asked if he could help, perhaps I looked so puzzled and worried. He was Ara. He agreed to drive me to Tatev for a very reasonable price. On the way, we had good exchanges on the culture and history of Armenia and Hong Kong. Since then, we became friends. I wish him every success in his business and good health.
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Thank you very much, Joanne, it was so nice to know you and hear about Hong Kong !!!
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Ara’s guiding services cannot be recommended highly enough- your trip to Goris and Armenia as a whole will be sorely lacking without his knowledge and insight. The tour we took around Goris with Ara was so enormously enjoyable, informative and dynamic that it became our favourite day of the whole trip.
Book him for as long as possible and you will guarantee yourself an incredible, stress free journey for a very affordable price.
Harriet, Australia.
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It was a Great pleasure to meet 3 of you. I really enjoyed our discussions. Thank you for your nice comment !
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Ara was a fantastic tour guide. He took my friend and me to Atsakh (aka Nagarno-Karabagh) and I feel like I really got the chance to see as much of the area as possible in one day. He took us to places that we would probably never have known to visit otherwise and his knowledge of the history and cultural significance of the places along the way made the experience ever more enriching. He is knowledgeable, friendly, and extremely helpful; the best tour guide you can find if you want a great touring experience of places in and around Armenia!
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Dear Kristina !
Thank you very much for the comment, we really had a great day there !
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My family and I spent a day at Tatev then Khndzoresk, with cave climbing under Devil’s Bridge squeezed in along the way – and it was fantastic! Ara is a very knowledgeable patient friendly guide committed to giving visitors the very best experience possible in whatever amount of time they have, and also great person to talk to in general! Your time with him will surely be a highlight of your trip to Armenia.
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Marc & Thérèse D – Belgium –
We found his name in the “Armenia” Bradt Guide Book ; which was “a priori” a good reference;
His web site was also very appealing… so, we decided to work with Ara ATASUNTS !
Our requirements: 3 days in the area of Goris / Tatev as follows:
– day one: visit Old Khndzoresk (abandoned village and its amazing suspension bridge);
– day two: hike to Old Khot (another abandoned village), visit the Tatev monastery and explore the
Vorotan canyon;
– day three: visit a bakery (lavash bread), climb to Old Goris (known as the Little Cappadocia) and
explore some good spots for bird-watching (a.o. Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture…).
Unfortunately, on day 2, we had to face a very (very !) bad weather; and our plans turned upside
down.
We discussed it with Ara and thanks to his listening skills, his deep knowledge of the area, his
organisation talents and his local connections, he saved more than 80% of our original plan.
We were simply delighted !
But he offered us much more than that:
– a lesson how to drink vodka according to the Armenian good practices (with moderation)
– a lunch with his parents in (New) Khndzoresk and with his whole family in Goris;
– a spontaneous concert of Armenian folk music; improvised by family members;
… and an invitation to visit his sister … who is living in Belgium !
We were simply dumbfound !
Conclusion: when we contacted him, we expected a good guide with a fair command of English;
after 3 days, when we said him goodbye, we have left a real English purist; a passionate lover of his
country, a very sensitive ecologist…
and a new friend.
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Dear Marc !
Thank you for a lovely comment.
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This summer, after an unsuccessful attempt of reaching Ughtasar petroglyphs with our rental car (please, don’t try to do this), we contacted Ara to book a 4×4 ride and a guided visit. It was a really great experience, far beyond our expectations.
Ara is a wonderful guide, speaks great English and knows a lot about Armenia. We learnt a lot from him and really enjoyed spending a day with him and sharing the delicious meal he brought to the hike.
Thank you very much! We wish all the best!
Laura and Alek from Spain
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Dear Laura and Alek !
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, we really had a great time together !
All the best wishes
Ara
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We had 3 amazing days traveling through Armenia with Ara. He is very knowledgeable and passionate about his country and goes out of his way to show his guests a truly Armenian experience. Even after our tour had finished Ara would ring every few days to ensure our travels were continuing comfortably and safely. He has numerous contacts around the country and on one occasion he managed to rectify an awkward situations for us over the phone. Ara is a gentleman and made the Armenian experience truly memorable for my wife and me. We highly recommend Ara for your Armenia holiday.
Best wishes
Chris and Robyn (Australia).
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Thank YOU !
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We had a wonderful and most lovely trip with Ara back to June 2019, he is the best tour guide in our 22 days Armenia trip. He is not only doing his job, but he treated as very special guests and friends, his genuine caring to people really impressived us alot !!
I still remember after the trip was finished from the schedule, Ara asked us do we want to climb the mountain to see a good view of old Goris(that’s a bouns ,not listed from the itenry ), as we didn’t expect this mountain has a very steep part to climb to, I was struggling but managed to climb by myself, but my husband couldn’t do it without Ara’s help. Literally he was holding my husband Adam all the way to the top of the mountain. How kindly he is !!!!
The same night my husband and I had dinner in a local restaurant but because we were too tired, we left my husband ‘s ruck sack in the restaurant, and it was very late to go back , the restaurant is also closed, so my husband Adam went back to the restaurant next day morning. But he arrived there before the opening hour, nobody in. But how luckily Ara drove passed by and helped us to contact the owner of restaurant, then made our rest of journey smoothly !! Thank you Ara, you are the best tour guide and we are sooo touched by your kindness and caring , your patience as well. All the best wishes in 2020:)))))))
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Dear Chloe and Adam !
Thank you so much for the nice comment, we really had an enjoyable day and a lot of interesting discussions !!
Happy New Year and all the best wishes for 2020 !!!
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I had a fantastic day with ara visiting the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). He was not only attentive to my interests in that day, but also worried for my previous days and gave me interesting recommendations for my return trip to Georgia, where I could visit some other nice places thanks to his information.
During that day not only could I visit some places of this disputed territory, I could speak with him about the life of the people during, before and after the conflicts they suffered. It’s really a big difference to travel with a person so interested in transmitting you a point of view from inside, almost impossible to obtain als an independent traveller. I enjoyed too our conversation about some other world places, politics and people’s life. I hope this were interesting for both of us. Thank you for that nice day! I really felt that I was travelling with and old friend.
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Thank you very much, Alex !
It was Great to know you, too !!!
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At the beginning of May my husband and I booked a full day tour with Ara around Goris and we had a great time together. He speaks English fluently and he is extremely kind and professional. We visited a lot of nice places including the Tatev Monastery. He told us a lot of interesting things about Armenian culture. After the tour he invited us to have dinner at his place so he had the chance to meet his nice wife and his three kids. I strongly recommend Ara if you are going to Armenia.
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Thank you, Bernadette, for the nice comment !
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I can’t say enough good things about Ara! We spent a wonderful two days together exploring Old Khndzoresk, a mountain overlooking Goris, Devil’s Bridge and Tatev Monastery. Since Ara grew up in New Khndzoresk, he spent his childhood exploring Old Khndzoresk… he knew all the ins & outs of that place, so you can imagine just how great the tour was! Then we had a short hike through a nice cemetery, up a mountain overlooking Goris. On day 2, we visited the warm baths under Devil’s Bridge and got to experience Tatev Monastery in all its glory. Ara drove us up and we took the Wings of Tatev down. Ara is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. He even treated us to homemade vodka, local cheese/lavage and fresh vegetables from his garden. I went to Goris to meet a guide but came back with a friend.
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Thank you so much for the nice comment, Joel !
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Thank you Goris Tours!
The trip we made was amazing, I never saw so much beauty in Syunik’s countryside, but with Ara we made it happen. The tour was well organized and planned out to get the full potential of the day, knowing dynamic changes happened along the way, Goris Tours was able to make the best plans to make it all happen.
I will see Southern and Eastern Armenian again, God Willing!
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Thank you !!!
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My daughter and I spent two weeks in Armenia in August, 2022. It was the best holiday either of us has ever taken. Our day with Ara and his driver, Hamlet, visiting the petroglyphs of Ughtasar, was by far the best day of our best holiday. Ara is very knowledgeable not only about the flora and fauna of the region but also Armenian history and contemporary Armenian geo-politics. His excellent command of english enabled him to enquire in thoughtful and insightful ways about where we were from, too. I simply cannot say how pleasant it was to be in his company, nor how spectacular our day at Ughtasar was. If you find yourself not sure whether to take a tour with him or not, I would strongly urge you to do so, as I very much doubt that you will be disappointed.
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Thank you, Steve !!
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My wife and I were travelling through Syunik and we’re having trouble finding a tour guide for the area around Goris and Khndzoresk. Luckily, I found this website and Ara agreed to give us an incredible tour of both Khndzoresk and Tatev on short notice.
I would say for sure that you definitely couldn’t ask for a better guide in the region in terms of someone with a personal connection and deep knowledge of every notable place that can be visited in Syunik.
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