Dilijan
Tavush's forest spa town, nicknamed Armenia's Switzerland

What is this place

Dilijan is a small mountain resort town in north-eastern Armenia's Tavush Province, set at roughly 1,500 metres in the forested valley of the Aghstev River. Wrapped on every side by the pine- and beech-clad slopes of the Lesser Caucasus, it has long earned the nickname of Armenia's Switzerland and remains one of the country's leading climatic and mineral-water spa resorts.

Dilijan grew up in a bowl-shaped mountain valley where the town all but merges with the woods: houses climb the slopes among pines and beeches, and the boundary between streets and forest is almost impossible to draw. An altitude of about 1,500 metres, clear mountain air and abundant greenery shape the whole character of the place. The Aghstev River runs through the valley, and the town is hemmed in on all sides by one of the largest forest tracts in Armenia.

The settlement is mentioned in writing as early as the 17th century by the French traveller Jean Chardin. After the region passed to the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, Dilijan began to take shape as a modern settlement, and in the 19th and 20th centuries it became a popular mountain resort that drew well-to-do Armenian families from Tiflis. It was granted township status in 1938 and became a town in 1958. In 1918, during the fighting at Karakilis, Dilijan served as one of the rear strongholds of the Armenian forces.

The origin of the name is uncertain and survives mostly as a folk legend. According to the story, the town is named after a young man called Dili who became lost in the surrounding forests; his family searched for him, calling out "Dili jan, Dili jan" — jan meaning "dear" in Armenian — and the name eventually settled on the valley.

Dilijan's chief fame is its nature and its healing climate. The town is surrounded by Dilijan National Park, which protects tens of thousands of hectares of mountain forest, springs and lakes. Hiking and cycling routes fan out from here, and one of the most popular destinations is Lake Parz, a small, calm lake in the forest above the town. Dilijan has also long been known for its mineral water, bottled at a plant that has operated here since 1947.

Within the town an old quarter survives along Sharambeyan Street, where traditional balconied houses, workshops and craftsmen's shops have been restored; it is a living open-air museum and a showcase of local crafts. Here too are the Museum of Folk Art, a geology museum and an art gallery opened in 2011. A monument to its earlier resort life is the open-air rotunda theatre from the start of the 20th century, built around 1900.

The main historical shrines lie in the mountains around Dilijan. Very close to the town, deep in the forest, stands the 10th-to-13th-century Haghartsin Monastery with its churches and gavit, rebuilt under the Zakarid princes. A little farther off are Goshavank, linked to the medieval scholar and fabulist Mkhitar Gosh, along with the small forest monasteries of Jukhtak and Matosavank. These monasteries are easily combined into a single route through the Tavush woods.

Today the town's economy rests on tourism, mineral-water production, dairy farming and services. In recent decades Dilijan has also grown as an educational centre: the international UWC Dilijan college opened here in 2014, and earlier still the Central Bank set up a training centre. Quiet, green and unhurried, Dilijan remains a place people come to for mountain air, forest walks and the ancient monasteries nearby.

The town has given Armenia notable figures as well — among them the cinematographer Rudolf Vatinyan (1941–2021).

«Here the town and the forest live together.» — Vasily Grossman, writer

Dilijan is, above all, a resort of atmosphere: forest, mountain air, mineral springs and ancient monasteries only minutes from the town.