Parz Lake to Gosh Trail

If you do one proper walk in Dilijan, make it this one. The trail leaves the far shore of Parz Lake, climbs through beech forest to a saddle, then descends along a ridge and down through meadows into Gosh village, arriving almost at the monastery gate. It is part of the marked Transcaucasian Trail network and waymarked throughout, though the paint can be sparse in places.

The distance is roughly nine kilometres and most people walk it in three to four hours at an unhurried pace, with stops; it is moderate rather than hard — a sustained climb at the start, then mostly gentle. The forest is the attraction: huge smooth-barked beeches, dappled light, silence, and in autumn a carpet of copper leaves. There is no water or food on the route, and once you leave the lake you will probably meet no one until the village. Arrange a lift back from Gosh or be ready to walk the same way home.