Armenia

View other editions of Armenia.
View books by Nicholas Holding.

A Comprehensive Guide to Armenia - Rated
It took me a few reads of this travel guide until I could get a feel and picture in my mind of Armenia, but I put this down to the detailed and comprehensive style of the author. Although not as informal as the Lonely Planet guide to the region, Nicholas Holding does a good job in introducing Armenia to the inquisitive stranger. His writing, although it can't be described as racy , is reliable and solid, whether describing the flora and fauna of the region or Armenian marriage etiquette, and he certainly knows his stuff about Armenia.
As the author states in his introduction, the book is aimed at "the general tourist who is interested in seeing the country and understanding something of its long and complex history."
I got the feeling that the author sincerely wants Armenia to be discovered and one advantage of this book over its rivals is that it concentrates solely upon Armenia and Karabakh and therefore it is particularly useful for the traveller who wishes to base themselves here for a while. However, for the fleeting visitor, the book may prove a little too detailed and intricate and I can empathise with the previous reviewer that the more casual backpacker may find this book a little formal, although satisfactory. Maybe if tourism was more developed in Armenia, the author could have aimed for a more specific audience,and I feel that this is a shame for the author , as his knowledge of the region is excellent. Hopefully, in future editions, this will be addressed.
The maps I found to be quite satisfactory. In fact ,they are much more accurate and detailed than any other guides to the area, although I appreciate the dearth of good maps to the region.
I feel that a travel guide to Armenia ( or Georgia or Azerbaijan) that has a good, detailed selection of maps will steal a march on their rivals.
All in all, worthy of four stars, and certainly the most comprehensive travel book at the moment on Armenia . Despite my picky criticisms, the traveller to Armenia will find this book a valuable asset and if you can strike up a friendship with an Armenian on your travels, they will certainly be impressed that you have learned from this book some of their traditions, history and culture.

Not enough information for backpackers - Rated
In July 2004 the most "recent" Lonely Planet for the region was still from 2000. For the region being still in transition (i.e. things changing rapidly) such a guide book was interesting only for "historians". So probably the only English language alternative was this Bradt guide from 2003.

You will find plenty information about Armenia (history, culture etc.), many detailed descriptions and maps of monasteries, there are maps of all Armenian provinces etc. But those maps are rather inaccurate, don't use them to estimate distances between two spots. There is no data about the scale, anyway. About towns there are only two maps of Yerevan plus additional two of Echmiadzin and Gyumri. Why are maps of other towns missing? The ones for Sevan, Garni etc. would be more than welcome. And at existing maps there is no mark about spots from where buses and minibuses depart back to Yerevan so you'll have to rely on locals.

The worst part is about something that many backpackers would find most interesting: the public transport. The author only mentions that it's bad (it's not good, indeed) and gives some information in few sentences (BTW, if heading to Geghard, take the bus all the way to Goght, 3 km from the monastery, not to Garni as the book suggests). About major sights it should at least be mentioned that "one bus per day stops at ...., ... km from the sight" and that piece of information should be immediately after the description of a sight or a town, not at the introduction of each province! It's obvious that the author travelled around by a hired car (there are plenty of instructions like "drive 5 km, at a brown house turn left etc.") and hasn't used public transport at all.

More info about accommodation (not only expensive hotels where the author most likely stayed) would also be welcome. After all, if you search the web you will find at least 3 well known ladies offering reasonably cheap homestays in Yerevan.

So, if you intend to travel by car (hired or arranged with locals) then this book will be quite good. If you are a real backpacker relying on public transport, think about some rival guides and buy this one as a supplement if the competition has worse descriptions of monasteries.