Around the year 1000, Ani was the capital of the Bagratid kingdom of Armenia: a Silk Road city of tens of thousands of people that chroniclers called the city of a thousand churches. Today it is an empty triangular plateau about 45 kilometres from Kars, ringed by ravines and by the Arpaçay river (the Akhurian in Armenian), which marks the border with Armenia. A cathedral, half a dozen churches, an 11th-century mosque and walls of red stone still stand in the grass.
It is one of the most striking places in Türkiye and one of the least visited. You can see it on foot in two or three hours, and it is well worth the journey to the far east of the country.
A little history
The Bagratid kings moved their capital here in 961 and within half a century had filled it with churches, palaces and walls. The cathedral is the work of the architect Trdat, who also repaired the dome of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Byzantium annexed Ani in 1045 and the Seljuks took it in 1064; after them it passed to the Georgians, the Mongols and Turkmen dynasties. An earthquake in 1319 and the shift of the trade routes emptied it, and by the 18th century it had been abandoned.
Ani was Russian territory from 1878 to 1918, when the first excavations took place, and during the Cold War it sat on a closed border that you could only visit with a military permit. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016 and is slowly being restored.
What to see in Ani
The walls and the Lion Gate
A 10th-century double wall with round towers of red and black stone closes off the open side of the plateau. You enter through the Lion Gate, named after the lion carved on it, and the city opens up all at once: grass, wind and ruins all the way to the horizon.
The Church of the Redeemer
A round church built in 1035 and split in two by lightning in 1957. The half still standing, its dome sliced open, is the most photographed sight in Ani. It has been shored up so that what remains does not collapse as well.
The Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents
Set on the edge of the river gorge, this is the best preserved of Ani’s churches. It dates from 1215, with frescoes of the life of St Gregory the Illuminator and of Christ inside, and carved animals on the outside walls. This is the one to take your time over.
The cathedral
Trdat’s masterpiece, completed in 1001, has pointed arches and clustered piers a century ahead of European Gothic. The dome fell in 1319, but the rest still stands. It became a mosque under the Seljuks and a cathedral again under the Georgians.
The Manuchihr Mosque
Built around 1072 and considered the first Seljuk mosque in Anatolia, it has an octagonal minaret you can climb and a hall with a ceiling of polychrome stone. It stands right above the gorge, looking out over the river and into Armenia.
The bridge, the citadel and the caves
Down below are the remains of the Silk Road bridge over the river; at the southern tip of the plateau, the citadel with the palace and the oldest church; and in the walls of the gorge, hundreds of caves that were once homes and chapels. A path leads down to the river, but this is a border zone and you must respect the signs.
Tips for your visit
Allow an hour for the highlights, or two to three hours for the whole plateau, which means several kilometres of grassy, stony paths.
- Bring a hat, water and a windproof jacket: there is no shade and no shelter, and the wind from the east never lets up.
- Afternoon light sets the red stone glowing; in winter snow covers everything and the cold is serious.
- Don’t cross the barrier tapes or head down to the river off the path: this is a guarded border.
- For children who can walk, it is a great adventure; with a pushchair, you will only manage the area near the entrance.
Tickets and prices
Entry costs €9 under the official 2027 tariff published at the time of writing (2026). On my tours the ticket is either included or the guide takes care of it.
Where it is and how to get there
Ani lies about 45 kilometres east of Kars along a straight road through farmland, roughly 45 minutes by car. You can agree a fixed fare with a taxi in Kars, and minibuses run in season. Kars has an airport with flights from Istanbul and Ankara, and the Eastern Express (Doğu Ekspresi) runs there from Ankara.
How I include it in my tours
On my routes through eastern Türkiye, Ani takes up the whole morning of the Kars day, with the castle and the Russian-era houses of Kars in the afternoon, as I describe in Kars and Ani. On the grand eastern route it combines with Doğubayazıt and Mount Ararat and with Van and Akdamar Island and, at the table, with Kars cheese and roast goose.
If you’d like to explore the east of the country, tell me about it through the tailor-made trip form and I’ll plan a route with Ani in it.