Ashtarak sits at the heart of one of the most rewarding areas in Armenia for day excursions. The Kasagh valley north of town has several monasteries and dramatic gorge scenery, and Mount Aragats rises to the northwest, its four summits visible on any clear day.
Amberd Fortress and Mount Aragats — About 40 kilometres from Ashtarak, up a road that winds through high alpine pasture, Amberd is a partially restored 7th to 11th-century fortress and church sitting at around 2,300 metres, with sheer drops on three sides where two mountain rivers meet. The road continues above 3,000 metres to the alpine crater lakes of Kari Lake. On a clear day the view from here takes in the entire Ararat plain and, to the southwest, the perfect cone of Ararat itself in Turkey. Allow a full day and take warm clothes regardless of the season.
Saghmosavank — A 13th-century monastery perched at the edge of the Kasagh gorge about 10 kilometres north of Ashtarak, with sheer cliffs dropping to the river below. The carved stonework is among the finest in Armenia and the setting is vertiginous. Easily combined with Hovhannavank in a half-day circuit.
Aparan and the Kasagh valley — Continuing north from Hovhannavank along the Kasagh valley brings you through a quiet agricultural landscape of orchards, wheat fields, and old churches. Aparan, about 30 kilometres from Ashtarak, has a memorial to the 1918 Battle of Aparan — one of the defining moments in the creation of the Armenian Republic — and a modest but interesting local museum.
Byurakan — The village of Byurakan, high on the slopes of Mount Aragats about 15 kilometres from Ashtarak, is home to one of Armenia's major astrophysical observatories, founded by the celebrated astronomer Viktor Ambartsumian. The grounds and some of the telescope domes can be visited; the setting, with the mountain behind and the Ararat plain below, is spectacular.