Jermuk is Armenia's great spa town, a small mountain town more than two thousand metres up where, for generations, people have come to heal, rest and drink the water. Its name says it all: it comes from jerm, 'warm', after the thermal and mineral springs that rise from these mountains and made it famous throughout the Soviet Union. Surrounded by forests, with the cool, clean mountain air and the murmur of the Arpa River, it is the country's wellness destination par excellence.
The heart of the town is the Water Gallery, an elegant colonnaded pavilion where different mineral waters at different temperatures flow from stone taps: visitors sample them in small cups, each with its own properties. Add to that the sanatoriums and spas offering thermal water treatments, a spectacular waterfall of almost seventy metres that locals call 'the mermaid's hair', forests with trails and even thermal springs hidden among the trees.
This guide helps you enjoy Jermuk properly: how to get there from Yerevan, what to do at the water gallery and in the spas, how to reach the waterfall, where to walk in the forest, how much treatments and accommodation cost, and how to combine the spa town with the rest of the south (Areni, Noravank, Tatev). It is the place to slow down, drink healing waters and let yourself be looked after in the heart of the Armenian mountains.
Jermuk (from the Armenian jerm, 'warm') owes its history to its thermal and mineral springs, known and used since ancient times: there are remains suggesting that people were already making use of these waters in the Middle Ages, and even earlier, and tradition says that wounded animals came down to heal in them. The spa town as we know it today was born and grew mainly in the Soviet era, from the mid-20th century, when Jermuk became one of the USSR's great health resorts (kurort): sanatoriums, hotels and the water gallery were built, and its bottled mineral water became famous across the Eastern Bloc. After independence in 1991 it went through a crisis, but it recovered as a spa and nature destination. That history of healing waters, forests and rest is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Armenia's deep south: Noravank Monastery between walls of red rock, Areni and the oldest winery in the world, the mountain spa town of Jermuk, and the great Tatev Monastery, reached by the longest non-stop cable car on the planet.
Read the history of The south: Vayots Dzor and Syunik →They depart from Erevan, 107 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The name says it all: Jermuk comes from jerm, the Armenian word for 'warm'. In these mountains in southern Armenia, more than two thousand metres up, the water rises hot from the ground, rich in minerals, and people have known since time immemorial that these waters heal. An old local tradition says it was the animals that taught humans the healing power of these springs: wounded deer that came down to bathe in them.
Surrounded by forest, with the fresh, clean mountain air and the Arpa River gorge opening below it, Jermuk seems made for rest and recovery. It doesn't have the dense monumental history of the great Armenian monasteries. Its history is of another kind, bound up with water, the body and rest. It's the story of how a corner of hot springs became the country's great spa town.
Even so, that story also reaches far back in time, long before the sanatoriums and the bottles of mineral water that made its name famous.
The Jermuk springs have been used since very early times. Remains found in the area point to the use of the thermal waters in the medieval period, and there are even traces of stone baths suggesting that people came here to heal many centuries ago. In a region where hot water flowing out of the rock by itself was as valuable as it was mysterious, it's no surprise that these springs were seen as sacred and healing.
In the Middle Ages, the Vayots Dzor region was part of the lands of the southern Armenian dynasties, such as the Siunia and later the Orbelian, the same world that produced monasteries like Noravank and Tatev. But Jermuk itself was not a major religious or political centre. Above all, it was a place of waters, known locally and regionally, where people came for their health rather than for power or faith.
For centuries, while the Persian and Ottoman empires fought over the Caucasus, the springs kept flowing quietly in their wooded valley. It would take until the 20th century for Jermuk to go from a well-known hot-spring spot to a spa town with an international reputation.
The Jermuk we know today is largely a creation of the Soviet era. After Armenia was incorporated into the Soviet Union (1920-1922), and especially from the mid-20th century onwards, the state developed Jermuk as a kurort, a spa town devoted to the health of workers. This was a typical Soviet policy: turning places with hot springs and healthy climates into large, state-run centres for rest and treatment, where people were sent to recover.
Sanatoriums, hotels and parks were built, along with the elegant Mineral Water Gallery, whose stone taps pour out water at different temperatures. Jermuk was granted town status and grew along with this wellness industry. Its mineral water, bottled under the town's name, became famous throughout the Soviet Union, a product known and valued across the Eastern Bloc, to the point that the 'Jermuk' brand became a byword for healing water.
At its peak, the town received thousands of visitors from all over the USSR who came to 'take the waters', follow treatments and rest in a mountain setting. Jermuk was a prestigious name, associated with health, rest and a certain good life within the Soviet model.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 hit Jermuk hard, as it did so many towns that depended on a centralised system. With the USSR gone, the flow of visitors sent through the Soviet state health system dried up, many sanatoriums ran into trouble, and the newly independent Armenia was going through a severe economic crisis, made worse by war and blockade. The spa town, which had lived off a model that no longer existed, entered some difficult years.
But Jermuk had something that didn't depend on any regime: its waters, its forests and its climate. Over the following decades the town reinvented itself as a destination for wellness and nature tourism, this time on market terms. Sanatoriums were renovated, modern spa hotels with thermal pools were built, the town was promoted as a getaway for health and rest, and a small ski and winter tourism scene also developed. Jermuk mineral water continued to be bottled and exported, keeping the name alive.
This reinvention gave Jermuk back part of its role. Today it is once again a popular destination, both for Armenians and for visitors from Russia and other countries, drawn by the same old promise: healing waters, clean mountain air and rest.
Today's Jermuk keeps the calm, slightly nostalgic feel of the old spa towns, but with a refreshed offering. Visitors stroll through the Water Gallery tasting the different mineral springs, take treatments at the sanatoriums and spas, walk to the waterfall of almost seventy metres that locals call 'the mermaid's hair', and wander the mountain forests along gentle trails. Some go looking for the natural hot springs hidden in the woods; others simply sit by the lake and do nothing at all.
On Armenia's tourist map, it's a destination unlike the others. While the rest of the country offers ancient monasteries, canyons and medieval art, Jermuk offers the body a rest: a chance to slow down, drink healing waters and let yourself be looked after in the middle of nature. It fits beautifully into a route through the south, between the wine of Areni, the art of Noravank and Tatev Monastery, as the place where travellers stop to recharge.
In the end, the story of Jermuk is the story of an age-old relationship between people and the hot water that rises from these mountains. Empires and systems have come and gone, but the springs keep flowing, and people keep coming, as they did centuries ago, to heal and rest in 'the warm place'.
