Cost of living in Armenia – 2015

Helllo I am a non Armenian but I have lived in armenia for the past 7 years... It has been a good and bad experience but eventually I got used to my life in armenia as a student!!! For the first year I was in zeytun in the hostel which is a terrible place to be because I was never brought up in that way!! Crowded, dirty and smelly but now they have renovated the hostel I'm hoping it got better!!! Second year I was in masif for couple of months and then I stayed in kvartal near Republic hospital for another year!!! After that I stayed 4 years in nalbandyan right in the centre of yerevan!! Well the cost of living?? It depends if you are planning to move there or just visiting or as a student!!! Accommodation price- 90000 drams for a luxurious one bedroom flat or even cheaper if u are renting just a room!! The price varies from area to area the further away you move from the centre the cheaper is the price to rent a place!!

Trains are very cheap!! Taxis cost 600 dram minimum!!!
Food prices- rs 2000 for kfc /very affordable Armenian kebab can be found on every nook and corner of the street and if you are looking for something more tasty and high class you can always visit any restaurants in hyusisain street!!! You can also find Chinese indian Mexican or persian food !! Monthly budget for food- 200-500 dollars depending on what you like to eat!!
Medical insurance might cost 60000-70000 drams per year and I tell you what ?? They have very good services specially if you are admitted in the Nairi hospital!!!

Education wise it depends where you want to study!! Yearly if u want admission in the medical university it will cost you around 2000-3000 British pounds!!

Energy price?? No idea I was not driving there and taxis are so cheap there you could travel anywhere anytime they have 24 hours services for taxis!!! 

Bills?? Internet-10000 drams to apply for wifi and a monthly bill I think I was paying 5000 drams I cannot remember but again it s not expensive and Orange has the best wifi speed in Yerevan!!

I had no cable installed for TV the programs are mostly in Russian and Armenian and if u r an English or French speaking person u might end up watching discovery channel if u are willing to pay a monthly package for cable!!! Stick to your wifi and if you cannot afford it go downtown buy a coffee and use free wifi as much as u want!! Most of the restaurants have free wifi!!!

Best mobile network is orange u can just top up as little as 1000 drams per day and you get points which can then be converted to free calls or free texts or free internet!!

Best traditional restaurant are kovkas and paravana!!! For as little as 10000-15000 drams you can eat , get drunk and dance to Armenian songs!! ( 2-3 persons can eat )

Coffee is available everywhere and it's very cheap !! Traditional vodkas , cognac, wine and beer u can afford to get drunk everyday!! It's cheap and it's very nice specially the home made version!!!

It s very hot in summer temperature reaching to 35-40 degree celcius and it's very cold in winters temperature going down to -30 degrees celcius and it was always a pleasure to watch the snow!!!! I would always get happy when it would snow and sometimes it would snow for a day or two in April!!

Home bills may vary greatly in winter racking up to 50000 drams if you are using a back to keep warm!!!

Plus most of the people do not speak English!! But I must admit that now they can speak English specially youngsters!!! It was terrible for me to move around and I ended up learning very fluent Armenian and a little bit of Russian!!

People are polite and kind and always helpful!!! They like foreigners but they don't like Persians I dnt know why!! Well as I say it varies from people to people !! Some Armenian accept everybody some don't!! It was been a great experience for me I could even write a book !! I have met a lot of people some good some bad but I do not regret anything and I miss yerevan badly!!!

I hope the information I provided was informative!! Please do not hesitate to give me a feedback !! Thank you