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British news magazine The Week that spotlights a dream vacation recommended by some of the industry's top travel writers every week has picked Armenia this week.

"When you encounter hospitality in Armenia, you're unlikely to forget it," the magazine cited the article by BBC’s Ben Lerwill, who detailed about his recent trip to Armenia.

The rugged, mountainous country has been renowned for its generosity to outsiders since the days of the Silk Road, when countless traders, soldiers, and migrants passed through its beautiful, rolling landscape, said the article.

Lerwill wrote that he experienced Armenians' welcoming nature while exploring the Caucasus via marshrutkas. After dawdling too long around the UNESCO-listed monasteries of Debed Canyon, he found himself stranded in Dilijan, “a picturesque, forested resort town known locally as Little Switzerland”. "A night here would surely be no hardship," but I did need a place to stay,” he wrote.

“Using an outdated guidebook, I found a guesthouse on the outskirts of town. Nobody answered when I knocked, so I tried hollering "Barev dzez!" — Armenian for "Hello!" I felt a little foolish, but a middle-aged woman soon opened the gates, regarding me quizzically. When I pointed to my guidebook, she smiled and took my elbow, leading me inside. The house hummed with noise and laughter. My host showed me to my room and then pointed to the dining room, mimed eating, and said "19 o'clock." I dutifully appeared at 7 p.m. and found myself swept into an 18th-birthday celebration for the family's eldest daughter. There were 12 of us, and I was the only stranger,” he noted, adding it was a ‘a heady, hearty, vodka-fueled evening’, with the plates piled high with huge portions of barbecued pork, stringy cheese, eggplants, olives, radishes, greens with garlic, and lavash.

Lerwill said the house owners made sure his glass was never empty of vodka. “As the banquet "roared on," the uncles toasted everyone and everything. I was dizzy when the time came for songs and cakes,” he added.

“I can say this much: when you encounter hospitality in Armenia, you’re unlikely to forget it,” Ben Lerwill summed up.