The Ararat plain is one of the largest of the Armenian Plateau, stretches west of the Sevan basin, at the foothills of the Gegham mountains. In the north the plain borders on Mount Aragats

Mount Aragats

Mount Aragats , Alagoz - is a large andesitic-to-dacitic stratovolcano in NW Armenia about 40 km NW of the capital city of Yerevan. It is the highest point in Armenia, located in the province of Aragatsotn, northwest from Yerevan. Located on its slopes are the Byurakan Observatory and the...

, and in the south, on Mount Ararat

Mount Ararat

Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...

. The Arax River divides it into two: the northern part lies in Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, the southern part lies in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

The Ararat plain and the Sevan basin experience abundant sunshine - about 2,700 hours a year. Alexandria in Egypt does not have many more; the shortest duration of sunshine is in mid-mountain areas of the forest zone (about 2,000 hours). In the foothills, there is hardly a sunless day between June and October.