Cave · Areni community, Vayots Dzor
Magellan Cave
Մագելանի քարանձավ
A cave off the Noravank road near Areni, named after the villager Magellan Arakelyan who found it in 1946 and now visited on short guided tours past stalactites and roosting bats.
Where it is
39.7252, 45.2058
Why go
Tours run only with the operator's guides and take about half an hour, and helmets with chin straps, head torches and gloves are provided. The standard route is comfortable for most ages, while the wild caving option means crawling, climbing and squeezing through rough, narrow passages, with a minimum age of eight. Archaeologists and geologists are still studying the cave. It lies about 500 m from Areni-1, so both caves fit into one morning. Booking ahead is not required, though the operator prefers advance notice.
Getting there
Visits are by guided tour only, run by the cave's operator; protective equipment is supplied.
Near Magellan Cave
Cave
Areni-1 Cave
A limestone cave in the Arpa River gorge at Areni where excavators found a winemaking installation of about 4000 BC and a leather shoe dated to 3627–3377 BC.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Noravank Monastery
A monastery at the head of the red-cliffed gorge of the Amaghu river in Vayots Dzor, best known for Burtelashen, a two-storey memorial church whose upper floor is reached by narrow steps jutting from its west façade.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Canyon
Gnishik Canyon
A red-walled gorge in Vayots Dzor cut by the Gnishik river, about 8 km long, with Noravank monastery above its lower end and marked trails in the Arpa Protected Landscape.
11 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Smbataberd Fortress
The basalt-walled ruin of a medieval fortress on a ridge between the villages of Artabuynk and Yeghegis, its towers watching over the gorge of the Yeghegis river.
20 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ