The Areni-1 cave sits in a cliff above the Arpa River, about 25 km south of Yeghegnadzor at the junction of the road to Noravank monastery. Excavations beginning in 2007 turned up a series of remarkable finds that rewrote the early history of winemaking and leather-working. The cave is accessible to visitors, though the interior exhibits are limited — the main archaeological material has been transferred to museums in Yerevan and Yeghegnadzor.
The site is worth combining with a visit to Noravank and the Areni wine village, where a cluster of small family wineries produce Areni-noir, the native grape variety. Several wineries offer tasting rooms and sell bottles directly, and the wine is genuinely good — earthy, dark, and quite different from Western European reds. The area is one of the highest-altitude wine-growing regions in the world, which gives the wines their particular character.