Bear Cave

Bear Cave is located in Vayots Dzor region, 3 km far from the village Arpi.
It is one of the largest and the most beautiful karst caves in Armenian Highland. It is situated at an altitude of 1655m above the sea level. The cave was found by the hunters in 1978. It was named Bear Cave because of the bear bones which were found inside the cave.

According to meteorological research the average temperature of the cave is 10,2° C. The whole length of the cave is 3500 m, which goes deep down nearly 700 m.

Almost the whole cave is formed by calcium carbonate and due to that there are a lot of stalactite and stalagmite formations. There are many large halls inside the cave, which are joint to one another by quite narrow corridors, sometimes crawling is the only way to pass through them.

It is not safe to enter Bear Cave without a special guide.

Photos by Tigran Shahbazyan