It dates to the early feudal period. In antiquity it was an agricultural suburb of Uplistsikhe. Kvakhvreli is first mentioned in historical sources in the 11th century, during the struggle for the unification of feudal Georgia. It was a significant settlement; the old village is partly overlain by the modern one. In the 18th century Armenian migration began around Kvakhvreli, as witnessed by the 17 khachkars they carved on the cave walls.