🇬🇪Georgia

Map

Stops

• Tbilisi — base for the first few days; start and end the trip from here
• Georgian Military Highway & Kazbegi — day trip or stay overnight for the morning light
  • Ananuri Fortress — a castle complex on the Zhinvali reservoir
  • Gudauri View Point — Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument - curved mosaic terrace
  • Stepantsminda & Gergeti Trinity Church — hilltop church, amazing views of Mt Kazbek
• Kakheti wine region — Georgia's ancient wine heartland
  • Sighnaghi — walled hilltop town above the Alazani Valley
  • Telavi — the main city of the region
• Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe & Gori — day trip from Tbilisi or stops on the drive to Kutaisi
  • Mtskheta — Georgia's ancient royal capital, a UNESCO site
  • Uplistsikhe — ancient cave city carved into the rock
  • Gori — Stalin's birthplace and museum
• Kutaisi
  • Martvili Canyon — turquoise river gorge with rowboat rides
  • Prometheus Cave
  • Tskaltubo — abandoned Soviet spa sanatoriums
• Svaneti — remote valley of medieval stone towers
  • Mestia — main Svan town, starting point for lots of hikes
  • Ushguli — one of Europe's highest inhabited villages, UNESCO site
• Armenia — optional bonus day trip
  • Haghpat — medieval hilltop monastery, UNESCO site
  • Dilijan — forested spa town
  • Lake Sevan — vast alpine lake with a clifftop monastery
  • Yerevan

Day by day

1. Day 1

   Arrival in Tbilisi

   Land at Tbilisi airport and take a Bolt or Yandex taxi into the centre — cheaper than the taxis outside arrivals, takes about 30 minutes. Check in, and if you have time take a slow evening walk through Abanotubani (the sulphur-bath district) and the lanes of the Old Town. First Georgian feast: khinkali and a glass of amber wine — check the restaurants section on the map for recommendations.

2. Day 2

   Tbilisi — Old Town & the classics

   Start the day with a wander round the Old Town or join a free walking tour like this one — Old Tbilisi walking tour. From Rike Park, ride the cable car up to Mother of Georgia statue and Narikala Fortress (the fortress was under renovation when we visited so check if it's open). Walk back down, catch the puppet show at the Gabriadze clock tower - a 15-minute performance at 12pm and 7pm, and on every other hour a little angel pops out near the top to strike the bell. End the evening at a wine bar.

   🎭 To catch an actual performance at the Gabriadze Marionette Theatre (not just the clock-tower show), book well ahead — tickets sell out weeks in advance.

3. Day 3

   Tbilisi — the other side

   Start at the Chronicles of Georgia, a monumental ring of carved pillars on the city's northern edge - get a Bolt there. Head to the area around Fabrika for lunch, a converted Soviet sewing factory now full of cafés and independent shops (check the map for our Tbilisi restaurant recommendations). In the afternoon: Holy Trinity Cathedral, the largest in the Caucasus, then the Tbilisi Wine Museum. Finish in the Old Town at Meidan Bazaar for souvenir shopping.

   🍷 At the Tbilisi Wine Museum, take the guided tour — it's free and it's what makes the visit. A glass tasting costs a little extra and is worth adding - and it's nice sipping it whilst having the tour.

4. Day 4

   Georgian Military Highway → Kazbegi

   Leave early and stop at Ananuri Fortress on the Zhinvali reservoir, then drive the Georgian Military Highway through dramatic scenery to Kazbegi (Stepantsminda). To reach Gergeti Trinity Church (2,170m) you can hike up, or take a 4x4. The reward is the little church with Mt Kazbek towering behind — one of the iconic views of the Caucasus.

   💡 You can do this as a day trip from Tbilisi, or stay the night in Kazbegi — sleeping over means you get the church and the mountain to yourself once the day-tour crowds have left.

5. Day 5

   Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe & Gori

   Another full day trip from Tbilisi — or a drive west from Kazbegi if you stayed over; either way, start early. Begin above Mtskheta at the hilltop Jvari Monastery, looking down to where two rivers meet, then drop into Mtskheta itself, the ancient capital and a UNESCO site, for Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Carry on to Uplistsikhe, a rock-hewn pagan cave city above the Mtkvari River, and Gori, with its Stalin Museum. From here, head back to Tbilisi, or continue west to Kutaisi for the night.

6. Day 6

   Kutaisi

   If you didn't push on the night before, transfer from Tbilisi this morning. The new Rikoti Highway (opened at the end of 2025) has cut the drive to around three hours. A marshrutka or coach costs about 20 lari, but note Tbilisi has more than one bus station — Didube is the usual one, though services also leave from others, so check where yours departs. The train is comfortable and scenic, but it runs only at limited times (early morning or later afternoon), drops you outside the centre, and sells out — so check the schedule and book ahead.
   In Kutaisi, stretch your legs in the central park, then head out to Gelati Monastery for its medieval mosaics — check the opening times first. Climb to Bagrati Cathedral for sunset over the city.

   🥙 Dinner at Bikentia's Kebabery, a Kutaisi institution barely changed since Soviet times. One thing on the menu: beef kebab in a punchy tomato satsebeli sauce, with a wedge of white bread and a beer or lemonade — around 12 lari, cash only. No chairs, mostly locals, lightning-fast, and a portion easily feeds two.

7. Day 7

   Martvili Canyon, Prometheus Cave & Tskaltubo

   With Kutaisi as your base for a second night, spend the day looping the area's natural sights. Start at Martvili Canyon, a turquoise river winding through forested gorges, where small boats take you between the canyon walls. Then Prometheus Cave, a vast network of lit chambers full of stalactites and stalagmites. On the way back, stop at Tskaltubo, the abandoned Soviet spa resort — the standout is Sanatorium Medea, though the buildings aren't safe to enter, so stay outside and photograph from there. (Keep in mind some sanatoriums still shelter displaced families; be discreet.) Return to Kutaisi for the night.

   💧 Martvili's boat section can close in spring, when snowmelt pushes the water too high — worth checking before you set out if the boat ride is the part you're after.

8. Day 8

   Kutaisi → Mestia

   Make your way up into Svaneti. The quickest option is the short flight from Kutaisi to Mestia (about 35 minutes in a tiny Vanilla Sky plane, with grand mountain views) — but it only runs on certain days, roughly twice a week, with few seats and weather permitting, so check the schedule before you build the day around it. Otherwise it's a scenic five-to-six-hour drive or marshrutka up through Zugdidi and into the mountains, arriving among Mestia's medieval stone towers by afternoon. If you get in with time to spare, explore the Svan towers in town and the Svaneti History Museum, with its medieval icons and gold rescued from local churches.

9. Day 9

   Ushguli, or a hike from Mestia

   The big mountain day, with a choice. The classic option is Ushguli: a shared 4x4 jeep taxi (~1.5hrs each way) along a rough road to four villages at 2,200m — among the highest permanently inhabited places in Europe and a UNESCO site, with medieval towers below Mt Shkhara (5,193m), Georgia's highest peak. See the villages and the Lamaria Church, then head back to Mestia. If you'd rather stay closer and hike from Mestia, pick between: Koruldi Lakes is a hard full-day hike (~7–8hrs round trip on foot, much shorter with a 4x4 partway), while Chalaadi Glacier is easier — about 1.5–2hrs walking (~3hrs round trip) if you drive to the trailhead bridge, or 5–6hrs on foot from town.

   🎬 In the afternoon or evening, go to Pub & Cinema Dede. Dede is a locally-produced drama that shows the Svan traditions such as the blood feuds. Screenings run several times a day (around 20 lari, about 1h40) — check the day's times when you arrive, and stay for a drink in the pub.

10. Day 10

    Mestia → Tbilisi

    Back to Tbilisi for your onward journey. The fast and memorable way is the flight from Mestia — about 50 minutes over the Caucasus in a tiny plane — note it lands at Natakhtari airfield around 30km north of Tbilisi, not the main airport (a free shuttle runs into the centre), and seats are few and weather-dependent, so book well ahead. Otherwise it's a long day by road: a direct marshrutka or drive (8–9hrs).

    ✈️ The Mestia flight cancels in bad weather, so don't pin it to the same day as an international connection — leave yourself a night in Tbilisi as a buffer.

11. Day 11

    Kakheti wine country

    A day trip east into Kakheti, Georgia's wine heartland — or an overnight if you'd rather slow down. The day is built around wine: tour two or three wineries, ideally some making qvevri wines the traditional way. Break it up with Bodbe Monastery, the hillside convent where St Nino, Georgia's patron saint, is buried, and the pretty walled town of Sighnaghi, where you can walk the 18th-century walls for views over the Alazani Valley to the Caucasus.

    🍷 On a day trip, take an organised tour rather than driving — the point is the wine, so let someone else drive. This day also slots in easily earlier in the trip, as another day trip from your Tbilisi base.

12. Day 12

    Bonus: Armenia day trip

    A bonus day across the border into Armenia, if you have the time. This version packs in the medieval monastery of Haghpat, the forested spa town of Dilijan, the vast alpine Lake Sevan and Armenia's capital, Yerevan — though plenty of organised day trips focus just on the monasteries of the north instead. Bring your passport, and check Armenia's entry rules for your nationality.

    🤔 Our honest take: trying to see all four in a day is rushed and tiring, with more hours in the car than anywhere else. If we did it again, we'd skip it and spend the day back in Tbilisi instead — catching the bits we missed and eating our way through a little more of the food.

13. Day 13

    Tbilisi — wind down and depart

    A relaxed last day in Tbilisi. Ride the funicular up to Mtatsminda Park, walk around, then head down to Abanotubani: wander the short gorge behind the bathhouses to the Leghvtakhevi waterfall, tucked into the rock right in the middle of the city, before a soak in the sulphur baths — Chreli-Abano, with its tiled facade, is the prettiest. Fly out in the evening, or stay one more night and leave the next day.

    💆 At the bathhouses you rent a private room by the hour rather than sharing a public pool — ask for a scrub-down (the kisa) for the full bath experience. Payment for the kisa is in cash to the person.

Good to know

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Wine

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