Overview
This 12 day Georgia tour is for travellers who want the country in depth rather than at speed. Two additions make it different from the shorter programmes: the Kakheti region in the east, with two nights inside the walls of Sighnaghi looking over the Alazani plain, and the western canyons — the Okatse hanging walkway, Kinchkha waterfall and the Martvili boat ride. Between them sit the Georgian Military Highway to Kazbegi, Kutaisi with Sataplia cave and the Tskaltubo mineral baths, and three nights in Batumi that include the Mtirala rainforest and Petra fortress on the northern coast. Five hotel bases and denser days than Georgia 10 Day Grand Tour, which chooses rest over coverage, so pick between them by temperament. If Kakheti alone is what you want, see Kakheti and Sighnaghi 4 Day Tour; autumn suits this route best, as Best Time to Visit Georgia explains. An Arabic-speaking driver is a practical necessity here: the back roads of Kakheti between Gremi, Nekresi and Kvareli carry no readable signage, and the run from Stepantsminda to Kutaisi is a long day that needs someone to break it with two good stops and know when to set off.
الباقة تشمل
- ✔ Private car with an Arabic-speaking driver for all twelve days and every transfer between regions
- ✔ Pickup at Tbilisi airport and drop-off at Batumi airport, or an arranged overland return to Tbilisi
- ✔ 11 nights across five bases: Tbilisi 2, Sighnaghi 2, Stepantsminda 2, Kutaisi 2, Batumi 3
- ✔ Price 2400 USD for two people, covering the car and the hotel at 200 USD per day
- ✔ Fuel, road costs and parking on us, including the long inland roads of Kakheti
- ✔ Arrangement of a local 4x4 for the climb to Gergeti Trinity Church above Stepantsminda
- ✔ Advance booking for the Okatse hanging walkway, the Martvili Canyon boat and Sataplia cave entry
- ✔ A direct WhatsApp line to our Tbilisi office throughout the trip: https://wa.me/995550000663
- ✔ A company officially registered in Georgia, with an agreed written Arabic programme before arrival
Trip Itinerary
اليوم 1: Day One | Arrival in Tbilisi
We meet you at Tbilisi airport and transfer to a hotel in the centre. The evening is done on foot rather than by car: Rike Park and the Bridge of Peace, then the cable car up to Narikala fortress to see Tbilisi lit from above, and down the far side into Abanotubani with its domed sulphur baths. Dinner in Meidan. Eleven days and five cities lie ahead, so we keep the first night short and go over the next morning's departure time with you.
اليوم 2: Day Two | Tbilisi from Sameba to the Dry Bridge
This is the only full city day in the programme, so we use all of it: the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Sameba, in the morning, then Sioni church and Anchiskhati, the oldest church in the city, and on along Kote Abkhazi street to the Meidan bazaar. After lunch come Rustaveli Avenue, Freedom Square and the Dry Bridge market with its old Soviet curiosities and silverware; if you prefer modern shopping we take you to the big malls instead. An early evening before tomorrow's move east into Kakheti. We also flag that tomorrow starts at nine, since Sighnaghi is a two-hour drive.
اليوم 3: Day Three | East to the walled town of Sighnaghi
We leave Tbilisi eastward, about 110 kilometres through Sagarejo and Gurjaani to Sighnaghi, the small walled town on the edge of the Alazani plain. We arrive before noon and let you settle in, then visit Bodbe Monastery just below the town, where St Nino is buried among the cypresses. Back up top we walk a stretch of the long defensive wall and its towers and watch the sun set over the plain with the distant Caucasus on the horizon. Two nights here, inside the town itself rather than at a roadside hotel.
اليوم 4: Day Four | The Alazani valley: Gremi, Nekresi and Kvareli
A full day deep in Kakheti, away from the crowded routes. We begin at Gremi citadel with its red-brick church looking over the plain, then Nekresi Monastery on the opposite slope with its wide view. After lunch we drive to Kvareli and its quiet lake among the hills, and anyone who wishes can add Telavi and the Batonis Tsikhe fortress at its centre. Distances here are short but the roads are inland, winding and poorly signed, which is exactly where a driver earns his keep. Back to Sighnaghi in the evening.
اليوم 5: Day Five | From Kakheti to the foot of Kazbek
A long transfer day, but broken by two real stops. We leave Sighnaghi in the morning and pass through Tbilisi without lingering, on to Mtskheta for Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and then Jvari Monastery on the hill above the meeting of the two rivers. After lunch we start north on the Georgian Military Highway: Ananuri fortress above the Zhinvali reservoir, Gudauri at 2,200 metres, the Friendship Monument, then the Jvari Pass and the descent to Stepantsminda. About 265 kilometres in all, arriving before dusk.
اليوم 6: Day Six | Gergeti, Gveleti waterfall and the Dariali gorge
In the morning a local 4x4 takes us up to Gergeti Trinity Church at 2,170 metres above the village, the most famous view in Georgia when the cloud lifts off the peak of Kazbek — the weather here is changeable and nobody can promise it. In the afternoon we head north towards the border: the Gveleti waterfall between the rocks, then the narrow Dariali gorge and its monastery complex above the river. The evening stays in the village at 1,740 metres, where the air is cold even in summer.
اليوم 7: Day Seven | The long run west to Kutaisi
The longest day of the programme, and we start early on purpose. We come down the Military Highway with a photo stop at the Zhinvali reservoir and Ananuri, then swing around Tbilisi and head west to Gori: the Goristsikhe fortress above the town and its central museum devoted to Stalin, the town's own son. After lunch we continue through the Rikoti pass to Kutaisi, capital of the west on the Rioni river — about 380 kilometres in total. In the evening, the golden Colchis Fountain on the main square and a quiet dinner.
اليوم 8: Day Eight | Sataplia, Tskaltubo and the Kutaisi market
An Imereti day that is not the usual one. The morning is Sataplia reserve: dinosaur footprints preserved in the rock, a short karst cave, and a glass platform cantilevered off the forest edge above the plain. After lunch we move to Tskaltubo, the mineral-water town whose vast Soviet sanatoriums are photographed far more than they are lived in today. Back in Kutaisi we walk the green bazaar with its spices and cheeses, then Bagrati Cathedral on Ukimerioni hill at sunset. Everything today sits within a forty-kilometre circle around the city.
اليوم 9: Day Nine | The Okatse walkway and Kinchkha waterfall
The day of the western canyons. We drive north to Okatse, where a steel walkway runs some 780 metres along the cliff edge and ends on a platform jutting out over empty air — it takes a steady head and comfortable shoes. Nearby is the tiered Kinchkha waterfall. On the way back we pass through Imereti villages with their wooden houses. We return to Kutaisi for the last night there and pack for tomorrow's descent to the Black Sea. Okatse is about fifty kilometres from Kutaisi, roughly an hour's drive.
اليوم 10: Day Ten | The Martvili boat, then Batumi
In the morning to Martvili Canyon in Samegrelo: a small boat between narrow stone walls on clear green water, with hanging walkways and a waterfall at the end of the trail. After lunch we head west and then south down the coast through Kobuleti to Batumi, roughly 190 kilometres for the day. The evening is your first meeting with the boulevard: the Alphabet Tower, the moving Ali and Nino statue and Europe Square. Three nights here are enough to see the city and its countryside without rushing.
اليوم 11: Day Eleven | The Mtirala forest and the northern coast
A day in green Adjara. In the morning we climb to Mtirala National Park, all but the only rainforest in this region, on a walking trail through ferns and streams with a short suspension bridge for those who want it. After lunch we drive north along the coast to Tsikhisdziri and the Byzantine fortress of Petra on its rock above the sea, passing Kobuleti and its long beach. Back in Batumi in the evening for Piazza square and gift shopping in the central market. Mtirala earns its rain even in summer, so bring a light waterproof.
اليوم 12: Day Twelve | Departure from Batumi
A flexible last morning depending on your flight: a walk on the boulevard, or the Argo cable car up Anuria hill for a farewell view over the city, the port and the Adjara mountains. Batumi airport is about six kilometres south, so there is no need to hurry. If you fly from Kutaisi we set off early for the 140 kilometre drive; if you return to Tbilisi we plan a full driving day with a lunch stop en route. We check the luggage with you before we say goodbye.