Overview
This 4 day Tbilisi tour is for the traveller who has decided to give the capital its due instead of treating it as a stopover between the mountains and the sea. It suits a first-time visitor who wants to understand the city, not pass through it, and anyone with four days between two flights. All three nights are in one central Tbilisi hotel, so no suitcase is opened and closed every morning. The rhythm is deliberate: a quiet first evening at Freedom Square and in Sololaki, then a full day on foot in the old town from Narikala fortress down to the sulphur domes of Abanotubani and the Leghvtakhevi waterfall inside the city, then a day out twenty kilometres to Mtskheta, the ancient capital, back for sunset on Mtatsminda, and a market morning before the airport. For mountains in the same four days, see Georgia 4 Day Tour - Tbilisi and the Caucasus; to choose the right district to sleep in, Best Hotels in Tbilisi for Gulf Families; for the markets in detail, Shopping and Markets in Tbilisi and Batumi: The Complete Guide. An Arabic-speaking driver changes this programme because Tbilisi is a city of narrow lanes and scarce parking: he drops you at one end of a quarter, meets you at the other, and waits outside every market until you are done.
الباقة تشمل
- ✔ Private car with an Arabic-speaking driver for all four days in and around Tbilisi
- ✔ Three nights in one central Tbilisi hotel, with no hotel change and no luggage moves
- ✔ Pick-up from Tbilisi International Airport and drop-off on departure (17 km from the centre)
- ✔ A full walking day in the old town, with the car moving between your start and end points
- ✔ Arranging tickets for the Narikala cable car from Rike Park and the Mtatsminda funicular
- ✔ Half a day in Mtskheta: Jvari Monastery, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and the meeting of the rivers
- ✔ Booking a private sulphur bath room for those who want one
- ✔ The driver waits outside Dezerter Bazaar and the Dry Bridge market until you have finished
- ✔ Booking on WhatsApp https://wa.me/995550000663 with a company officially registered in Georgia
Trip Itinerary
اليوم 1: Day One | Arrival, Freedom Square and Sololaki by evening
You are met at Tbilisi International Airport and driven to the hotel, about seventeen kilometres and under half an hour outside rush hour. After a rest the evening begins at Freedom Square with the St George column at its centre, then climbs on foot into Sololaki, the quiet quarter against the hillside, where early twentieth-century houses hide spiral staircases and stained glass in the entrances along Machabeli street and around it. We come back down to Erekle II street for a first Georgian dinner. A deliberately short evening, so you start tomorrow's long walking day with rested feet.
اليوم 2: Day Two | A full walking day: Narikala, Abanotubani and the waterfall
We start at Rike Park on the left bank and take the cable car over the Mtkvari to Narikala fortress, which has guarded the city since the fourth century. We walk the wall to the Mother of Georgia statue, then descend the Betlemi steps between wooden houses and carved balconies into Abanotubani with its brick domes and rising sulphur steam. We follow the narrow Leghvtakhevi gorge to the waterfall inside the city, passing Tbilisi's only mosque and Sioni Cathedral. A private bath room can be booked for those who want one. Dinner on Shardeni street, back across the glass Bridge of Peace, with the car waiting at the bridge.
اليوم 3: Day Three | Mtskheta in the morning, Mtatsminda at sunset
We drive twenty kilometres north to Mtskheta, Georgia's ancient capital. First up to sixth-century Jvari Monastery on the hill, from where the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers meet in two different colours directly below you. Then down to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, its stone street and the stalls of crafts and churchkhela. On the way back we stop at the Chronicle of Georgia, its huge carved pillars standing above the Tbilisi Sea. In the afternoon the Mtatsminda funicular climbs to the park on the summit, where the whole city spreads out beneath you at sunset.
اليوم 4: Day Four | Tbilisi markets, then departure
Check out, luggage into the car, and a morning given to markets. We begin at Dezerter Bazaar near the central railway station for spices, Georgian cheeses, churchkhela and mountain honey, then move to the Dry Bridge market with its old Soviet curiosities, silverware and watches for anyone who enjoys bargaining. If you prefer malls to markets we head instead to a shopping centre near the airport road to save time. A last lunch according to your flight, then transfer to Tbilisi International Airport.