Every road out of Tbilisi.
Gergeti’s mountain church, Kakheti’s qvevri wine, the sulphur baths under the old town’s carved balconies — what each day out is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
Seven you can book on trust.
First trip or fifth, these carry a week in Georgia — the church on the ridge at Gergeti, a long lunch in Kakheti wine country, the sulphur-bath quarter your host keeps bringing up.
Day Trip to Armenia Including Homemade Lunch
From Tbilisi, visit Armenia’s Akhtala, Haghpat, and Sanahin monasteries plus a homemade family lunch, with guided stops and views.
From $59 per person
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★ 5.0Traveller favouriteKakheti Wine Region: Signagi and Bodbe Tour with 10 Wine TastingsFrom $131,019 reviews
★ 5.0Books out fastMtskheta,Jvari,Bazaar,wine tasting,Chronicles of GeorgiaFrom $20730 reviews
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The Military Road climbs all day.
Leave Tbilisi early: the Ananuri fortress on its green reservoir, the Jvari Pass, lunch in Gudauri, then the church at Gergeti with Mount Kazbek filling the sky behind it. Three hours up the old Georgian Military Road, and the country changes at every switchback.
So, which day trip first?
Mountains, wine or ancient stone — most first trips do all three, just not on day one. Here is how the big day trips differ, so you can match the drive to the morning you are in.
Into the mountains
The Kazbegi day
12 hours (approx.) · from $29 · 2,682 reviews
Up the Military Road to Gergeti and the Kazbek glaciers. Long hours in the van and big stops: Ananuri on its reservoir, the Jvari Pass, waterfalls off the shoulder. Scenery does all the talking on this one, and it is the classic first day trip.
Compare the mountain days →
Wine at the source
The Kakheti day
10 hours (approx.) · from $29 · 2,774 reviews
East to the vineyards: qvevri buried in the cellar floor, Sighnaghi on its ridge, tastings that slide into a long lunch. Georgia has made wine this way for eight thousand years, and Kakheti is where you drink it.
See the wine-country days →
Ancient Georgia
The first-capital day
10 hours (approx.) · from $29 · 1,801 reviews
Short and deep. Mtskheta was the old capital, and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral has stood in it since the fourth century, with Jvari monastery watching from the hill above the two rivers. Often paired with Gori and the Uplistsikhe cave town.
See the heritage days →
Evenings belong to the old town.
The sulphur baths stay open late under the carved balconies of Abanotubani. Cellars pour amber wine straight from the qvevri, and a proper supra runs to midnight with a toastmaster keeping time. Some doors you find faster with someone who already drinks behind them.
Khinkali is a contact sport.
Georgian food is a table game: soup dumplings you eat by hand, khachapuri that arrives molten, walnut-and-pomegranate everything, and a toast before each glass. Book a food walk or a cooking table and skip lunch first.
Georgia gets wild fast.
An hour from the capital the tarmac runs out: 4x4s across the David Gareja badlands to the Rainbow Hills, ski days above Gudauri, canyon boardwalks and the glass bridge over Dashbashi. Sturdy shoes, a full memory card.
The carved balconies still lean out.
Wooden balconies painted duck-egg and rose hang over the sulphur-bath quarter. Narikala fortress looks down from the ridge, the cable car swings up to Kartlis Deda, and the Betlemi lanes climb past churches older than most countries. A guide turns a pretty walk into the real one.
Tbilisi, before you leave town.
The capital earns a day of its own. Sulphur baths and carved balconies in the old town. Soviet mosaics and the Chronicle of Georgia up on the hill. Food walks through the bazaar, and a cable car to the fortress for the view back down.
Know what kind of day you want?
Twelve kinds of day, each already reviewed and priced. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of trip and the shortlist is waiting behind it.
Gone by breakfast, back for supper.
Georgia is small and dramatic. Mountains, wine valleys, cave cities and a whole other country all sit a morning’s drive from Tbilisi — and the ride back is half the day.
Your first three days in Georgia.
You can’t see all of Georgia from Tbilisi in one trip; you can absolutely do the right three days. This is the order we’d give a friend landing tonight.
Day 1
Land, then walk the old town
Ease in on foot: the sulphur baths and carved balconies of Abanotubani, up to Narikala by cable car, down through the Betlemi churches. Jet-lag pace, maximum Tbilisi.
Plan day one →
Day 2
East to the wine country
A full day in Kakheti: qvevri cellars, tastings that turn into lunch, Sighnaghi’s walls above the Alazani valley. Back in Tbilisi by dinner, the better for it.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The big mountain day
Save the Military Road for a clear morning: Ananuri, Gudauri, Gergeti under Kazbek. Long hours, huge country. Check the forecast two days out and move it to the bluest sky.
Plan the mountain day →
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