This fifteen-day route is for travelers who want the full sweep of Georgia in one trip. It covers Tbilisi, the Kazbegi high country, Kakheti’s wine villages, the cliff city of Vardzia, the towers of Svaneti and the subtropical coast around Batumi. The pace is relaxed, with two- and three-night stays and no two long road days in a row. You’ll use marshrutkas (minibuses) for most hops, shared taxis or a hired driver for the side trips, jeeps in the mountains, and the train if you head back to Tbilisi from the coast.
Days 1-2: Tbilisi
Give
Tbilisi two nights and one evening at the theater. Walk up to
Narikala Fortress from the old town early in the morning, when the lanes of Betlemi smell of fresh bread and the cable car queue hasn’t formed yet. Spend the afternoon soaking at the
Tbilisi Sulfur Baths.
After the baths, dress up a little for the
Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre on Rustaveli Avenue. Its Moorish Revival facade is one of the most photographed buildings in the city, and a night …
read more 👉This fifteen-day route is for travelers who want the full sweep of Georgia in one trip. It covers Tbilisi, the Kazbegi high country, Kakheti’s wine villages, the cliff city of Vardzia, the towers of Svaneti and the subtropical coast around Batumi. The pace is relaxed, with two- and three-night stays and no two long road days in a row. You’ll use marshrutkas (minibuses) for most hops, shared taxis or a hired driver for the side trips, jeeps in the mountains, and the train if you head back to Tbilisi from the coast.
Days 1-2: Tbilisi
Give Tbilisi two nights and one evening at the theater. Walk up to Narikala Fortress from the old town early in the morning, when the lanes of Betlemi smell of fresh bread and the cable car queue hasn’t formed yet. Spend the afternoon soaking at the Tbilisi Sulfur Baths.
After the baths, dress up a little for the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre on Rustaveli Avenue. Its Moorish Revival facade is one of the most photographed buildings in the city, and a night of the Georgian State Ballet makes a fine counterweight to the mountain days ahead.Days 3-4: Mtskheta, Ananuri and Kazbegi
On Day 3, leave the city by shared taxi so you can stop along the way. Mtskheta deserves a slow morning. Start at Jvari Monastery on its hilltop, then come down to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, whose 11th-century walls and frescoes make it the spiritual center of Georgian Orthodoxy. Pause at Ananuri to see the carved stone crosses on its fortress church, then cross the Jvari Pass to Stepantsminda for two nights.
Spend Day 4 in Kazbegi National Park, away from the crowds at Gergeti. Take a taxi to the village of Juta, at about 2,150 meters, and walk up the meadow valley beneath the jagged dolomite spires of Chauki. The first big viewpoints come after about 1.5 hours, and the trail keeps climbing toward the pass if you have the stamina.Days 5-6: Sighnaghi and the Kakheti Wine Region
Day 5 is a long transfer, around 5 hours back through Tbilisi and east to Sighnaghi. This hilltop town keeps its 18th-century walls and towers, and it looks across the Alazani Valley to the Caucasus. Once you arrive, attempt nothing more ambitious than a glass of amber qvevri wine on a balcony.
Day 6 is your wine day in the Kakheti Wine Region. Hire a driver for a loop north to Telavi, where the palace of King Erekle II and an ancient plane tree anchor the center. Continue to Kvareli, known for the wine tunnel the Khareba winery cut into the hillside. Family cellars along the way still pour from clay qvevri buried in the floor, a winemaking method listed by UNESCO as intangible heritage.Days 7-8: Akhaltsikhe and Vardzia
Day 7 is the second long transfer, roughly 5 to 6 hours via Tbilisi to Akhaltsikhe, where the restored Rabati fortress towers over the old town. On Day 8, ride about 1.5 hours south along the Mtkvari gorge, past Aspindza, to Vardzia. This 12th-century cave monastery was carved into a cliff face under Queen Tamar. Hundreds of rooms, tunnels and a frescoed church survive on many levels, and walking through them takes 2 to 3 hours.Day 9: Kutaisi and Gelati Monastery
Head west on Day 9 to Kutaisi, about 3 hours via Khashuri. One night is enough here, because the goal is Gelati Monastery in the afternoon light. This UNESCO-listed church and former academy holds the grave of King David the Builder under its gate, so every visitor steps over him, exactly as he asked.Days 10-12: Mestia and Upper Svaneti
Day 10 is the long climb to Mestia through Zugdidi, 5 to 6 hours in total. Three nights in Upper Svaneti give you a buffer against bad weather and time to settle in. On Day 11, stay around Mestia itself. Visit the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography, whose icons and manuscripts were hidden in these valleys for centuries, then wander among the family towers.
On Day 12, take a shared jeep to Ushguli and spend the whole day there. Walk up to the small Lamaria church above the village, then follow the Enguri upstream toward the glacier for as long as the daylight allows.Days 13-15: Batumi and the Adjara Coast
Day 13 takes you from the mountains to the sea, about 6 hours via Zugdidi to Batumi. Stroll Batumi Boulevard that evening with a khachapuri adjaruli, the boat-shaped cheese bread with an egg yolk in the middle, which originates on this coast.
On Day 14, spend the morning in Mtirala National Park, 30 to 40 minutes inland, where trails through dripping Colchic forest lead to a waterfall. Finish the afternoon at Kvariati Beach near the Turkish border, which has the clearest water on this stretch of coast. On Day 15, fly out of Batumi or take the train back to Tbilisi.
If a friend asked me for one extra stop, I’d send them to Khertvisi Fortress on the Vardzia road, where the Mtkvari and Paravani rivers meet below the walls; have your driver pause there on the way back and climb up in the late-afternoon light.v2.webp){kind=logo}
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