Most of Georgia is a day trip from Tbilisi.
Which Kazbegi run actually gets you up to Gergeti. Whether the Kakheti day with nine tastings is the one to take. What a canyon day out of Kutaisi costs before lunch is added. Every tour in the country, reviewed and ranked.
Almost every Georgian day trip takes one of three roads out of Tbilisi.
North is the Military Highway, which climbs past a reservoir fortress and a ski plateau to a church on a ridge. East is Kakheti, where the pouring starts before lunch. West is the old capital, the cave town and the road on to Kutaisi. Pick the road first; the tours sort themselves out after that.
North — the Military Highway
Ananuri, Gudauri, Stepantsminda. Twelve hours there and back, and the reason most people come.
- Ananuri Fortressthe reservoir stop, 70 km up57
- Gudaurithe pass, the ski plateau, the viewpoint94
- Kazbegi & Gergetithe church under the mountain126
East — the Kakheti wine run
Two hours to the vines, a hill town for lunch, a family cellar or two on the way back.
- Sighnaghiwalled hill town over the Alazani36
- Bodbe Monasterytwo kilometres downhill from Sighnaghi22
- Kakheti Wine CountryTelavi, Tsinandali, Kvareli, Alaverdi72
West — the old capital and the cave town
The single most common shape in the whole catalogue: four stops in one day, back before dark.
- Mtskhetahalf an hour up the river86
- Jvari Monasteryon the bluff above the confluence45
- Uplistsikherooms cut into the rock45
- Gorithe fortress town on the way39
The tours that leave Tbilisi full every morning.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else in Georgia. What separates them is the stop list, the group size and how much of the day is spent in the van.
1
Day Trip to Kazbegi, Gudauri, Gergeti, and Ananuri
Day trip from Tbilisi to Ananuri, Gudauri honey tasting, Friendship Monument, and Gergeti Trinity Church views of Mount Kazbek.
From · $29
Read our review →
2
Day Trip to Kakheti Wine Region Including 9 Wine Tastings
from $29
3
Highlights of Caucasus Mountains-Jinvali,Ananuri,Gudauri,Kazbegi(Group tour)
from $29
4
Kakheti Wine Region Tour with 9 Wine Tastings
from $29
5
Mtskheta, Jvari, Gori and Uplistsikhe Day Tour
from $29
6
From Tbilisi to Kazbegi, Ananuri, Gudauri & Gergeti
from $23
7
Kakheti Wine Region Tour with 10 Wine Tastings
from $18
8
Day Trip to Kazbegi and Gudauri
from $29
Kazbegi, Kakheti and the days Georgia trips get built around.
Six days carry most itineraries in this country. Each one has a dozen versions on sale and they are not interchangeable — here is the best way to book each.
In Kakheti the pouring starts before lunch and does not really stop.
Two hours east of Tbilisi the vines start and the towns get smaller. Most days run Sighnaghi, Bodbe and a family cellar or two. The wine comes out of a qvevri — a clay vessel buried to its neck in the floor, skins and stalks left in — which is how it has been made here for around eight thousand years, and why UNESCO put the method on its heritage list in 2013.
Kazbegi: one road, four completely different days.
All Kazbegi tours →
They all leave Tbilisi around eight, stop at Ananuri on the reservoir, pull in at the Gudauri viewpoint and turn for home from Stepantsminda. What separates them is whether you get up to Gergeti Trinity, and how.
One minibus, four stops, back by nine
Ananuri on the water, coffee under the Gudauri arch, lunch in Stepantsminda and the valley view of Gergeti from below. The cheapest full day on the whole site.
The 4×4 leg to Gergeti Trinity
The last stretch to the church is a rutted climb, not a road. The days that include a 4×4 transfer are the ones that actually put you at 2,170 m instead of photographing it from the valley.
Two days, and the mountain at dawn
Kazbek is usually in cloud by mid-afternoon and clear at first light. An overnight in Stepantsminda is the only version of this trip that reliably gives you the peak.
What a day out of Tbilisi actually costs.
Every reviewed tour on the site, sorted by the price it starts at. Georgia runs cheap by the standards of the region; the money goes on private cars and the long hauls west.
The shared minibus day: Kazbegi, Kakheti, Mtskheta and the cave town. A seat, a driver-guide and twelve hours.
Smaller groups, the 4×4 leg up to Gergeti, cooking classes that start at the market, and the Kutaisi canyon runs.
A private car with an English-speaking driver, the two-day Kazbegi trips, and Svaneti with a night in Mestia.
Multi-day circuits, chartered vehicles, and the long routes west to Mestia and Ushguli where the driving is most of the cost.
Kutaisi is the other base, and it is all water and limestone.
Georgia’s second city sits two and a half hours west of Tbilisi between three canyons and a cave system. Martvili is a rubber boat between green walls, Okatse is a walkway pinned to a cliff, and Prometheus is a kilometre of lit chambers that ends with a boat.
Three things Georgia has that its neighbours do not.
Cave monasteries and mountain churches run the length of the Caucasus. The buried wine, the dumpling table and the striped desert an hour from the capital belong to this side of the border.
Khinkali and Khachapuri
A khinkali is a pleated dumpling you eat by hand and upside down, and you leave the topknot on the plate to be counted at the end. Khachapuri is cheese bread; in Adjara it comes out as a boat with an egg cracked into it. Classes run about three hours, usually start with the shopping, and end with everyone eating what they made.
- 1Georgian Cooking Class with Khinkali and Khachapuri★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,146 reviews
- 2Small-Group Khinkali and Khachapuri Cooking Class in Tbilisi★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 224 reviews
- 3Batumi Khinkali: Hands-On Masterclass with a Local Master★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 6 reviews
The Qvevri
Georgian wine ferments in a qvevri: an egg-shaped clay vessel buried to its neck, sealed, with the skins and stalks left in. The method is roughly eight thousand years old, still in daily use across Kakheti, and has been on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list since 2013. Amber wine — white grapes made this way — tastes nothing like the white you know.
- 1Day Trip to Kakheti Wine Region Including 9 Wine Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,774 reviews
- 2Kakheti Wine Region Tour with 9 Wine Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,541 reviews
- 3Kakheti Wine Region Tour with 10 Wine Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,160 reviews
The Striped Desert
Southeast of Tbilisi the green stops and the hills turn red, ochre and grey in bands, laid down when this was seabed. David Gareja is a monastery complex cut straight into that rock; the ridge behind it is what everyone calls the Rainbow Mountains. Tours go by 4×4 because the last stretch stops being a road.
- 1Rainbow Mountain & David Gareja Monastery Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 705 reviews
- 2Real Adventure – Gareja & Rainbow Desert 4×4 + Hike★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 464 reviews
- 3Kakheti Gems: Rainbow Mountains, Gareji & Signagi Private Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 87 reviews
Some of what tours visit in Georgia is recent history, not scenery.
These pages say what runs and where it goes. They carry no ranking and no editorial picks, because that is not the right register for the subject.
Soviet-era sites
Tskaltubo’s spa buildings, the Chiatura mining cable cars and a few walks in Tbilisi. The Tskaltubo buildings were long-term housing for people displaced in the 1990s, in some cases for decades.
See the 21 reviews →Gori
Gori is usually the third stop on the Mtskheta–Jvari–Uplistsikhe circuit. The Stalin Museum stands at his birthplace in the town centre and is still largely presented in the register it opened with. Some tours include it; most stop for the fortress and carry on to the cave town.
See the 39 reviews →Chiatura and Katskhi
Chiatura moved its manganese miners across the gorge by cable car from the 1950s, and several of the lines have been rebuilt and carry passengers again. Katskhi Pillar, a small church on top of a forty-metre limestone stack, sits on the same route.
See the 15 reviews →In Georgia the mountain roads decide the itinerary, not the other way round.
Three things shut and one thing only happens once a year. Check them against your dates before you pay for anything.
- 01The Jvari Pass, 2,379 mThe pass above Gudauri closes in heavy snow, sometimes for a day or two at a time. Winter Kazbegi days do run; the operator makes the call on the morning.
- 02Ushguli, June to OctoberMestia is reachable all year. Ushguli, the village at the top of the valley, needs a 4×4 and is only really sensible in summer and early autumn.
- 03Gudauri, mid-December to AprilThe lifts run roughly mid-December to early April. Outside the season the same slopes are paragliding and hiking ground, and the tours change with them.
- 04Rtveli, late SeptemberThe grape harvest runs late September into October. It is the one stretch of the year when the family cellars are working while you are standing in them.
By where the day goes
Tbilisi & around501 tours- Kazbegi & Gergeti126 tours
Kutaisi & the canyons76 tours- Gudauri94 tours
Kakheti72 tours
Batumi & Adjara40 tours
Svaneti21 tours
Borjomi & the south29 tours- Every reviewed tour →
By kind of day — what are you actually doing?
The newest Georgia tour reviews.
All recent →
Tbilisi City, Jvari Monastery, Uplistsikhe caves, Mtskheta city Private Day Trip
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Private Trip to Tbilisi and Mtskheta – Cultural Capitals
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Wild Georgia 4WD PACK Adventure through Kakheti and Kazbegi 2in1
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Tbilisi and Mtskheta cities private, cultural tour
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Two Capitals in One Day: Tbilisi and Mtskheta Combo Tour
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Private Wine Tour In Kakheti Region with 7 Wines and Lunch
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Private day Tour from Tbilisi to Kazbegi and Gudauri
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Tbilisi to Gudauri Stepantsminda Private Transfer
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Tbilisi and Mtskheta walking Tour – Old Capital of Georgia
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