Classic Georgia: 8 Days — Tbilisi, Kazbegi, Kakheti Wine & Cave Monasteries

Tour Overview

Itinerary Highlights

Day 1: Arrive Tbilisi

Land at Tbilisi International Airport. Transfer to your hotel. Evening: orientation walk through the Old Town — the narrow streets with their distinctive carved wooden balconies (a legacy of Tbilisi’s 19th-century merchant class), the Abanotubani sulfur bath district with its brick domes, and the Bridge of Peace illuminating the Mtkvari River. Overnight in Tbilisi.

Day 2: Tbilisi Discovery

Full day in Georgia’s capital. Cable car to Narikala Fortress (4th century) with panoramic views. Walk through the Old Town to the Sioni Cathedral and Anchiskhati Basilica (6th century, Tbilisi’s oldest surviving church). Visit the National Museum — the Archaeological Treasury houses spectacular Colchian gold (8th-3rd century BC), including the famous golden lion and intricate granulation work that shows Georgia was part of a sophisticated ancient world. Rustaveli Avenue (Tbilisi’s grand boulevard), Freedom Square, and the Dry Bridge flea market for Soviet-era curiosities. Evening: ride the funicular to Mtatsminda Park for sunset views of the entire city. Overnight in Tbilisi.

Day 3: Mtskheta — Georgia’s Spiritual Heart

Morning: Jvari Monastery (6th century, UNESCO) — standing at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. The view of the dark and light rivers swirling together below the stone cross is one of Georgia’s iconic images and inspired Lermontov’s poetry. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (11th century, UNESCO) — Georgia’s most sacred church, the burial site of Georgian kings, believed to house Christ’s robe beneath the central pillar. The cathedral’s architecture, with its 54m central dome, was the model for Georgian churches for centuries.
Afternoon: Samtavro Monastery and the Shio-Mgvime cave monastery (6th century), carved into a limestone cliff face in a remote gorge. Drive to the Chronicle of Georgia monument on the hills above Tbilisi — 16 colossal pillars (35m tall) depicting Georgia’s 3,000-year history in stone relief. Overnight in Tbilisi.

Day 4: Georgian Military Highway — Kazbegi

The legendary mountain drive. Ananuri Fortress (17th century) on the Zhinvali Reservoir — the turquoise water reflects the fortress walls and the Church of the Assumption with its exterior carvings of the Cross and two rams (a pagan symbol incorporated into Christian iconography). Continue climbing through the Gudauri ski resort area. The Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument at Jvari Pass (2,379m) — a Soviet-era circular concrete mural above a 2,000m cliff drop.
Arrive Stepantsminda (Kazbegi). Mount Kazbek (5,047m), the second-highest peak in Georgia, dominates the skyline — its glaciers gleam white even in summer. Hike or take 4×4 vehicles up the steep trail to Gergeti Trinity Church (14th century, 2,170m) — the stone church against the massive peak is Georgia’s most photographed sight and one of the most beautiful mountain-and-architecture combinations in the world. Overnight in Kazbegi.

Day 5: Kakheti — Georgia’s Wine Country

Descend from the mountains to Kakheti, the premier wine region. Georgia has 8,000 years of uninterrupted wine culture — the qvevri method (clay vessels buried underground) is recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Visit Bodbe Monastery (St. Nino’s tomb, the woman who Christianized Georgia in the 4th century) and the hilltown of Signagi, with its restored 18th-century walls and panoramic Alazani Valley views. Afternoon: wine tasting at a family cellar — taste amber wines (white grapes fermented with skins in qvevri, creating tannic, complex wines unlike any other), Rkatsiteli, and Saperavi. Learn to make churchkhela (walnuts dipped in grape juice concentrate), Georgia’s traditional sweet. Overnight in Signagi.

Day 6: Cave Cities — Uplistsikhe & Gori

Morning: Uplistsikhe, the “Fortress of the Lord” — a 3,000-year-old city carved into a rocky plateau overlooking the Mtkvari River. This was Georgia’s most important pagan center before Christianity, and the surviving features are extraordinary: halls with coffered stone ceilings (imitating wood), wine cellars with qvevri pits carved into the floor, a Hellenistic theater, a pharmacy (with stone shelves for herbs), and a 6th-century three-nave basilica — all cut from solid rock. The secret tunnel to the river, used during sieges, can still be entered.
Afternoon: Gori. The Stalin Museum is a unique and uncomfortable experience — his birthplace preserved under a neoclassical temple, his personal bulletproof railway carriage (83 tons, with a conference room, bathroom, and bedroom — he never flew, preferring this train), and the rooms of gifts from world leaders (including two desks from Churchill). Continue to Borjomi, the famous spa town. Walk through Borjomi Central Park and taste the naturally carbonated mineral water from the spring — it was the preferred water of Russian tsars and Soviet leaders. Overnight in Borjomi.

Day 7: Vardzia Cave Monastery & Rabati Castle

Full day in southern Georgia. Vardzia (12th century) is the cave monastery city built by Queen Tamar — Georgia’s greatest ruler, whose reign (1184-1213) is called the Golden Age. The site was originally 13 stories high with over 6,000 chambers — a self-contained city with chapels, dwellings, wine cellars, libraries, and an irrigation system. The Church of the Dormition has remarkably preserved frescoes of Queen Tamar and her father George III, their faces still clear after 800 years. The site survived the 1283 earthquake that destroyed much of it, and today about 300 chambers remain accessible. Afternoon: Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe — a beautifully restored fortress complex reflecting the region’s Ottoman-Georgian multicultural heritage, with a mosque (now a museum), a synagogue, a church, a citadel, and a history museum within its walls. Return to Tbilisi in the evening. Farewell dinner with Georgian polyphonic singing. Overnight in Tbilisi.

Day 8: Departure

Morning at leisure for last-minute exploration or shopping at the Meidan Bazaar (underground market near the sulfur baths). Transfer to Tbilisi Airport for departure.

Included

• 7 nights accommodation (3-star hotels & guesthouses)
• Daily breakfast
• Expert guide throughout
• Private vehicle
• All entrance fees
• 2 wine tastings in Kakheti
• Churchkhela-making workshop
• Airport transfers