Classic Georgia

1. Day 1

   Arrival in Tbilisi

   Arrive at Tbilisi

   Met at Tbilisi International Airport and transferred to your hotel to check in.

   Evening

   Overnight in Tbilisi.

2. Day 2

   Tbilisi city tour

   Morning

   Breakfast at the hotel.

   Tbilisi old city tour

   The old town on both banks of the Mtkvari, where the sulphur springs the city was founded around are still in use. The walk takes in the Metekhi church and plateau, the Narikala fortress from the fourth century, the brick domes of Abanotubani and the Leghvtakhevi gorge behind them, the botanical garden that was once the royal one, Sioni Cathedral, the mosque and the synagogue, Sharden street, Erekle II street and the Iron and Cotton streets, the Bridge of Peace, and Anchiskhati, the oldest church in the city, from the sixth century. It ends at the old walls beside the Rezo Gabriadze marionette theatre.

   Tbilisi cable car

   The line up to Narikala. Entry included.

   Evening

   Overnight in Tbilisi.

3. Day 3

   Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe and Borjomi

   Morning

   Breakfast at the hotel. The longest day of the five, so start it early.

   Jvari Monastery

   On a hill nine kilometres above Mtskheta, looking down on the old capital. A pagan site before a cross — jvari — was raised there and a church followed in the fifth and sixth centuries. The first cross-domed church in Georgia, and UNESCO-listed.

   Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

   In Mtskheta, 24km from Tbilisi, on the spot where the first wooden church in Georgia was built in 337, the year Christianity became the state religion. The cathedral standing now is eleventh-century and was the largest church in the country until the twenty-first. UNESCO-listed.

   Uplistsikhe

   A rock-hewn town ten kilometres from Gori, one of the oldest urban settlements in Georgia, with a theatre from the Roman period and pagan temples cut into the cliff. Entry included.

   Borjomi and Borjomi Central Park

   A spa town in the south of the country, in the Lesser Caucasus, known for the mineral springs that gave the water its name. The spring is in the central park, and park entry is included.

   Evening

   Overnight in Tbilisi.

4. Day 4

   Kazbegi day tour

   Morning

   Breakfast at the hotel.

   Full day

   Zhinvali Reservoir and Ananuri

   North on the Georgian Military Highway to the Zhinvali reservoir — 11.5 square kilometres, 75 metres at its deepest, supplying drinking water to around half of Tbilisi. Ananuri fortress sits on the bank: the residence of the local dukes, an important defensive position in the middle ages, with a richly decorated main church inside the walls and a lake view added by the twentieth century.

   Panorama Gudauri

   A round stone-and-concrete structure on the highway near the Gudauri ski resort, overlooking the Devil's Valley in the Caucasus.

   Gergeti Trinity Church

   The last climb is by off-road vehicle, included both ways. The church stands alone on the hill above Stepantsminda, with Mount Kazbek behind it.

   Evening

   Back down the highway. Overnight in Tbilisi.

5. Day 5

   Kakheti: Bodbe and Sighnaghi

   Morning

   Breakfast at the hotel.

   Into Kakheti

   East into the country's main wine region, where the grape has been worked for something close to eight thousand years. Small family cellars still fermenting in buried clay qvevri sit alongside industrial wineries in the same valley.

   Bodbe Monastery

   Just outside Sighnaghi, one of the main pilgrimage sites in the country: the relics of St Nino, the fourth-century woman who converted the Georgians, are kept here. The terrace looks over the Alazani valley to the Caucasus.

   Sighnaghi

   A small hill town above the Alazani valley, inside a city wall, with narrow streets of pastel houses. Its marriage registry opens twenty-four hours a day, which is where the city-of-love reputation comes from.

   Evening

   Overnight in Tbilisi.

6. Day 6

   Departure

   Morning

   Breakfast at the hotel and check out.

   Transfer to Tbilisi International Airport for your flight home or onward.

Entry rules, tourism taxes and health requirements change without notice and depend on your passport. Everything above is confirmed by our operations desk before your booking is finalised.