City tours in Georgia

Why on foot rather than by coach

Most of Tbilisi's historic quarters are made of narrow, steep streets a coach cannot enter. The Sololaki stairwells, the Betlemi steps and the courtyards of Abanotubani only open up on foot - and that is exactly where the details are that people come to the city for.

Walking also changes the pace. You can stop whenever you want, have a coffee, take a photograph or carry on a conversation. Our city tours run two to four hours, which is the length that leaves you with energy for the rest of the day.

What a city tour covers

The tour is led by a licensed guide working in Georgian, English or Russian. The route bends towards your interest: history, architecture, food or photography. The same quarter yields an entirely different story depending on what we choose to look at.

Tickets - the Narikala cable car, museums, a bath room - are charged separately where they apply, and you know the amount in advance. For cities outside Tbilisi (Mtskheta, Sighnaghi) a transfer is added, which turns the tour into a half-day format.

Old Tbilisi: what three hours covers

The route starts in Abanotubani - the domed brick roofs under which sulphur water runs at 38 to 40 degrees. The city's name comes from those springs: in old Georgian 'tbili' means warm.

From there you climb to Narikala. The fortress's first layer is 4th century; its present outline is mostly 8th and 16th-17th century work. Walking up takes twenty minutes and is fairly steep; the alternative is the cable car from Rike Park, which takes two.

On the way down Sioni and Metekhi remain. Metekhi church was built between 1278 and 1284 and stands on the cliff directly above the Mtkvari - it is from there that the best-known view of the old city opens up. Three hours is exactly the right size for this stretch.

Sololaki and Tbilisi art nouveau

This is a different tour and a different era. Sololaki was built at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, when oil and trade money came into the city. The façades are European, but the detail is local.

The point here is the stairwells. They are painted, there are ceiling roses, the banisters are cast iron - and all of it is in residential buildings, not museums. Some are open; for others we agree entry with the neighbours.

The Betlemi steps connect Sololaki with the slope of Narikala and are the steepest part of the route. If steps are a problem, we swap that section out and the tour stays on level streets.

Mtskheta: two churches, two eras

Mtskheta is twenty kilometres from Tbilisi, where the Mtkvari and the Aragvi meet. From the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD it was the capital of Iberia - which makes the town far older than Tbilisi.

Jvari monastery was built between 586 and 605 and stands on the hilltop. Its significance is architectural: it is the type of building that went on to shape church form across the whole region.

Svetitskhoveli dates from 1010 to 1029, four centuries later. In scale it far exceeds Jvari, and that is exactly why we begin at Jvari: small and early first, large and late second. The reverse order robs Jvari of its effect.

Kutaisi: Gelati, Bagrati and the difference between them

Kutaisi has two great churches and comparing them is itself the subject of the tour. Gelati was founded by David the Builder in 1106 and is on the UNESCO list. Bagrati cathedral was built in 1003 under Bagrat III and stands above the city.

Bagrati was once on that same list, but was removed in 2017 - because of the scale of a reconstruction that gave a ruin a new roof and new elements. It is a good illustration of what 'authenticity' means in heritage protection.

At Gelati the point is the mosaic and the frescoes - the 12th-century mosaic of the Virgin is considered the most important example of its kind in Georgia. Gelati is 11 kilometres from the city, so this tour includes a transfer.

Batumi on foot: three hours in a compact centre

A city tour of Batumi differs from the others in that almost everything sits next to everything else. From the old town to the boulevard is a ten-minute walk; from the boulevard to Piazza, five.

The route runs through the old quarters, where the houses date from the end of the 19th century, comes out at Piazza and finishes on the boulevard. Three hours is enough for that, as long as we do not add the botanical garden - that is a separate half day.

In Batumi we often suggest the city tour in the evening. There are two reasons: summer daytime is hot and humid, while in the evening the boulevard is lit and the 'Ali and Nino' sculpture is moving.

Sighnaghi: two hours, and why not more

The centre of Sighnaghi is small - a few streets and one square. Which is precisely why this tour is two hours and not four: in two hours you cover the town completely and the rest of the time would be repetition.

The main thing here is the wall: 4.5 kilometres and 23 towers, built in the 18th century under Erekle II. Part of it can be walked, and from there the Alazani valley and the ridge of the Caucasus sit in one view.

Sighnaghi is 110 kilometres from Tbilisi, so the city tour automatically becomes a half-day format. We normally combine it with Bodbe or with one winery, so that the day makes sense.

City tour and day trip: what separates them

These are two different formats and they are often confused. A city tour is walking within one town, 2 to 4 hours, with a guide. A day trip is movement between several sites, 8 to 12 hours, with a vehicle and a guide.

In Tbilisi and Batumi a city tour needs no transport at all - it can start straight from your hotel. In Mtskheta, Kutaisi and Sighnaghi a transfer is unavoidable, and that is why those routes are half-day.

The practical consequence: city tours fit into any part of the day and do not collide with a day trip. Many guests start with a Tbilisi tour on the evening they arrive and head out to the regions from the next day.

Morning and evening tours: light and crowds

The same route at nine in the morning and at six in the evening is two different tours. In the morning the sites are empty, the air is cool and the light is soft for photographs. In summer that is decisive.

In the evening the city comes alive: people are out in Abanotubani, the Sololaki bars open, the Batumi boulevard lights up. If you have dinner planned afterwards, the evening version flows into it more naturally.

Two to four in the afternoon is the worst window - hot in summer, crowded, and the light is harsh. We normally avoid it and say plainly in the offer why.

The physical side: steps, cobbles, gradient

A city tour is roughly 4 to 6 kilometres of walking, but the distance is not the point - the terrain is. Old Tbilisi and Sololaki are built on a slope, and some of the streets are flights of steps rather than streets.

The cobbles are a separate matter: the stones are uneven and slippery after rain. Comfortable flat shoes here are not a preference but a requirement - heels are effectively unusable in the old town.

By contrast the Batumi boulevard, Mtskheta and the centre of Sighnaghi are almost flat. If walking is difficult we suggest those three, and in Tbilisi we go up to Narikala by cable car instead of on foot. That brings the route down to two or three kilometres.

Market, bakery and sulphur bath: the things you can taste

A city tour can carry a food element too. In Tbilisi that is usually the Dezerter bazaar - cheese, churchkhela, spices, pickles - where the guide helps you buy and tells you what the price should be.

The bakery is the other frequent addition: a tone, where the bread is stuck to the wall of the oven and comes out in five minutes. It is one stop, but it is often the one people remember best. Tbilisi bread is called shoti and you get it hot, straight out of the oven.

The sulphur bath is a story of its own. A private room can be booked and it follows the tour logically. The water is naturally warm and the smell of sulphur is strong - we warn anyone who might find that unpleasant.

The language of the tour and why it matters here

City tours run in Georgian, English or Russian. Language carries more weight here than in other formats: the whole tour is talk rather than view. If you cannot follow the guide completely, half the tour is lost.

So we agree the language in advance, not on the day. If the group speaks different languages, tell us straight out - a bilingual tour is possible, but the pace slows and we add half an hour to the length.

What is written in the street is Georgian, in its own alphabet. Main road signs carry Latin transliteration alongside; inside the old town they often do not - one more practical reason a city tour makes more sense with a guide.

Photography on a city tour

Shooting in the street is unrestricted. The limits are in working churches: at Sioni, Svetitskhoveli, Gelati and Bodbe, photography inside is either forbidden or restricted, and flash on frescoes is prohibited everywhere.

The Sololaki stairwells are a separate case. These are people's homes, not sites - photographs are fine, but quietly, and not of the neighbours' doors. The guide will tell you on the spot.

For the best light we go before nine in the morning or after six in the evening. The city reads best from Narikala at sunset, and that is where we end the routes that begin in the afternoon.

How many people a city tour works best for

A walking tour is far more sensitive to group size than a tour by car. With two to four people the guide speaks in a normal voice and the conversation runs both ways. With eight the guide has to raise their voice and the group stretches out along a narrow street.

So for city tours we consider two to six people optimal. We take larger groups, but then either split them between two guides or use an audio system - and we tell you which beforehand.

We also run them for one person, and that is often the best version: the pace is entirely yours, questions are not rationed, and the route changes as you go according to what interests you. The cost per head is higher, but the quality of the tour is incomparable.