Day trips from Tbilisi

How a day trip is put together

The constraint on a day trip is the road. Within a radius of 150-200 km of Tbilisi you can comfortably fit two or three stops with lunch and a walk. Further out - Borjomi, or the canyons - you have to leave early, at 07:00 or 08:00, but the day is full rather than rushed.

We shorten or lengthen the route around your pace. If photography is the point, we stretch the stops and time them for the light. If you are travelling with children, we cut the driving legs and stop more often.

What a day trip means in practice

We collect you from your hotel in the morning - there is no separate meeting point to find. The vehicle is yours alone: no other travellers join the group, which means you set the timing rather than a 40-seat coach.

The guide is with you all day and gives each site its context. The driver is a separate person, so everyone can take part in a wine tasting. In the evening you are dropped at the same address you were collected from.

The Kazbegi day: why it takes 10 to 12 hours

Stepantsminda is 157 kilometres away and three hours' drive, but the day is not measured by that alone. There are two stops on the way you cannot skip: the Ananuri fortress complex above the Zhinvali reservoir, and the Jvari pass at 2,379 metres, where the view opens widest.

The climb from Stepantsminda up to Gergeti Trinity is a stage of its own. The church stands at 2,170 metres and you go up by 4x4 - the switchback is short, about twenty minutes, but steep, and an ordinary car will not make it. The 4x4 is included in our price.

Those two factors - three hours each way plus the climb to the church - are what make the day 10 to 12 hours long. If that is too much, the alternative is a night in Kazbegi: then you see the church in the morning light, before anyone else arrives.

The Kakheti day: wineries, Sighnaghi and what fits

The Kakheti day is the most flexible, because the sites sit close together. The standard set is Sighnaghi, Bodbe monastery, one or two wineries and lunch. That fits into 9 to 11 hours on a 250-kilometre loop from Tbilisi.

Sighnaghi's defensive wall runs 4.5 kilometres and has 23 towers - it was built in the 18th century under Erekle II and is the longest surviving town wall in the country. The centre itself is small and covered on foot in an hour or two.

Which wineries you choose changes the character of the day. A large, visitor-ready estate - Tsinandali, where Alexander Chavchavadze founded Georgia's first European-style wine production in 1835 - comes with infrastructure and a garden. A family cellar works with qvevri and needs arranging in advance.

The Mtskheta day: the shortest route

Mtskheta is twenty kilometres from Tbilisi, which is exactly why this is the lightest day - 180 kilometres in total and 8 to 9 hours. We usually offer it as a first day, particularly to people who have landed on a night flight and are not ready for a long drive.

Svetitskhoveli was built between 1010 and 1029 and is one of the largest historic cathedrals in Georgia. Jvari monastery stands above it on the hill and dates from 586 to 605 - both are on the UNESCO list as part of the historical monuments of Mtskheta.

Uplistsikhe is a town cut into rock and belongs to another era entirely: it was inhabited from the early first millennium BC, long before Christianity. It once held some 700 caves; around 150 survive. Walking there is over uneven rock, so the footwear matters.

The Borjomi day: mineral water and Rabati

Borjomi is 160 kilometres away, but the day normally extends to Akhaltsikhe and comes to 380 kilometres in all. That makes it one of the longest of the day trips, so departure is at 08:00.

Borjomi's central park is itself the attraction: the mineral spring you drink from directly, a cable car and paths along the gorge. The water is warm and tastes of sulphur - which surprises a lot of people who only know the bottled version.

Rabati fortress in Akhaltsikhe traces back to the 13th century, but what you see today is the result of a 2012 reconstruction. That is a subject in itself: some specialists are critical of the scale of the rebuild, though the complex does show a synagogue, a mosque and a church on one site.

Davit Gareja: the semi-desert, the frescoes and the border

Davit Gareja was founded in the 6th century by David Garejeli, one of the thirteen Assyrian Fathers. This is semi-desert, 180 kilometres from Tbilisi, and it looks nothing like the rest of Georgia: no forest, colours running from yellow to grey, and summer temperatures reaching 40 degrees.

The Lavra, the lower complex, is open all year. The Udabno monastery sits on top of the ridge and is known for its 10th to 13th century frescoes - the walk up to it takes about an hour on a path.

An important detail: Udabno stands on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border and access to it is restricted from time to time. We check before your date and tell you in advance if it is closed - the Lavra always stays open.

The canyons day: Martvili and Okatse

This is the longest of the day trips - 500 kilometres and 11 to 12 hours, because you cross into western Georgia and come back. Anyone with two days we normally advise to stay overnight in Kutaisi, but it does work in a single day.

In Martvili canyon you travel about 300 metres by boat on the Abasha river. The water is turquoise, the walls are narrow and in shade, so it stays cool even in the heat. The stretch takes 15 to 20 minutes and a life jacket is compulsory.

Okatse canyon is a different format: a 780-metre metal walkway suspended around 140 metres above the floor of the gorge. We warn guests with a fear of heights beforehand - the walkway is safe, but parts of the floor are grated and you can see straight down.

Opening hours and why they matter

Most state museums in Georgia are closed on Mondays. That affects Uplistsikhe, Rabati and the city museums directly, so on a Monday we usually propose the directions that do not depend on an open site - Kazbegi or the canyons.

Working churches and monasteries are open every day, but viewing is restricted during services. On Sunday mornings Bodbe and Svetitskhoveli are particularly full, so on that day we go in the afternoon.

Wineries work on a different logic again. A family cellar often cannot take a visitor without prior arrangement, and during the harvest almost never. So we book the Kakheti day two or three days ahead.

Day-trip logistics: departure, breaks, return

The departure time is tied to the direction, not to our schedule. For the nearer routes 09:00 to 10:00 is enough; for Kazbegi and Borjomi 08:00; for the canyons 07:00. That half hour you gain in the morning you feel as two hours in the evening.

Breaks on the road come roughly every two hours - toilet, coffee, photographs. They are built into the schedule and do not eat separately into the day. If there are children, we add more stops and allow for that when the route is calculated.

The return is to the address you left from. If you want somewhere else - a restaurant, the airport, a different hotel - just say so. It costs nothing extra as long as it is within the city. If you are going straight to the airport, we take the luggage in the morning so we do not have to call at the hotel twice.

Who day trips suit and who they do not

A day trip is ideal if you are based in Tbilisi and would rather not move your luggage. You come back to the same room every evening, the suitcase never has to be opened and there is one hotel booking for the whole visit.

It works less well if you are after one place in depth. Svaneti, Tusheti and Khevsureti simply do not fit into a day - for those directions we recommend a multi-day route outright and do not offer a single-day version at all.

Worth bearing in mind too: on a day trip you see a site in the middle of the day, when the light is harshest and the crowds thickest. For photographers that is the main argument in favour of staying the night.

Transport: which direction needs which vehicle

Most directions run on a standard saloon or minivan - Mtskheta, Kakheti, Borjomi, the canyons. The road is surfaced and the type of vehicle is a matter of comfort rather than capability.

There are two exceptions. The climb to Gergeti Trinity requires a 4x4 - that is a service run by local drivers in Stepantsminda and it is included in our price. The last stretch to Davit Gareja is unpaved and, after rain, also calls for a 4x4.

If there are more than four of you, a minivan comes in automatically and we allow for that in advance. It is the only case where group size affects the route - the road stays the same, only the vehicle changes.

Day trips in winter: what changes

Day trips do not stop in winter, but the list shortens. Mtskheta, Kakheti and Borjomi run all year. The canyons are technically open, though the boat at Martvili depends on the water level and sometimes does not run.

Kazbegi is the most beautiful winter direction and at the same time the least predictable. The Jvari pass closes temporarily when the avalanche risk rises - usually for a few hours, but it changes the shape of the day. We check the forecast the evening before.

In exchange, winter gives you two things: the sites are all but empty, and the wineries receive visitors far more freely, because the harvest is over and the winemaker has time for you. The longest conversations in a cellar happen in winter, and you walk the streets of Sighnaghi practically alone.

Combining two directions: when it works and when it does not

People often ask whether Kazbegi and Kakheti can be done in one day. The answer is no: they lie on opposite sides of Tbilisi and it would come to 570 kilometres in total. You would spend the day in the car and nowhere else.

There are pairings that do work, though, because they sit on the same road: Mtskheta and Uplistsikhe, Sighnaghi and Bodbe, Borjomi and Rabati, Martvili and Okatse. Which is precisely why they are combined into one route from the start.

The rule is simple: if two sites are within 60 kilometres of each other and lie in the same direction, they fit into one day. If not, it is either two days or you choose one. We always say so plainly in the offer. The only exception is when half an hour is enough for you at one of the sites - then a third stop fits, but we agree that before departure and not on the road.