Georgia Highlights in 5 Days — Private Tour: Tbilisi, Kakheti & Kazbegi
Tbilisi · Bodbe · Sighnaghi · Tsinandali · Mtskheta · Ananuri Fortress · Kazbegi · Trinity Church Gergeti · Uplistsikhe Cave Town · Gori Stalin Museum
Overview
A five-day private tour of the three places most first visits to Georgia are built around: Tbilisi's Old Town, the Kakheti wine country with Sighnaghi and the Tsinandali estate, and the Kazbegi mountains with a night under Mt Kazbek and Gergeti Trinity Church. Private car, English-speaking driver-guide, hotels and tastings included. You spend three nights in Tbilisi and one in Stepantsminda. After a first evening and welcome dinner in Tbilisi, day two is a Kakheti loop to Bodbe, Sighnaghi, Tsinandali and a family qvevri cellar. Day three follows the Military Highway past Mtskheta and Ananuri to Stepantsminda. Day four is the long one, about 290 km and 5 hours of driving, back over the Jvari Pass to the rock-cut town of Uplistsikhe and to Gori. The pace suits first-time visitors who want the classics without rushing each stop. In winter, if the Jvari Pass is closed, we change the order of the days or replace Kazbegi with Mtskheta and Château Mukhrani.
Itinerary
10 stops: Tbilisi, Bodbe, Sighnaghi, Tsinandali, Mtskheta, Ananuri Fortress, Kazbegi, Trinity Church Gergeti, Uplistsikhe Cave Town, Gori Stalin Museum
1Day 1Arrival and Old Tbilisi
Airport pickup at any hour.
Airport pickup and hotel check-in
Evening Old Town walk if you land before 16:00
Welcome dinner (included)
Overnight: Tbilisi (hotel, breakfast)
- TbilisiDay 1: arrival, an evening walk through the Old Town and a welcome dinner. Nights 1, 2 and 4 in Tbilisi.
Day 1: arrival, an evening walk through the Old Town and a welcome dinner. Nights 1, 2 and 4 in Tbilisi.
Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, spreads along the Mtkvari river gorge between Narikala fortress and the Mtatsminda ridge. It is where most trips begin and end, and it deserves 2–3 days of its own. Walk the Old Town from the domed sulphur baths of Abanotubani up to Narikala, cross the Bridge of Peace, spend a morning with the gold of the Georgian National Museum and eat your way through the city's wine bars and khinkali houses. Every day trip in this area starts from here.
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2Day 2Kakheti wine loop
About 280 km and 5 hours of driving.
Drive to Bodbe and Sighnaghi (1.5–2 h)
- BodbeDay 2: Bodbe convent, burial place of St Nino, 2 km below Sighnaghi, with views over the Alazani Valley.
Day 2: Bodbe convent, burial place of St Nino, 2 km below Sighnaghi, with views over the Alazani Valley.
Bodbe is a working convent 2 km from Sighnaghi in Kakheti, about 115 km (2 h) from Tbilisi, and the burial place of St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century. Her tomb lies in a small basilica first built between the 9th and 11th centuries, set among cypress trees and flower gardens with a wide view over the Alazani valley to the Caucasus. From the convent a long, steep path of steps leads down to St Nino's Spring, where pilgrims collect water and bathe.
View destination details - SighnaghiDay 2: a walk on Sighnaghi's 18th-century walls and through the old town, with lunch in town.
Day 2: a walk on Sighnaghi's 18th-century walls and through the old town, with lunch in town.
Sighnaghi is a small walled town at about 790 m on a ridge above the Alazani Valley in Kakheti, about 113 km (2 h) east of Tbilisi. Its 18th-century defensive wall with towers looks across the vineyards to the Greater Caucasus. You walk a section of the wall, see Niko Pirosmani's paintings in the Sighnaghi Museum, taste qvevri wine in the town's cellars, and visit Bodbe convent, the burial place of St Nino, 2 km away. It works as a half-day stop or a relaxed overnight in wine country.
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Lunch in Sighnaghi (not included)
Tsinandali house-museum and degustation
- TsinandaliDay 2: the house-museum and park of the Chavchavadze family with a degustation in the estate's cellar, then a family qvevri cellar nearby.
Day 2: the house-museum and park of the Chavchavadze family with a degustation in the estate's cellar, then a family qvevri cellar nearby.
Tsinandali is the 19th-century country estate of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, about 10 km south-east of Telavi in Kakheti, with a house museum, a large landscaped park and one of Georgia's oldest wineries. A visit takes 1.5–2 hours: tour the family house, walk the park under old plane trees and cedars, go down to the enoteca, whose collection starts in 1814, and taste the estate's wines. In early September the estate hosts the Tsinandali Festival of classical music.
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Family qvevri cellar tasting
Back in Tbilisi via the Gombori Pass
Overnight: Tbilisi (hotel, breakfast)
3Day 3Mtskheta, Ananuri and Kazbegi
About 152 km and 3.5 hours of driving.
- MtskhetaDay 3: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, the old capital (about 1.5 h in total).
Day 3: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta, the old capital (about 1.5 h in total).
Mtskheta, about 25 km (30 min) north of Tbilisi where the Aragvi meets the Mtkvari, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) and the place where Georgia adopted Christianity in the 4th century. Its churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in the old town, Jvari Monastery on the hill opposite with the classic view over the river confluence, and the Samtavro convent. Allow half a day, or combine it with Gori and Uplistsikhe or a Mukhrani winery.
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Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Ananuri fortress
- Ananuri FortressDay 3: a 45-minute stop at Ananuri fortress on the shore of the Zhinvali reservoir.
Day 3: a 45-minute stop at Ananuri fortress on the shore of the Zhinvali reservoir.
Ananuri is a 17th-century fortress of the Dukes of Aragvi above the turquoise Zhinvali reservoir, about 70 km (1–1.25 h) north of Tbilisi on the Georgian Military Highway. Inside its walls stand two churches, one with richly carved façades from 1689, and a square watchtower you can climb for a view down the reservoir. It is the usual first stop on the way to Kazbegi or Pasanauri, and 30–45 minutes is enough to see it.
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Day 3: a night in Stepantsminda, with Mt Kazbek (5,054 m) above the village.
Stepantsminda, still widely called Kazbegi, is the mountain town at about 1,740 m on the Georgian Military Highway, 152 km north of Tbilisi (3–3.5 h) and 15 km from the Russian border. Above it the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church stands at 2,170 m with Mount Kazbek (5,054 m) behind. It is the base for walks to Gergeti, the Gveleti waterfall and the Dariali gorge, and by 4x4 for the Truso and Juta valleys. Come as a long day trip, or stay a night or two to walk in the morning light.
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Lunch in Pasanauri (not included)
Stepantsminda; Gergeti Trinity in the late afternoon
- Trinity Church GergetiDay 3: Gergeti Trinity Church (2,170 m) in the late afternoon, when the day-trip crowds have left; we drive you up.
Day 3: Gergeti Trinity Church (2,170 m) in the late afternoon, when the day-trip crowds have left; we drive you up.
Gergeti Trinity Church (Tsminda Sameba) stands alone on a grassy ridge at 2,170 m above Stepantsminda, about 152 km north of Tbilisi, with the glaciated cone of Mount Kazbek (5,054 m) behind it. The 14th-century church and its bell tower are a working Orthodox site and the classic view of the Georgian Caucasus. You reach it by car on the paved road from town or on foot in about 1–1.5 hours up through meadows, 430 m of climbing. Most people stay 45–60 minutes for the church, the views and the photos.
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Overnight: Stepantsminda (hotel, breakfast)
4Day 4Uplistsikhe and Gori
⚠ Long day: about 290 km and 5 hours of driving (08:30–18:30).
Drive south over the Jvari Pass
Uplistsikhe rock-cut town (1.5 h)
- Uplistsikhe Cave TownDay 4: 1.5 hours in Uplistsikhe, a rock-cut town above the Mtkvari used from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages.
Day 4: 1.5 hours in Uplistsikhe, a rock-cut town above the Mtkvari used from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages.
Uplistsikhe is a rock-cut town on a sandstone ridge above the Mtkvari river, about 12–15 km east of Gori and 1.25–1.5 h west of Tbilisi. Over roughly 2,000 years people carved halls, houses, temples, wine presses and streets into the rock here. You walk up the ancient main street past the cave halls to the 9th–10th-century brick basilica on the summit, then leave through a tunnel toward the river. Most visitors spend 1–1.5 hours, often combined with Mtskheta and the Stalin Museum in Gori.
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Lunch in Gori (not included)
Stalin Museum
- Gori Stalin MuseumDay 4: the Stalin Museum in Gori, with his birth house and his railway carriage (included in the ticket).
Day 4: the Stalin Museum in Gori, with his birth house and his railway carriage (included in the ticket).
Gori, in Shida Kartli about 86 km west of Tbilisi, is the town where Joseph Stalin was born in 1878, and its Stalin Museum is the main reason travellers stop. The museum complex keeps the small house where he spent his first years under a marble pavilion, a Soviet-era exhibition that still presents him largely uncritically, and his green armoured railway carriage. Above the town stands the medieval Gori Fortress. Allow 1–1.5 hours for the museum and fortress, and combine it with Uplistsikhe cave town, 12 km away.
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In Tbilisi
Overnight: Tbilisi (hotel, breakfast)
5Day 5Departure
Airport drop-off at any hour.
Free time until your airport transfer
Make this tour your own:Build your own tour
What's Included
Included
- Private car or minivan with fuel and parking (sedan for 1–3 travellers, minivan for 4–8)
- English-speaking driver-guide throughout (Russian-speaking on request)
- Tbilisi airport pickup on arrival and drop-off on departure
- 4 nights in standard hotels (Tbilisi 3, Stepantsminda 1), twin/double rooms, breakfast included
- Welcome dinner in Tbilisi
- Tsinandali degustation and a family-cellar tasting
- Entry fees: Tsinandali, Uplistsikhe and the Stalin Museum
- Transfer up to Gergeti Trinity
- Bottled water
Not included
- Lunch and dinners after day 1 (about 25–40 GEL per person for lunch)
- Drinks
- Single room supplement
- Tips (optional)
- Travel insurance (mandatory for visitors to Georgia from 1 January 2026)
- Flights
Map
Good to know
- Best Time to Visit
- Year-round (Jvari Pass closures possible Dec–Mar; we adapt the plan)
- Physical Requirements
- Suitable for most fitness levels. Involves some walking on mostly flat terrain with minimal elevation changes.
- Cancellation Policy
- Nothing to pay now. Your quote includes the cancellation terms before you pay anything.
- Pace
- days 2 and 4 each have about 5 hours of driving; day 3 is shorter, and day 5 is free.
- What to bring
- a warm layer for Stepantsminda and Gergeti, which are much cooler than Tbilisi even in summer.
- Dress code
- shoulders and knees covered in churches; headscarves are provided for women at Bodbe, Jvari and Gergeti.
- Winter
- from December to March the Jvari Pass can close at short notice; we then change the order of the days or replace Kazbegi with Mtskheta and Château Mukhrani.
- Museum hours
- opening hours at Tsinandali and the Stalin Museum vary; we plan the days around them.
Categories:
Short trip (2–5 days)
Classic highlights