Imereti to Racha Trek and Khvanchkara Wine

Leave Tbilisi in the morning and drive west to Zestaponi, then north into the hills of upper Imereti. Your first stop is the Katskhi Pillar, a natural rock tower of some 40 m crowned by a tiny church, where a monk still lives part of the year; visitors watch from the foot. Continue to Chiatura, the manganese town in a deep gorge, and ride one of its cable cars across the valley. In the afternoon drive the short way to a guesthouse near Sachkhere and Drbo, where the horsemen load the bags and the guide briefs you over dinner.

Start walking from Drbo, past the bridge to Speti and the last small shop on the route. A track climbs through hazel and oak, then beech forest, gaining height steadily. As the trees open you reach the first pastures, where cattle and horses graze in summer and herders spend the season in simple huts. Camp is set in a meadow just below the crest, with the cook working from a mess tent. There is no phone signal from here until the far side of the ridge.

The best day of the trek. The route follows the open ridge for about 10 km, unmarked and exposed in places, with steep drops on one side and long views north to the snowy Racha range. Your guide watches the sky closely: this section is not walked in storms, and there is a lower line through the forest if needed. In the afternoon you reach the King Tamar Cliffs, a band of grey crags above Shkmeri tied by local legend to the queen. Camp is on a pasture below them. The horses take a lower path on the exposed parts and meet you there.

A long descent into Racha. The path drops past the old church of Shkmeri and through hay meadows and orchards to Korta, then follows lanes down to the Rioni valley and Oni, the small market town of upper Racha. The horses finish here. Check into a guesthouse, shower, and sit down to Racha cooking: bean pie with smoked ham, shkmeruli chicken in garlic sauce and a first glass of local wine.

A gentle day by car with short walks. In Oni look at the 19th-century synagogue, a reminder of the town's once large Jewish community. Downstream, Barakoni stands on a cliff above the meeting of two rivers, its walls covered in carved ornament. After lunch head to Nikortsminda, whose 11th-century facades carry some of the finest stone reliefs in Georgia. End the day at a family cellar in the Khvanchkara area, where the naturally semi-sweet red wine of the same name is made from Alexandrouli and Mujuretuli grapes. The night is in Ambrolauri.

The road home climbs south from Ambrolauri to the Nakerala Pass, where a viewpoint looks back over the whole Rioni valley and the mountains you crossed. Just beyond lies Shaori, a reservoir among pine and fir that is the largest lake in Racha. Then the road drops through Tkibuli and the Okriba hills to Kutaisi, where you have lunch. Then it is motorway all the way east, reaching the capital around dusk, or stay in Kutaisi if you fly out from there.