Self-Drive Georgia

A driver from our team meets you at Tbilisi airport and takes you to your hotel in the old town, so you do not have to tackle city traffic straight after a flight. In the afternoon we sit down with you for a short briefing: the route book, Georgian road habits, where fuel stations cluster, how speed cameras work and which numbers to call. The rental car is then handed over at the hotel, checked together with you, with photos of any existing scratches. Leave it parked tonight and explore on foot instead: the sulphur bathhouses of Abanotubani, the lanes of Kala and the Bridge of Peace are a few minutes away. Dinner is your own choice; the route book lists several places we trust.

Leave Tbilisi on the eastern highway after the morning rush, aiming for Kakheti. The route book suggests a coffee stop in Sagarejo, then the climb to Bodbe Monastery, where St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century, is buried. A steep path below the convent leads to her spring if you fancy the walk. Sighnaghi itself sits a few minutes further on, ringed by 18th-century walls and towers that King Erekle II ordered as a refuge against raids. Park at the hotel, then walk a stretch of the wall at the end of the afternoon, when the Alazani Valley turns gold and the Greater Caucasus shows on the horizon. Several wine bars in town pour local Saperavi by the glass.

Today is a gentle zigzag across the valley floor with plenty of reasons to stop. At Tsinandali, once home to the 19th-century poet and prince Alexander Chavchavadze, you can stroll the gardens and peer into the bottle library of his cellar. Further north, Alaverdi Cathedral, built in the early 11th century, rises over the vineyards, and the monks there still make wine. Gremi, a hilltop citadel that was the royal seat of Kakheti in the 16th century, is a short hop away. The route book marks two family wineries where a phone call the day before secures a qvevri tasting; we can make that call for you. Remember that whoever drives cannot drink, since Georgia applies a strict limit. Overnight in Telavi, close to Batonis Tsikhe, the old palace of the Kakhetian kings.

There are two ways out of Telavi towards Tbilisi: the short road over the Gombori Pass or the longer valley road through Sagarejo. Check road status on the morning; we will text you if Gombori is closed. Skirt the capital, pass Mtskheta and follow the Aragvi river north on the Georgian Military Highway. The fortress of Ananuri, with its two churches above the Zhinvali Reservoir, makes a natural lunch break. The road then climbs through Gudauri, past the mosaic Friendship Monument and over the Jvari Pass at 2,379 m before dropping into the Tergi valley. Drive slowly here: trucks heading for the Russian border share the road, and livestock wanders on it. Check in at your hotel in Stepantsminda before dark.

Leave the rental car at the hotel this morning. The track to Gergeti Trinity Church is rough, so either hike the footpath, about 90 minutes and 400 m of ascent, or hire one of the local 4x4 drivers who wait in the town square. From the 14th-century church, perched at 2,170 m, Mount Kazbek fills the whole skyline, and mornings usually bring the cleanest view. In the afternoon, drive south to the village of Sno, where the asphalt ends. From there a local 4x4 covers the last gravel kilometres to Juta at about 2,150 m. An easy trail leads up the valley towards the rock towers of the Chaukhi massif, and a café near the trailhead serves tea with a view. Back in Stepantsminda for dinner.

This is the longest day on the road, so start early. Retrace the highway south to Mtskheta, the old capital where the rivers Aragvi and Mtkvari meet. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, rebuilt in the 11th century over the site where tradition says Christ's robe lies buried, takes about an hour to see properly, and Jvari Monastery is on the hilltop across the river if time allows. From Mtskheta you join the main east to west motorway, a fast dual carriageway for much of its length. After Khashuri it climbs through the Rikoti tunnel, where the newer road threads through the hills, before descending into Imereti. The route book lists two roadside stalls selling hot Imeretian khachapuri. Your Kutaisi hotel is in the centre, near the Colchis fountain.

Start with Gelati, ten minutes from the hotel. King David the Builder founded the monastery and academy in 1106, and the apse of the main church holds a 12th-century mosaic of the Virgin with angels. He is buried under the gate, so every visitor steps over him. Nearby Motsameta perches on a bend of the Tskaltsitela river; two 8th-century brother martyrs rest there. After lunch, head north-west to the Prometheus Cave near Tskaltubo, where a guided path of about 1.4 km leads through lit chambers of stalactites. If you still have energy, the Okatse Canyon walkway or Sataplia, with its dinosaur footprints, are each under an hour away. Spend the evening around Kutaisi's market and the restored Bagrati Cathedral.

Drive back east along the motorway to Khashuri and turn south into the forested Borjomi gorge. The spa town grew up around its salty mineral springs in the 19th century, when the Romanov family kept a summer palace here. Walk through the Central Park to the springs, fill a bottle from the tap and follow the path along the stream to the warm open-air pools at the top. Continue upriver past Likani to Akhaltsikhe, the capital of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Its Rabati Castle, restored in 2012, combines a mosque, a church, a museum and walled gardens on one hill, and the floodlit ramparts are worth an evening stroll after dinner. Your hotel is in the town below the castle.

Head south through Aspindza along the Mtkvari canyon, a paved road that passes the 10th-century Khertvisi fortress on a rock where two rivers meet. Vardzia appears on the left bank: hundreds of rooms, chapels and stairways cut into a cliff during the reign of Queen Tamar in the late 12th century. The Church of the Dormition inside the rock still carries a fresco of Tamar herself. Allow two to three hours to climb through the tunnels; the paths are uneven and partly in shadow, so bring a torch. Lunch at one of the trout restaurants by the river, then drive back north past Akhaltsikhe to Borjomi, where the evening is free for a walk along the river promenade.

On your final day, leave Borjomi for the motorway and turn off near Gori for Uplistsikhe, a cave town carved into sandstone above the Mtkvari and inhabited from the early Iron Age into the Middle Ages. A walk along its rock streets, past a theatre-like hall and old wine presses, takes about 90 minutes. If time allows, Gori Fortress stands on the hill in the centre of town, and the Stalin Museum is close by. Then cover the last 85 km to Tbilisi. You return the car either at your hotel or at the airport, depending on your flight; our team checks it with you so there are no surprises later. We can book an extra Tbilisi night for travellers flying out the next morning.