Women-only Georgia: Tbilisi, Kakheti Wine Country and Kazbegi

Arrive in Tbilisi, a slow first evening

Tbilisi International Airport (TBS) to your hotel in Tbilisi

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Tbilisi
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Many flights from North America connect through Istanbul, the Gulf or European hubs and land in the small hours; if yours arrives overnight, ask us to add the night before so you start rested. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall at any hour (a woman driver or your guide where we can arrange one) and takes you about 30 minutes to our central hotel, within walking distance of the Old Town. Nothing is planned until about 6:30 pm, so sleep, shower or walk down to the Mtkvari river and the Bridge of Peace. Your See Sight Tours guide then meets the group over tea at the hotel. She introduces everyone and gives an honest briefing: what to wear in churches, how a supra and its toasts work, app taxis and walking alone, tipping, photographing people and how the nine days run. Dinner is at about 7:30 pm a short walk away: khachapuri, aubergine rolls with walnut paste and a first glass of Georgian wine, or none.

Compris

• Pick-up at Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), at any hour
• Welcome tea and briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner a short walk from the hotel

Old Tbilisi on foot

Rike Park to Narikala by cable car, the Old Town and the Dezerter Bazaar

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Tbilisi

Matin

Late morning we walk or ride on to the Dezerter Bazaar to taste churchkhela, cheeses, pickles and spices with your guide.

Après-midi

In the late afternoon a private room at a sulphur bathhouse is booked for the women of the group: hot mineral water, a scrub if you want one, and tea. The bathhouse is included but optional: join the group or rest at the hotel.

Compris

• Cable car from Rike Park to Narikala Fortress
• Old Town walk with your guide: Narikala, Kartlis Deda, the Abanotubani baths quarter, Sioni Cathedral, Anchiskhati Basilica and the Gabriadze clock tower
• Tasting walk through the Dezerter Bazaar
• A private room at an Abanotubani sulphur bathhouse for the women of the group

Activités en option

• A kisi scrub or massage at the bathhouse, paid locally

Into Kakheti: Sighnaghi and a qvevri cellar

Tbilisi to Bodbe and Sighnaghi, then Telavi

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Telavi
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is at a family winery that makes its wine in qvevri, large clay jars buried in the ground, a method UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage. We ask for a cellar where a woman makes the wine and tell you when one is confirmed. You taste amber wines from white grapes left on their skins, beside saperavi reds, then drive about an hour and a quarter to Telavi for two nights.

Compris

• Bodbe Monastery and convent
• Sighnaghi town and its walls with your guide
• Qvevri cellar visit, tasting and lunch at a family winery, with a woman winemaker where one is confirmed

Telavi market, Nekresi and a supra

Telavi to Nekresi and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Telavi
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

Back in Telavi you have the early afternoon free: Batonis Tsikhe, the walled residence of the Kakhetian kings, the great plane tree in the centre, or a rest. At about 4 pm we go to the home of a winemaking family, where the women of the house, where we confirm such a host, show you how they make pkhali, badrijani and mchadi cornbread. Then comes the supra, the Georgian feast. The tamada, the toastmaster, is often a man; women in the group are welcome to give a toast, and nobody has to drink.

Compris

• Telavi farmers' market with your guide
• Nekresi monastery, including the shuttle from the car park
• Cooking with the women of a winemaking family, where a host is confirmed
• Supra dinner at the family's table, wine included

Over the mountains to Kazbegi

Telavi through Akhmeta and Tianeti to Ananuri, then up the Georgian Military Highway to Stepantsminda

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

Around midday we reach Ananuri, a 17th-century fortress with two churches and a watchtower above the turquoise Zhinvali reservoir, then sit down to lunch nearby. From here we join the Georgian Military Highway, the old road over the Greater Caucasus to Russia, and climb past Gudauri to the Jvari pass at 2,379 m. Just below it the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument, a curved mosaic balcony built in 1983, hangs over a deep valley and gives everyone a chance to stretch. The road then drops into the Tergi valley and Stepantsminda, still called Kazbegi, at about 1,740 m. We arrive between 4 and 5 pm; if the cloud lifts, Mount Kazbek, 5,047 m, stands above the town.

Compris

• Ananuri fortress
• Sit-down lunch near Ananuri
• The Georgian Military Highway over the Jvari pass
• The Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument viewpoint

Gergeti Trinity early, then the Juta valley

Stepantsminda to Gergeti Trinity Church on foot, then Juta and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

We walk out at 7:30 am to climb to Gergeti Trinity Church, the 14th-century church on its ridge at about 2,170 m, well before the day-trip vans from Tbilisi arrive in the late morning. The path climbs about 430 m through woods and meadow, an hour and a half to two hours at an easy pace; anyone who prefers can ride up by 4x4, included. Women are asked to wear a skirt and cover their hair inside, and wraps are lent at the gate. The morning light falls on Mount Kazbek behind the church.

Après-midi

We come down for lunch in a local family kitchen, led by the women of the house where we confirm one, who show you how to pleat khinkali, the soup-filled dumplings of the mountains, and you eat what you made. In the afternoon we drive about 45 minutes to Juta, a hamlet at about 2,200 m below the Chaukhi peaks, for an easy walk of an hour or two through the meadows.

Soir

The evening is free in Stepantsminda.

Compris

• Walk up to Gergeti Trinity Church with your guide, or the 4x4 up and back
• Khinkali lunch in a family kitchen, led by the women of the house where a host is confirmed
• Meadow walk in the Juta valley (the Dariali gorge and Gveleti waterfall instead while Juta is under snow)

Down to Mtskheta and Tbilisi

Stepantsminda over the Jvari pass to Mtskheta, then Tbilisi

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Tbilisi
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

We go first to Jvari Monastery, a 6th-century church on a hilltop above the meeting of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers, with the town laid out below, then down into Mtskheta for lunch. After lunch we walk into Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built in the 11th century on the spot where, by tradition, the robe of Christ is buried, and around the walled precinct that encloses it. Tbilisi is about 30 minutes on, so we are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon with bags unpacked for the last two nights.

Soir

The evening is yours: an Old Town wine bar, the Dry Bridge flea market before it packs up, or a quiet night.

Compris

• Jvari Monastery
• Lunch in Mtskheta
• Svetitskhoveli Cathedral with your guide

Uplistsikhe cave town and Gori

Tbilisi to Uplistsikhe and Gori, then back to Tbilisi

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Tbilisi
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is at a family table in a village nearby. In Gori, about 15 minutes away, you choose: the Stalin Museum, a Soviet-era shrine to the town's most famous son that tells his story with little criticism and keeps his railway carriage in the grounds, or a walk with your guide up to Gori Fortress for the view over the town.

Soir

We are back in Tbilisi by about 4 pm, then gather for a farewell dinner in the Old Town.

Compris

• Uplistsikhe with a local site guide, a woman where one is confirmed
• Village lunch near Uplistsikhe
• Your choice in Gori: the Stalin Museum, or a walk to Gori Fortress with your guide
• Farewell dinner in Tbilisi

Departure from Tbilisi

Your hotel in Tbilisi to Tbilisi International Airport (TBS)

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

The trip ends after breakfast, when your guide says goodbye and checks each person's flight time.

Soir

Many flights from Tbilisi to Europe and the Gulf leave in the early hours, so we set your transfer by your flight at any hour, including the middle of the night, and the drive to the airport takes about 25 minutes. If you fly in the evening, leave your bags at the hotel and use the day. The Georgian National Museum on Rustaveli Avenue holds gold from ancient Colchis and is closed on Mondays. The Open Air Museum of Ethnography, on a wooded hill near Turtle Lake, gathers old houses from every region you have just seen. The Dry Bridge market is the place for Soviet badges, old enamel and paintings. Book a flight after about midday if you want a last morning in the city; if you would like extra nights in Tbilisi or a few days more in another region, tell us when you book.

Compris

• Drop-off at Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), at any hour