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

1. Day 1: Arrive in Tbilisi, a slow first evening

   Tbilisi International Airport (TBS) to your hotel in Tbilisi

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Tbilisi
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), about 20 km east of the centre. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Free time: Free until the 6:30 pm welcome tea

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to rest before the welcome tea; later arrivals are met and briefed at breakfast.

   

2. Day 2: Old Tbilisi on foot

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

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Tbilisi
   Day 2 details

   We start at 9 am, ahead of the heat and the tour groups, with the cable car from Rike Park up to Narikala, the fortress that has guarded the city since the 4th century. From the walls you see the whole bowl of Tbilisi: the brick domes of the Abanotubani sulphur baths, the Metekhi church on its cliff and Sameba Cathedral across the river. We walk down past Kartlis Deda, the Mother of Georgia statue, holding a sword for enemies and a cup of wine for friends, and through the Old Town lanes with their carved balconies, passing Sioni Cathedral, Anchiskhati Basilica and the Gabriadze clock tower. Late morning we walk or ride on to the Dezerter Bazaar to taste churchkhela, cheeses, pickles and spices with your guide. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

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

   Easier option: Ride a taxi back from the bazaar with your guide's help and rest at the hotel before the bathhouse.

   More active option: Walk up to the Mtatsminda ridge in the late afternoon, or take the funicular, for the view over the city at sunset.

   Free time: Early afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on steep cobbled lanes and steps, mostly downhill after the cable car.

   

3. Day 3: Into Kakheti: Sighnaghi and a qvevri cellar

   Tbilisi to Bodbe and Sighnaghi, then Telavi

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Telavi
   Day 3 details

   We leave Tbilisi at 9 am and drive about two hours east into Kakheti, the wine region of the Alazani valley, with the Greater Caucasus standing like a wall along its northern side. First stop is Bodbe Monastery, a working convent of nuns, where St Nino is buried: the woman who, by Georgian tradition, brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century. Its gardens look straight across the valley; skirts and headscarves are lent at the gate. Two kilometres up the hill is Sighnaghi, a small town of 18th-century walls and towers, where your guide walks you along a stretch of the wall. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Free time: Evening free in Telavi

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot on cobbles and some steps on the Sighnaghi wall.

4. Day 4: Telavi market, Nekresi and a supra

   Telavi to Nekresi and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Telavi
   Day 4 details

   A slow start, then the Telavi market, where farmers sell cheese, herbs, spices, churchkhela and tonis puri, the flat bread slapped onto the wall of a clay oven. Your guide helps you buy for the kitchen later. We drive about 40 minutes to Nekresi, a monastery on a wooded hill above the Alazani valley; a shuttle or a steep walk of about 20 minutes climbs from the car park to its small basilica, held to be one of the oldest churches in Georgia. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Take the shuttle to the top at Nekresi and skip the walk.

   More active option: Walk up to Nekresi from the car park and back down through the woods.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Telavi

   Activity: The cooking and the supra together take about four hours. You do not have to drink every toast; water or juice is fine.

   

5. Day 5: Over the mountains to Kazbegi

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

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
   Day 5 details

   This is the one long drive of the trip and the only day over our four-hour cap: about 180 km and four to four and a half hours at the wheel, broken into three parts. Going back through Tbilisi would add about 70 km and the city traffic, so we take the quieter road north-west from Telavi through Akhmeta and Tianeti, with a short stop on the way. 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.

   Included

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

   Free time: Evening free in Stepantsminda

   Activity: The longest day on the road. The Akhmeta to Tianeti road is narrow and winding, and the highway carries heavy trucks to the Russian border. Our driver keeps a steady pace and does not overtake on blind bends, so times can stretch a little.

6. Day 6: Gergeti Trinity early, then the Juta valley

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

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
   Day 6 details

   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. 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. The evening is free in Stepantsminda.

   Included

   • 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)

   Easier option: Ride both ways to Gergeti by 4x4, and in Juta stroll the first meadows near the vehicle rather than walking on.

   More active option: In Juta, walk on up the valley towards the Chaukhi pass viewpoint, about 3 to 4 hours return with a steeper climb.

   Free time: Evening free in Stepantsminda

   Activity: The most active day: about 430 m up and down on the Gergeti path, then up to 2 hours of easy walking at about 2,200 m. Bring layers; mornings are cold even in summer.

   

7. Day 7: Down to Mtskheta and Tbilisi

   Stepantsminda over the Jvari pass to Mtskheta, then Tbilisi

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Tbilisi
   Day 7 details

   We leave the mountains at 9 am and drive back over the Jvari pass and down the Aragvi valley, about two and three-quarter hours to Mtskheta, the old capital where Georgia took Christianity as its state religion in the 4th century. Its historic monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage site. 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. The evening is yours: an Old Town wine bar, the Dry Bridge flea market before it packs up, or a quiet night.

   Included

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

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Tbilisi

   

8. Day 8: Uplistsikhe cave town and Gori

   Tbilisi to Uplistsikhe and Gori, then back to Tbilisi

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tbilisi
   Day 8 details

   We drive about an hour and a half west along the main highway to Uplistsikhe, a town cut into a sandstone ridge above the Mtkvari river, reaching it soon after opening. People lived and worshipped here from the early Iron Age; the rock-cut halls, wine presses, pagan temples and the broad street climbing through them are far older than the small brick basilica that crowns the ridge, built around the 9th or 10th century. A local site guide, a woman where we can confirm one, walks us through for about an hour and a half on uneven rock with some steps. 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. We are back in Tbilisi by about 4 pm, then gather for a farewell dinner in the Old Town.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Stay on the lower paths at Uplistsikhe, and choose the Stalin Museum in Gori, which is on one level.

   More active option: Climb to the top of the ridge at Uplistsikhe for the view over the Mtkvari valley, then walk up to Gori Fortress.

   Free time: Free time in the late afternoon before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on uneven, sometimes slippery rock at Uplistsikhe; wear shoes with grip. Opening days and hours at Uplistsikhe and the Stalin Museum are confirmed when we fix your date.

9. Day 9: Departure from Tbilisi

   Your hotel in Tbilisi to Tbilisi International Airport (TBS)

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

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

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until your transfer

   Activity: Any departure time works; check-out is usually at midday, and the hotel can store your bags.

Wildlife and weather: May and June are green, with snow on the peaks and some rain; Juta can be snowbound into June, when we walk in the Dariali gorge instead. July and August are hot in Tbilisi and Kakheti and mild in Kazbegi. September and October bring the grape harvest to Kakheti and clear mountain days, with cold nights in Kazbegi.

• Tbilisi2 nights
• Telavi2 nights
• Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)2 nights
• Tbilisi2 nights