Georgia - From East to West

Day 1

Start point: Your home

Destination: Tbilisi, Georgia

Today you’ll arrive in Tbilisi, the beautiful Georgian capital. As everyone is booking their own flights, and will arrive at different times, we will leave today free. We will arrange airport transfers according to your arrival time.

Day 2

Start point: Tbilisi

Destination: Tbilisi

After a delicious breakfast at your hotel, you’ll meet your guide in the hotel foyer at 09.30 and spend the day exploring Tbilisi. This will be mainly on foot, and you will be walking for around three to four hours, with stops, so please wear suitable shoes and clothing. There are some fairly steep hills, and some rough pavements and cobblestone streets.

Destroyed and rebuilt twenty-six times, the city’s turbulent history is written in its Persian-influenced architecture, its Armenian churches and its Arabic street names. Today, over thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, much of the old city is in a sad state of disrepair - yet it remains a place of undeniable charm and romance, its history etched in its crumbling squares and cobbled alleys. Tolstoy, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gorki and Fitzroy Maclean are just some of the luminaries who have been beguiled by the city’s beauty and history.

You’ll walk up to the 4th century Narikala Fortress - whose ruins dominate Tbilisi’s skyline - peer into the beautifully painted entrance halls of 19th century Armenian merchant’s houses, climb cobbled streets beneath ornate wooden balconies and admire the gilded interiors of Orthodox churches. 

A light lunch will be at a superb restaurant, on Rustaveli avenue.

For those who feel energetic enough, there’s the chance to spend a few hours nosing around the National Museum. Situated in a grand building on Rustaveli Avenue, this impressive museum displays a wealth of pre-Christian gold, including 2000-year-old ornaments from the Kingdom of Colchis, home of the legendary golden fleece. 

Tonight, after some time to relax back at the hotel, we’ll whisk you off for a welcome supper at one of our favourite Tbilisi restaurants. Georgian food, like its architecture, is a medley of influences, and justly famous. It’s also a direct reflection of the people’s legendary – and seemingly boundless – sense of hospitality. This is, after all, a nation where guests are exalted as ‘gifts from God.’ By now you’ll understand why people rave about Georgia’s food, wine and hospitality.  You are in the same hotel again tonight.

Day 3

Start point: Tbilisi

Destination: Telavi

After breakfast you’ll meet your guide around 08.45 (they will confirm the exact time with you the previous night), check out and leave at 09.00. From Tbilisi you’ll drive (in a comfortable minibus) a few hours north-east, via Gombori mountain, towards the Pankisi Gorge, folded into the foothills of the magnificent High Caucasus range. 

Around noon, we’ll arrive at the home and vineyard of a charming young winemaker featured in Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road TV series. We’ll have lunch at his house, sip (or glug!) some of his spectacular Rkatsiteli wine, and learn how he makes his natural wines. (If anyone was planning to lose weight on this trip, by now you’ll have realised this is impossible!)

From here you’ll drive a short distance to Telavi, a lovely town at the toe of the Great Caucasus mountains. Here you’ll check into a recently opened hotel, the best place in town. It has great views and very comfortable rooms.

A light supper will be at a good restaurant in Telavi.

Day 4

Start point: Telavi

Destination: Sighnaghi, Kakheti

This morning, after breakfast at the hotel, you’ll visit Telavi market, one of the best food markets in Georgia. Here you can see, try and buy the most fantastic array of locally grown and made produce, everything from churchela to fantastic home-made sunflower oil, herb-infused salts and homemade wine. We adore this place! Buy some snacks, and taste away, as we haven’t included lunch today. The feedback from this trip in 2024 was that there was too much food, and too heavy lunches, so for 2025 we have cut a couple of lunches, and made others as light as possible!

After this, you’ll drive 5 minutes or so to Ikalto monastery, founded by one of the 13 Assyrian fathers in the 6th century. 

From here you’ll head about an hour and a half south to Sighnaghi, a beautiful fortified town whose houses are clustered within the walls of its 18th century fortifications, built at the time of Persian, Ottoman and Dagestani invasions. The views from the town are spectacular, down across the wide expanses of the Alazani Valley and across to the peaks of the Caucasus. 

Here you’ll check in to your hotel, owned by an old friend of ours. In the hills just outside Sighnaghi, This place is small, stylish and thoughtfully done-up. They also have their own horses, so if anyone would like to go for a ride this evening, before supper, please let your guide know. The riding isn’t included in the trip price, so you will need to pay separately for this. The horses are small (about 15 hands), sure footed Caucasian Mountain horses, and it’s lovely riding around here. A few guests did this in 2024 and absolutely loved it. For those who don’t ride, there are some nice walks to be had from the hotel.

Supper will be at the hotel, where much of what you will eat has been grown here, using biodynamic principles.

Day 5

Start point: Sighnaghi, Kakheti

Destination: Sighnaghi, Kakheti

After a fabulous breakfast at the hotel, you’ll spend the rest of the day exploring Sighnaghi and the surrounding area.  First, you’ll visit Bodbe Monastery, the burial place of Georgia’s beloved St Nino, who bought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century AD. Built in the 9th century, Bodbe still bears the pock marks of bullets fired by Soviet soldiers. You can either walk 20 minutes to Bodbe from the hotel, or go in the minibus.

From here it’s a short drive to a nearby village where you’ll have lunch at a recently restored house, now a guesthouse, and meet a dear friend of ours - an ethnographer with a deep knowledge of Georgia’s history, people’s and culture. 

After some more time to explore Sighnaghi  - including a visit to a local museum, with some works by famous Georgian artist Pirosmani - you’ll return to the hotel for some down time. Again, if you’d like to ride or go for a walk, just let your guide know.

Tonight you’ll have supper in Sighnaghi at a lovely winery and restaurant, where you’ll also be treated to a private concert by some Georgian polyphonic singers. Tonight you’ll be at the same hotel again.

Day 6

Start point: Sighnaghi, Kakheti

Destination: Borjomi

After breakfast at your hotel, you’ll  check out, hit the road by 08.45 and head west to the town of Gori, the place of Stalin’s birth. On the way you’ll stop at the Tserovani Displaced People’s Camp, which houses 8,000 of the 26,000 Georgians displaced when Russia invaded South Ossetia in 2008. Here you’ll be shown around by one of the residents and visit a social enterprise which employs internally displaced women. Lunch will be with a family who live in the camp. Expect lots of toasts and good cheer!

From here, it’s an hour south to Gori, where you’ll both visit the famous (and very controversial) Stalin Museum, and also go on a short walking tour around the town with your guide who, like many younger Georgians, is keen to make local people think more critically about Stalin and his legacy.

It’s then just over an hour’s drive to Borjomi, where you’re spending the night in a cosy, stylish little hotel. Supper will be either here, or at a nearby restaurant.

Day 7

Start point: Borjomi

Destination: Vardzia

This morning, after breakfast at your hotel you’ll enjoy a morning walk (approximately 2 hours, easy walk) in the Borjomi Khalarauli National Park.

From here it’s an hour and a half drive south, to the beautiful Samske-Javakheti region, where you’ll stop for lunch in the village of Chobareti. Here you’ll be having a cheese and bread baking workshop with a local family, and enjoying lunch in an old Mesketian house (this area used to be called Mesketi).

It’s then another hour south to Vardzia, through the Mtkvari river gorge, which is lovely.

Tonight you’ll be staying in a very comfortable hotel in Vardzia, which sits in a beautiful spot in the mountains. Supper will be at the hotel.

Day 8

Start point: Vardzia

Destination: Vardzia

Today will be spent in the Vardzia area, where you’ll be visiting a fascinating cave monastery and mountain top fortress. First off, after a very good breakfast at the hotel, you’ll spend the morning walking around 10 km (an easy walk,  5km each way, on a mostly marked trail beside the Kura river) to the Tmogvi fortress, a stunning medieval ruin on a bluff overlooking the river. The last section is quite steep, to the top of the fortress, but otherwise it’s a lovely, easy walk. If you’d rather not do the walk, you can have a relaxed morning at the hotel, which has beautiful gardens, and is a very nice place to relax, read, or just look at the mountains. There’s also the option to do some of the walk, and then just return to the hotel on foot when you’ve had enough.

After a picnic lunch, you’ll then visit the UNESCO-listed Vardzia cave city (right beside your hotel), an extraordinary place that looks straight out of Lord of the Rings. In 1185, when Georgia was resisting the onslaught of the Mongol hordes, Georgia’s much-revered Queen Tamar ordered the construction of this cave sanctuary. When completed, this underground fortress extended 13 levels and contained 6000 apartments, a throne room and a large church with an external bell tower. Much of it was destroyed by the Persians in the 16th century. Today several hundred monks live here, and it makes for an impressive place to visit.

Tonight you’ll be at the same hotel, and have supper here again.

Day 9

Start point: Vardzia

Destination: Adjara Highlands

This morning, after breakfast at the hotel, you’ll check out and head west towards the Adjara highlands, a lush hilly region at the foot of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. Part of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, and sitting right on the Turkish border, the region has, over the centuries, frequently been traded between the Ottomans, Russians and Georgians. Due to being part of the Ottoman empire for so long, 40 % of Adjarans are Muslim, and you’ll find mosques in almost all of the mountain villages. While millions of tourists visit Batumi each year, on the Adjaran coast, few make it inland to these enchanting hills and mountain villages.

It’s around a 4.5 hour drive today, but the scenery is lovely, and you’ll be stopping in the village of Ghorjomi for lunch with a family, and visiting the medieval Zarzma monastery near the border between Samske-Javakheti and Adjara.

This evening you’ll be staying at a charming guest house in Merisi, a village in the heart of the Adjara highlands. This is a family run guesthouse, with incredible views, delicious food and stellar Adjaran hospitality, wine and song. 

Supper will be at the guesthouse.

Day 10

Start point: Adjara Highlands

Destination: Adjara Highlands

Today you’ll be spending the whole day in the Adjara highlands. There’ll be a walk to a waterfall, a picnic lunch, a visit to a bee keeper, cheesemaking with a family in Merisi and a delicious supper (which you’ll help prepare), with singing, at the guesthouse. 

For those who’d rather not do the walk, you can always just relax at the guesthouse and watch the clouds drifting over the mountains.

Day 11

Start point: Adjara Highlands

Destination: Batumi

This morning, after a last wonderful breakfast at the guesthouse, you’ll head a few hours west to the city of Batumi, on the Black Sea coast. Now Georgia’s second largest city, and home to about 180,000 people, Batumi is changing fast, but there is still lots to like about this characterful city on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. You’ll stop for a walk in the city’s rather lovely Botanical Gardens, with views across the sea and even as far as Russia’s Mount Elbrus on a clear day, visit the Spice Market (great for stocking up on spices, teas, herbs and other yummy things to take home), have lunch by the sea and then head to your hotel in the Old Town.

For those who wish, there’ll be a chance to explore the Old Town this afternoon.

You’ll be spending the next two nights at a stylish hotel, in the heart of the Old Town.

We are leaving supper down to you tonight, in case some of you prefer some time alone, or even a night in with room service. But of course we will recommend good places to go, and everywhere is within walking distance of the hotel.

Day 12

Start point: Batumi

Destination: Batumi

This morning, after breakfast, you’ll drive around 40 minutes from Batumi to a viewpoint in the hills, to witness the incredible spectacle of the autumn raptor migration. From the end of August until October each year, hundreds of thousands of raptors - along with other migrating birds - pass through the ‘Batumi bottleneck’, the most important flyway in the West Palearctic. More than a million birds of prey pass through here each year, with tens of thousands of honey buzzards known to pass through here on single days. You’ll be at the viewpoint with a team from a local avian conservation group, who spend two months here counting and monitoring the migrant birds each autumn. Some of the birds you’ll hopefully see this morning include Steppe eagles, Black Kites, Honey buzzards, Levant sparrowhawks and Pallid harriers.

After this, you’ll return to Batumi and enjoy lunch in town.

This afternoon, you can either choose to relax on the beach or explore more of the city. 

A final, farewell supper will be at a very good restaurant in Batumi. You’ll be staying in the same hotel tonight. 

Day 13

Start point: Batumi, Georgia

Destination: Your home

Turkish Airlines flights usually leave around 10.30 in the morning, so we will make sure you all get to the airport on time. If anyone would like to have a day or two longer in Batumi, to explore, swim or relax, then please do. The weather is usually very nice at this time of year, and it’s after the peak tourist season, so a day or two on the (pebbly) beach here can be a very pleasant thing to do. Just let us know if you need help with booking extra nights, or late transfers.

2025: Monday September 22nd to Saturday October 4th, 2025

After a very successful trip in 2024, we are delighted to be launching our 2025 dates for this itinerary, and look forward to hearing from you if you’d like to reserve one of the limited places.

The trip cost is £4,560 per person. Please see below re. what’s included. There are no single supplement charges or hidden costs.

We do not book international flights but can connect you with a trusted flight booking agent who can help with this.

INCLUDED

Accommodation in carefully chosen, stylish, high-quality hotels and homestays.

(Please note there are NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT CHARGES.)

All breakfasts, lunches and suppers, plus quite a bit of wine! (This is Georgia, after all).

A number of bespoke, one-off experiences.

Several wine-tasting experiences.

Local airport transfers.

All land travel costs.

A professional, knowledgeable, FUN English-speaking local guide, hand-picked by us.

Travel in a VIP a/c minibus

Detailed information packs and personalized travel apps - one after you sign up and another before you depart.

Friendly, personal advice and support from Silk Road Adventures throughout.

NOT INCLUDED

International Flights

Guide and driver gratuities

Personal spending money for alcohol or souvenirs

Your personal travel insurance

Where will we be staying?

We’ll be staying in a mix of places – from four star hotels in Tbilisi and Kutaisi, to stylish, boutique hotels in Sighnaghi and Batumi, to a lovely homestay in Racha. We choose all our hotels very carefully, taking style, location, comfort and sustainability into account.

What size of group will it be?

Our group sizes are always small, allowing for an intimate experience of the cultures we meet along our path. On this trip we won’t have more than ten guests, plus the local guides and drivers. We usually find groups are made of like-minded people, both male and female, from a wide age range. Many of our guests become firm friends with us and each other, and travel together with us again, and again…

What will the weather be like?

The weather should still be lovely and warm and sunny. But have no fear, we will supply you with a detailed packing list after you’ve signed up.

I’m a solo traveller – is this for me?

Yes. Around 30% percent of our clients travel alone as part of our group. We don’t charge single supplements to solo travellers – see below.

How fit do I need to be?

Although you don't have to be super fit to do this trip, you do need to be comfortable walking for up to 3 hours in Tbilisi on the first day, and also comfortable walking on some rough surfaces, such as cobblestones and forest tracks. There are a few days where you will be walking for between 1-3 hours along a mixture of riverside tracks, forest and low hills. If you are not comfortable with this level of activity this probably isn't the right trip for you

What kit do I need to bring?

We will provide you with an information pack after signing up for this trip, and this will detail any particular equipment we think either necessary or useful.

What vehicles will we be travelling in?

You will be travelling in a small, comfortable a/c minibus.

How much are flights?

This is a moving feast! It depends on where you are travelling from and how you want to get there. From London, it can be as little as £300 return to Tbilisi / Batumi. Expect to pay around £500 though.

NB - British Airways and Easyjet are both operating regular direct flights from the UK to Tbilisi from Spring 2025. If you would like to use one of these operators, you can either catch a train from Batumi to Tbilisi or return by road with your guide on the final day.

What will the food be like?

Absolutely out of this world. Georgian food is justly world-famous, an absolute feast of locally-produced deliciousness. Prepare to be wowed.

Will I have to share a room?

Not unless you want to!

Is it a guaranteed departure?

As we have already reached the minimum number of bookings required, this is a guaranteed departure.

Is this really for me?

If you love adventure, new places, friendly people, wild landscapes, history and culture then yes, this trip is for you.