Georgia - From East to West

Day 1: Friday 4th September, 2026

Start point: Your home

Destination: Tbilisi, Georgia

Most people will arrive on the morning British Airways flight from London. We will transfer you from Tbilisi airport to your 5* hotel in the city centre. Your room will be ready for early check-in and you’ll have the rest of the day to rest and explore some of Tbilisi at your own pace.

Hotel: Rooms hotel, or similar.

Included: Breakfast.

Day 2: Saturday 5th September, 2026

Start point: Tbilisi

Destination: Tbilisi

After a delicious breakfast at your hotel, you’ll meet your guide 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 twisting streets beneath ornate wooden balconies and admire the gilded interiors of Orthodox churches. 

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.

Hotel: Rooms hotel, or similar

Included: B, D.

Day 3: Sunday 6th September, 2026

Start point: Tbilisi

Destination: Sighnaghi

After breakfast you’ll head a few hours north-east, via Gombori mountain, towards the foothills of the magnificent High Caucasus range. 

Around noon, you’ll arrive at the home and vineyard of the charming young winemaker featured in Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road TV series. You’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!)

After lunch you’ll head south, via a stop at Kvetera church.

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.

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

Hotel: Lost Ridge Inn, Sighnaghi.

Included: B, L, D

Day 4: Monday 7th September, 2026

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.

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.

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. This is a really special experience that moved our 2025 group to tears. Tonight you’ll be at the same hotel again.

Hotel: Lost Ridge Inn.

Included: B, L, D.

Day 5: Tuesday 8th September, 2026

Start point: Sighnaghi, Kakheti

Destination: Ateni

After breakfast at your hotel, you’ll  check out and head west towards 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!

It’s ;then an hour south to Gori, where a fantastic local guide will take you on a short walking tour of the town. The guide, like many younger Georgians, is keen to make local people think more critically about Stalin and his legacy. For those who want to, there is also time to visit the controversial Stalin museum, an anachronistic homage to the Soviet dictator. However, for moral and political reasons, we no longer include this in the price of the tour.

A twenty minute drive south brings you to the village of Ateni, where you’ll be staying in a charming guesthouse owned by Georgia’s former minister of culture. Your host family tonight are absolutely lovely, and you will have supper here too.

Hotel: Guesthouse, Ateni.

Included: B, L, D

Day 6: Wednesday 9th September, 2026

Start point: Ateni

Destination: Vardzia

This morning, after breakfast at your homestay, you’ll enjoy a morning walk (approximately 2 hours, easy walk) in the nearby Borjomi Kharagauli 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 Meskheti).

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.

Hotel: Vardzia Resort

Included: B, L

Day 7: Thursday 10th September, 2026

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.

After a picnic lunch, you’ll then visit Vardzia cave city (right beside your hotel), an extraordinary place that looks straight out of Lord of the Rings. Construction of this impressive edifice began in the latter part of the 12th century, as part of King Giorgi III’s efforts to bolster his southern border against the Seljuk Turks. However it was his much-revered daughter Queen Tamar who finished the complex after his death in 1184.

When completed, this troglodyte fortress extended 19 levels and contained around 6000 rooms, including a throne room, twenty-five wine cellars and a number of churches. Sadly, a major earthquake destroyed much of the complex in 1283, and the city was later sacked by both the Persians and Ottomans. However, since the end of Soviet rule Vardzia has become a working monastery again, with some caves now inhabited by monks. It’s an impressive place to visit.

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

Hotel: Vardzia Resort

Included: B,L,D.

Day 8: Friday 11th September, 2026

Start point: Vardzia

Destination: Batumi (via the Adjara Highlands)

This morning, after breakfast at the hotel, you’ll head west towards Batumi, on the Black Sea coast. You’ll drive there via 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 per cent of Adjarans are Muslim, and you’ll find mosques in almost all of the mountain villages.

It’s around a 6 hour drive in total today, but the scenery is lovely, and you’ll be stopping in the village of Ghorjomi for lunch with an Adjaran family, and visiting both the fantastic Ghorjomi mosque and the medieval Zarzma monastery.

You’ll reach Batumi in the late afternoon. 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.

Tonight you’re staying in a very good hotel in the heart of the Old Town.

Hotel: London 1889

Included: B,L.

Day 9: Saturday 12th September, 2026

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, around a million raptors - along with other migrating birds - pass through the ‘Batumi bottleneck’, the most important flyway in the West Palearctic. In early October 2025, 170,000 raptors passed in a single day! You’ll be at the viewpoint with a team of volunteers from Batumi Raptor Count 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.

On the way back to Batumi, you’ll stop for a walk in the 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), and have a light lunch by the sea.

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. 

Hotel: London 1889

Included: B,L,D

Day 10: Sunday 13th September, 2026

Start point: Batumi, Georgia

Destination: Your home

Turkish Airlines flights usually leave Batumi airport at 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.

For those taking the return British Airways flight home from Tbilisi, you’re welcome to travel back to Tbilisi on the minibus today, with the guide and driver, in time for the early Monday morning flight. Please note that tonight’s accommodation is not included.

The 2026 tour starts in Tbilisi on Friday 4th September and ends in Batumi on Sunday 13th September.

The trip cost is £3,910 per person. Please see below re. what’s included. We offer the first 5 single bookings without single supplement charges or hidden costs. After this first five single-traveller bookings (offered on a first-come, first-served basis, subsequent single bookings will incur a supplement of £500.

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 guesthouses. These range from the 5* Rooms Hotel in Tbilisi to a charming family-run guesthouse in Ateni.

(Please note there are NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT CHARGES FOR THE FIRST 5 SINGLE TRAVELLER BOOKINGS.)

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

A number of bespoke, one-off experiences, such as polyphonic singers and meeting conservationists.

Several wine-tasting experiences.

Local airport transfers.

All land travel costs.

A professional, knowledgeable, FUN English-speaking local guide, hand-picked by us, and who we have personally travelled with before.

Travel in a VIP a/c minibus (a 15-seater Mercedes Sprinter).

A personalized travel app.

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

An £100 Nature Restoration Fee, which will go to a grass-roots conservation organisation in the countries we work in.

A year’s membership of the rewilding organisation Mossy Earth.

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 a five star hotel in Tbilisi, to stylish, boutique hotels in Sighnaghi, Vardzia and Batumi, and a lovely guesthouse in Ateni. 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 will have no more than ten guests, plus the local guide and driver. 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 try not to 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.

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!

Will I have to share a bathroom?

No, all rooms on this trip are en-suite.

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.

Remind me if you charge single supplements for this tour?

We will not charge single supplements for the first 5 single traveller bookings. However, on this tour we cannot support the cost of more than five single travellers in a group of ten, so these five supplement-free places are offered on a first-come, first-served basis -any subsequent solo reservations will be subject to a £500 single supplement fee.