We plan our own days in Georgia and have never taken a group tour, so this is not a review of guides or lunches. It is the arithmetic and the logistics: what a tour seat costs on the day, what a driver costs per car, what the van costs, and what each option gets you at the far end. The route-by-route detail (where the vans leave, what the churches charge, when to go) lives on our day trips guide; the two trips with their own comparison pages, Kazbegi and the Kakheti cellars, go deeper on timing. This page is for the moment before you book.
Quick answer
Pay for the tour on Kazbegi if you are one or two people without a car (from $25 with Ananuri and Gudauri included; the van is 20 GEL each way but stops nowhere) and on Kakheti whatever your group size, because the tastings are bundled and nobody should drive home ($19 to 39 with seven to ten tastings). David Gareja and Vardzia have no useful public transport, so it is the tour alone or a GoTrip driver from three people up (164 and 296 GEL per car one way). Do Mtskheta alone: the van is 2 GEL and the half-day tour at $18 buys you only the ride up to Jvari. Uplistsikhe and Gori are alone if you have patience for a van and a local taxi, and the $18 to 29 tour if you want Mtskheta thrown in the same day.
- Trips compared
- 6
- Group tour
- $8-41
- Driver, one way
- 81-296 GEL
- Prices read
- 10 Oct 2026
How we compared them
Tour prices are the per-person figure each GetYourGuide listing showed on 10 October 2026, in dollars because that is how the site sells to foreign cards. Most listings showed a struck-through price and a lower one; we quote the lower one, which is what you pay that day, and the dollar prices convert at the National Bank rate of 2.60 lari to the dollar on 10 October. Driver prices are the cheapest car on each GoTrip route page the same morning, per car, one way: a day trip needs two legs, and GoTrip prices the return the same as the outward leg, so double it and the driver stays with you all day. Van fares and entry tickets are the ones on our verified guides, read in September and the first week of October. Review counts are GetYourGuide's on the day. The prices below are the ones we would use to decide; they move a few dollars week to week, and on the busiest Saturdays the cheapest Kazbegi seats sell out.
The six trips at a glance
The tour figure is per person, the driver figure per car one way. The verdict is ours. "Tour" means the group tour is the honest answer for most readers, "driver" means a GoTrip car beats the tour once you are three or more, "alone" means the van and a taxi get you there without losing anything a tour would give you.
| Trip and our verdict | Tour / driver |
|---|---|
| Kazbegi and the Military Highway Tour for one or two, driver from three; van 20 GEL each way | $25-26 210 GEL per car |
| Kakheti cellars and Sighnaghi Tour at any group size; van 15 GEL, no tastings | $19-39 141-191 GEL per car |
| David Gareja and the Rainbow Hills Tour for one or two, driver from three; no van, a 40 GEL bus | $21-29 164 GEL per car |
| Mtskheta and Jvari Alone; van 2 GEL, taxi up to Jvari 30 GEL return | $16-20 81 GEL per car |
| Uplistsikhe, Gori and Mtskheta Alone for the caves, tour for the three-site day; van 5-7 GEL plus a taxi | $18-29 137-143 GEL per car |
| Vardzia, Rabati and Borjomi Tour or driver only; 13 to 14 hours either way, better as an overnight | $32-41 296 GEL per car |
Group tour, private tour or a driver
There are three products on sale and the labels blur them. A group tour is a seat in a minibus with a guide, a fixed route and a fixed clock: on the Kazbegi tours that is about 30 minutes at Gergeti Trinity Church and a lunch stop you did not choose. A private tour on GetYourGuide is the same guide and car for your party alone, priced per group of up to three, and on 10 October those ran $109 for a seven-hour Kakheti day, $166 to $210 for Kazbegi, $165 for Gori and Uplistsikhe and $370 for the Mtskheta, Gori and Uplistsikhe loop. A GoTrip driver is a car without a guide: the price per car is fixed before you book, the driver stops where you ask and waits as long as you like, and the two legs to Kazbegi came to 420 GEL (about $162) on the day, the two legs to Udabno for David Gareja 328 GEL, the two to Vardzia 592 GEL.
So the choice is really two choices. Do you want a guide? If yes, the group tour is the cheap way to get one and the private tour the expensive way. If no, the driver is the private tour without the commentary at roughly half the price per car, and from three people it is cheaper per head than the group tour on every route but Kazbegi, where the tour is so cheap that only a party of four or five beats it. We use GoTrip ourselves when we want a driver and like that the price does not move on the day; the van is what we take when we are alone and the destination is on a van route.
Kazbegi: the tour, unless you are three or more
This is the one trip where the group tour is almost unfairly cheap. On 10 October the two biggest listings, with 6,390 and 4,009 reviews, were $26 and $25 for 10.5 hours, struck down from $51 and $50; a small-group version with 914 reviews was $8 (from $17), the "Into the Caucasus" minibus with 129 reviews was from $8, and the eight-hour tour with a flexible return day was $18. For that you get the Ananuri fortress stop, the viewpoint above Gudauri, the Jvari Pass and the friendship monument, and then Gergeti Trinity Church at 2,170 m on its ridge under Mount Kazbek. The catch is the clock: about 30 minutes at the church on the printed itinerary of the biggest tour and the 4x4 up to the church is 20 GEL cash on top, so the honest all-in figure is about 88 GEL ($34) a head.
The van from Didube is 20 GEL a seat and takes three to three and a half hours, eleven departures a day in autumn, and it stops at none of those places. Alone, the van plus the 4x4 is 60 GEL for the day with no Ananuri and no Gudauri; the tour is 28 GEL more and you see the highway properly. That is why we say tour for one or two. From three people the arithmetic turns: a GoTrip car at 210 GEL each way is 420 GEL for the day, which is 140 GEL ($54) a head for three (a four-seat car was 230 GEL each way, 115 a head for four), and for that you choose the stops, stay two hours at the church instead of 30 minutes, and leave Tbilisi at 07:00 to have Gergeti before the coaches. The private tours on GetYourGuide ($166 to $210 per group of up to three) cost about the same as the driver and add a guide. Our Kazbegi day trip page runs the tour, the driver and the van hour by hour, and if you can spare the night, two days in Stepantsminda are better than any of the three: the rooms start at 70 GEL and the second morning is yours.
Kakheti: the tour, at any group size
Kakheti is the trip where the tour wins on content rather than price. The point of the day is the cellars, and the group tours bundle them: on 10 October the ten-tasting sunset tour (3,508 reviews, 4.9) was $29, the nine-tasting tour (3,266 reviews) $39, the seven-tasting Sighnaghi tour (1,001 reviews) $19, and two more were $14 (a small-group tour with 386 reviews) and $15 (with the wines included, 154 reviews). Buying the same tastings yourself costs 20 to 55 GEL at each commercial winery (Kindzmarauli from about 20, Khareba and Tsinandali 35) and 20 to 80 GEL or a bottle at a family cellar, so a $29 tour with the tastings in it is roughly what two cellar visits cost before you have paid for transport. The other half of the argument is the road home: nobody should be at the wheel after a Kakheti lunch, which rules out the rental car for a tasting day and makes the van an uncomfortable answer too.
Where the driver beats the tour is a party that wants its own cellars. A GoTrip car to Telavi is 141 GEL one way and to Sighnaghi 191 GEL, so a Telavi day is 282 GEL for the car (94 GEL or $36 a head for three) plus the tastings you choose, and you can book Tsinandali, Shumi and a family cellar in Telavi's villages rather than the tour's two commercial stops. The GetYourGuide private tour was $109 per group of up to three for seven hours on the day, which undercuts the driver for a short Sighnaghi day and includes a guide, but check whether its tastings are included or paid at the door. The van from the Navtlughi yard at Samgori is 15 GEL to Sighnaghi and 12 to 15 to Telavi, two to two and a half hours; it gets you to the town and no further, and the cellars are a taxi ride apart. The full comparison, with which cellars each option reaches, is on our Kakheti wine day trip page; the cellars themselves are on the wineries guide.
David Gareja: tour for two, driver for three
There is no van to David Gareja. The Gareji Line bus leaves Tbilisi at 10:45 daily in season for 40 GEL return and gives you a fixed few hours at the Lavra; otherwise it is a tour or a car. On 10 October the most booked tour (1,082 reviews, 4.9) was $29 for seven hours with the Rainbow Hills included, the second (273 reviews, 4.8) $21, a third with 18 reviews $28, and a nine-hour version that adds Sighnaghi and Bodbe was $66. Seven hours is enough: the Lavra, the lower monastery, is open in daylight with no ticket, and the Udabno monastery on the ridge with the frescoes has been closed since the 2019 border dispute, so the ridge walk in older guides is off and the tours do not pretend otherwise. The striped hills near Udabno village are the other half of the day and the part a bus timetable cannot fit.
A GoTrip car to Udabno was 164 GEL one way, 328 GEL for the day, which is 109 GEL ($42) a head for three, or a little over 82 GEL ($32) for four in a four-seat car, against $21 to 29 on the tour. From three people the driver is cheaper and gives you the hills at the hour you choose, which in summer means early, because there is no shade on the site. For one or two the tour is the answer. Spring and autumn are the seasons; our David Gareja guide has the 2026 situation and the road.
Mtskheta: do it alone
Mtskheta is 27 km away and the van from Didube is 2 GEL, every 20 to 30 minutes from 08:00, dropping you a short walk from Svetitskhoveli, which is free to enter. The only thing a tour adds is the ride up to Jvari on its hill across the river, which no van reaches: a taxi from the square is about 15 GEL one way or 30 GEL up and back with a wait. So a solo visitor does the whole thing for about 34 GEL ($13), a pair for 17 GEL each, against $16 to 20 for the half-day tours (four to six hours; 212, 183, 1,867, 436 and 441 reviews on the five listings we read, two of them adding the Chronicles of Georgia monument or a wine cellar on the way back). The tours are not bad value, they are simply paying for a 2 GEL van. A GoTrip driver is 81 GEL one way and will wait at Jvari, which makes sense only if you are carrying on north: the Kazbegi driver at 210 GEL passes Mtskheta anyway and will stop. Go early, cover your hair and knees (loan scarves are at both doors), and read our Mtskheta guide for the churches.
Uplistsikhe and Gori: alone with patience, tour for the trio
The cave town is 100 km west and the tours sell it as a loop with Gori's Stalin Museum and Mtskheta on the way back. On 10 October the two biggest loops, with 2,922 and 1,452 reviews, were $29 and $24 for ten hours; a 297-review version was $18, a nine-hour small-group tour with 416 reviews $19, and another small-group loop with 21 reviews $20. Entries are extra on all of them: Uplistsikhe is 15 GEL and the Stalin Museum 15, so the real figure is the tour plus 30 GEL. Alone, a van to Gori from Didube is 5 to 7 GEL and takes up to an hour and a half, then the local bus for 2 GEL or a taxi at 30 to 40 GEL return covers the last 15 km to the caves, and Gori's museum is in the town centre: about 20 to 55 GEL for the day plus tickets, and the caves in the late afternoon light that the tours miss because they arrive at midday.
The driver makes sense for a party: GoTrip to Uplistsikhe direct was 143 GEL one way and to Gori 137, so a day with both is 286 GEL for the car (Gori is on the way), 95 GEL ($37) a head for three, and the private GetYourGuide tour for Gori and the caves was $165 per group of up to three. If you want all three sites in one day, the group tour is the simplest way to get them and the cheapest for one or two; if you want the caves alone, the van and the taxi are easier than they sound. Hours are seasonal (to 18:00 in October, 17:00 from November), and our Uplistsikhe guide and Gori guide have the layout and the museum.
Vardzia: tour or driver, and better as an overnight
Vardzia is 267 km away through Borjomi and Akhaltsikhe, and the day tour is 13 to 14 hours: on 10 October the biggest listing (1,262 reviews, 4.8) was $35, a 211-review version $41, two 13-to-14-hour listings with 11 and 65 reviews $32 and $33, and the tours all stop at Borjomi park and Rabati castle in Akhaltsikhe on the way. Tickets are extra (Vardzia 15 GEL, Rabati 20, Borjomi park 5), and in 2026 every visitor gets the shortened route at the caves because a rockfall closed the exit tunnel in May. Alone it is not a day trip: the van from Didube to Akhaltsikhe is 15 GEL and three to three and a half hours, then a local van to Vardzia at 10:30 for 8 GEL with the last one back at 15:00, which works only if you slept in Akhaltsikhe.
A GoTrip car was 296 GEL one way, 592 GEL for the day, which is 197 GEL ($76) a head for three and about 150 GEL for four in a four-seat car, so the driver beats the tour only from four people and even then it is twelve hours in a car. Our honest advice is neither: spend the night. The Vardzia guide names guesthouses at 80 GEL within sight of the cliff, the Samtskhe-Javakheti road trip makes a two-day loop of Borjomi, Rabati and the caves, and the driver's 296 GEL one way is then a transfer rather than a day's sitting.
What each trip costs per person
Per person, by group size, October 2026
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kazbegi, tour | $25-26 | Plus 20 GEL cash for the 4x4 to the church; about 88 GEL all in |
| Kazbegi, driver | 420 GEL | Per car for the day; 210 each for two, 140 for three; a four-seat car is 460, 115 each |
| Kazbegi, van | 40 GEL | 20 each way from Didube, plus the 20 GEL 4x4 or the walk |
| Kakheti, tour | $19-39 | Seven to ten tastings included; lunch 45 GEL extra on one listing |
| Kakheti, driver | 282-382 GEL | Per car for the day, Telavi 141 or Sighnaghi 191 each way; tastings 20-55 GEL each on top |
| David Gareja, tour | $21-29 | Seven hours, Rainbow Hills included, no tickets to pay |
| David Gareja, driver | 328 GEL | Per car for the day, 164 each way to Udabno in a three-seat car; 109 a head for three |
| Mtskheta, alone | 34 GEL | Van 2 each way, taxi to Jvari 30 return; the half-day tours are $16-20 |
| Uplistsikhe, tour | $18-29 | Plus 30 GEL of tickets (caves 15, Stalin Museum 15) |
| Uplistsikhe, alone | 20-55 GEL | Gori van 5-7, then the 2 GEL bus or a 30-40 GEL return taxi, plus tickets |
| Vardzia, tour | $32-41 | 13-14 hours; tickets extra, about 40 GEL for the three sites |
| Vardzia, driver | 592 GEL | Per car for the day, 296 each way in a three-seat car; 197 a head for three |
Prices checked 10 October 2026. Ranges reflect season and operator.
Two rules fall out of the table. For one person the tour beats the driver everywhere, and beats the van everywhere except Mtskheta. For three people the driver roughly ties the tour on Kazbegi and beats it on David Gareja and Uplistsikhe; for four it beats the tour on every route except Kakheti, where the tour's bundled tastings keep it ahead unless you have specific cellars in mind. Our budget calculator prices a whole week of each style against the same beds and meals.
What to compare before you book a tour
The listings are easy to tell apart on price and hard to tell apart on anything else, so read the itinerary text, not the title. The five things that decide whether a day is good:
- Time at the main stop. The Kazbegi tours print 30 minutes to an hour at Gergeti; the Kakheti tours print how many cellars and whether the tasting is included or a ticked extra at the checkout. A tour that lists six stops in ten hours is a tour that stops for photographs.
- Pickup. Most group tours meet at a point in the centre (the Galaktion Tabidze Street meeting point, Europe Square, Avlabari metro or the bicycle monument appear on the listings we read) between 08:00 and 11:00; hotel pickup is mostly a private-tour feature. A meeting point across town from your bed adds a Bolt each way.
- Group size. "Small group" on GetYourGuide means a minibus; the listings that print a number say up to 14. The two biggest Kazbegi listings print no maximum at all.
- What is extra. The 20 GEL 4x4 at Gergeti, the 15 GEL tickets at Uplistsikhe, Vardzia and the Stalin Museum, lunch (a 45 GEL set menu on one Kakheti listing), and on some Kakheti listings the tastings themselves. Carry cash in lari for these; the tour price is the only thing paid by card.
- The price you are reading. Every listing we read on 10 October showed a struck-through price above the real one, and the gap was often half. The lower figure is the price; the higher one is marketing, and it moves week to week, so compare on the day you book, not on a figure you saw a month ago, including the ones on this page.
One more thing to read: the language line. Several of the big tours list English and Russian on the same departure, which means a ten-hour day with half the commentary in a language you may not follow. The small-group and private listings say which languages they run in.
Mistakes to avoid
- Booking Kazbegi as a tour with four people. Four tour seats plus four 4x4 tickets is about 350 GEL; a four-seat GoTrip car for the day is 460 and you keep the whole afternoon at the church. From five people the driver is simply cheaper.
- Renting a car for Kakheti. A tasting day ends with someone sober enough to drive or nobody, and the drink-driving limit is 0.3 per mille. The tour and the driver exist for this.
- Paying for a Mtskheta tour when you are not going north. The van is 2 GEL and the churches are free. Spend the $18 on the taxi to Jvari and a lunch.
- Doing Vardzia as a day in summer. Fourteen hours, with the caves at 14:00 in full sun, on the one site in Georgia where you want the morning. Sleep in Akhaltsikhe or by the cliff.
- Trusting an old price. The Kazbegi tour was $25 to 26 on 10 October; the same listing was $26 on 4 October and the Mtskheta half-day tour went from $13 to $19 in the same week. Discounts come and go; read the listing on the day.
- Forgetting cash. Nothing at the far end of any of these trips takes a card reliably: the 4x4 drivers, the family cellars, the Jvari taxi, the Vardzia shop. Our money guide says how much and where to get it.
Frequently asked questions
Which day tour from Tbilisi is the best value?
Is it cheaper to hire a driver or take a tour from Tbilisi?
Which day trips from Tbilisi can I do without a tour?
Do the Kazbegi tours include the 4x4 to Gergeti church?
Are GetYourGuide prices in Georgia reliable?
How long is each day trip from Tbilisi?
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