Quick answer
Sleep three nights in Tbilisi, two in Stepantsminda (Kazbegi), one in Sighnaghi, one more in Tbilisi and two in Kutaisi. Days 1 to 7 are our one-week loop: the capital and Mtskheta, the Military Highway, Gergeti and a valley walk, then Sighnaghi and Bodbe. Day 8 is the van west to Kutaisi, day 9 is Gelati, Motsameta and Prometheus Cave, and day 10 is a flight from Kutaisi or the van back to Tbilisi. By marshrutka the six long legs cost 120 GEL (about $46) a person; a GoTrip driver for the same legs is from 1,182 GEL (about $453) per car, or 1,073 GEL if you drive Sighnaghi to Kutaisi direct and skip the night in Tbilisi; a Localrent compact is from $26 a day with no deposit. Best from June to October.
- Nights
- 9 in 5 beds
- Van fares, all legs
- 120 GEL
- Driver, all legs, from
- 1,182 GEL
- Best months
- Jun to Oct
Our 7-day itinerary is the week we send friends on: Tbilisi, Kazbegi, Sighnaghi, and no fourth base. The question we get next is what to do with three more days, and the answer is not to squeeze Svaneti or the coast into them. Both are a full travel day from Tbilisi in each direction, and three days spent mostly in a van is not a holiday. Kutaisi is the honest use of the time: four hours west, a UNESCO monastery, a show cave and two canyons within an hour of the city, cheaper rooms than the capital, and an airport that Wizz Air flies to half of Europe from, so the trip can end there instead of doubling back.
The days are numbered from your arrival day. The sample dates we priced start on a Saturday, 10 October 2026, which puts the Kutaisi days on a weekend; that matters for Gelati, and we explain why on day 9.
The ten days at a glance
| Day | Where and what | Sleep |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tbilisi. Land, settle in, an evening walk to the bath domes and a first khinkali | Tbilisi |
| 2 | Tbilisi. The Old Town on foot, an hour in a private sulfur bath, a wine bar in Sololaki | Tbilisi |
| 3 | Mtskheta and Tbilisi. Svetitskhoveli and Jvari in the morning, Dezerter Bazaar and the left bank after lunch | Tbilisi |
| 4 | Kazbegi. Van or driver up the Military Highway, Ananuri on the way, the walk up to Gergeti Trinity Church | Kazbegi |
| 5 | Kazbegi. Truso valley or Juta by taxi, a guesthouse dinner | Kazbegi |
| 6 | Tbilisi to Sighnaghi. Morning van down, afternoon van out to Kakheti, sunset on the town wall | Sighnaghi |
| 7 | Sighnaghi and Tbilisi. Bodbe convent, a family cellar, the 13:00 van back, the Tbilisi dinner you missed | Tbilisi |
| 8 | Kutaisi. Morning van west, the Green Bazaar, the river and the bridges, the cable car, Bagrati at dusk | Kutaisi |
| 9 | Kutaisi. Gelati and Motsameta in the morning, Prometheus Cave in the afternoon, or the two canyons instead | Kutaisi |
| 10 | Home. Fly from Kutaisi, or the van to Tbilisi for an evening flight | Home |
Nine nights, five beds. The night back in Tbilisi on day 7 looks like dead time on paper and is not: the Kutaisi vans leave through the morning, so an early start on day 8 gives you the whole afternoon in the west, and you get a second evening in the capital for the restaurant or wine bar you ran out of time for. If you have a driver, the swaps section shows how to drop that night and give Kutaisi a third one instead.
Getting between the stops
The long legs are Tbilisi to Kazbegi and back, Tbilisi to Sighnaghi and back, and Tbilisi to Kutaisi and, unless you fly out of Kutaisi, back. Three ways to do them, and the choice shapes the trip.
| Option | Cost and what it means |
|---|---|
| Marshrutka | 120 GEL a person (20 each way to Kazbegi, 15 each way to Sighnaghi, 25 each way to Kutaisi; 95 GEL if you fly home from Kutaisi). Cheapest and fine. No stops on the way, every leg goes through Tbilisi, and you plan around the timetables below. Our marshrutka guide explains the yards and the etiquette. |
| GoTrip driver | From 1,182 GEL per car (Tbilisi to Kazbegi 210, Kazbegi straight to Sighnaghi 293, Sighnaghi to Tbilisi 191, Tbilisi to Kutaisi 244 and back 244). Fixed price shown before you book, stops at Ananuri, the viewpoints and Gori on the way west, and it cuts the return through Tbilisi on day 6. Sighnaghi straight to Kutaisi is 326 GEL, which drops the day 7 night in the capital. For two or more people this is what we use. |
| Rental car | From $26 a day on Localrent, no deposit, plus roughly 1,100 km of fuel. Freedom on the highway, in Kakheti and for the Kutaisi day trips, which are the part of this route where a car earns its keep. Two limits: the rental terms exclude the Truso and Juta roads, and the drink-drive limit is 0.03%, so the driver tastes nothing in Kakheti. |
Prices are what gotrip.ge and localrent.com showed on 21 September 2026; the van fares are from our transport guides, verified the same month. The train is no use on this route except for the very last leg, and we cover that under day 10.
Days 1 to 3: Tbilisi and Mtskheta
The first three days are the first three days of our 7-day itinerary, and that page has them hour by hour. The short version follows, with the numbers.
Day 1. Most flights land in the evening or the small hours. Bus 337 runs from outside arrivals to Freedom Square for 1 GEL until 23:00 and takes 50 to 70 minutes; after that, or with more than a backpack, a Bolt is 15 to 25 GEL by day and a pre-booked GoTrip driver is 54 GEL. Our airport guide has the pickup points. Stay in the Old Town, Sololaki, Vera or Chugureti, all walking distance from the centre; the where-to-stay guide compares eight areas with prices. If you land with daylight left, walk from Freedom Square down to Meidan and the sulfur bath domes and eat khinkali near there. Book nothing else for the evening you land.
Day 2. Start at Meidan at 09:00 and do our self-guided Old Town walk: about 4 km and three to four hours through the bath quarter, up the gorge, onto the ridge beside Narikala (on foot, or 2.50 GEL each way by cable car) and back down to the river. In the afternoon, a private sulfur bath room from 130 GEL an hour at Chreli Abano or 150 GEL at Gulo's, priced per room not per person, with the kisa scrub for 15 to 30 GEL; the public hall at Bath No. 5 is 6 to 10 GEL. The baths guide compares them. Evening: a wine bar in Sololaki, then the one dinner in Tbilisi you book ahead, from our restaurant guide.
Day 3. Mtskheta, the old capital, is 2 GEL and 25 to 35 minutes by marshrutka from Didube; Svetitskhoveli cathedral is free and in the middle of town, Jvari monastery is a taxi ride up the hill opposite, and both lend wraps at the door. Leave by 09:00 and you are back for a late lunch. Spend the afternoon at Dezerter Bazaar by the railway station and around Fabrika in Marjanishvili. Pack for the mountains tonight: Stepantsminda in October averages 11°C by day and 0°C at night.
Days 4 and 5: Kazbegi
Marshrutkas to Stepantsminda leave Didube for 20 GEL (about $8) a person, cash, about eleven a day between 08:00 and 19:00 in summer and fewer out of season, 3 to 3.5 hours with no stops; a driver may add 5 GEL for a big bag. A GoTrip driver is 210 GEL per car for the 152 km, fixed before you book, with unlimited stops, which means Ananuri on the reservoir (free, parking 3 GEL, 45 minutes) and the viewpoints over the Jvari Pass. Be on a morning departure either way. Our Military Highway guide covers the road stop by stop.
Stepantsminda sits at 1,740 m and the church is on the ridge across the valley at 2,170 m. Walk up: about 7 km there and back with roughly 430 m of climb, 60 to 75 minutes up, an hour at the top, 90 minutes down. Take the footpath, not the road. If you would rather ride, 4x4 drivers wait by the bus station and the Alexander Kazbegi statue. Go up in the afternoon of day 4 and the light is on the mountain; go again at dawn on day 5 if it is clear, before the day tours from Tbilisi arrive at about eleven. The Kazbegi guide has the full route.
Day 5 is a valley day, and it is the better of the two because the day tours never get here. Truso is a broad valley of mineral springs and abandoned villages with its turn-off at Kobi, 17 km south of town; a taxi to the trailhead is 60 to 70 GEL one way, and you carry your passport because the valley ends at a border zone. Juta is the last village in the Sno valley at about 2,200 m under the Chaukhi towers, 20 km east; a taxi is from 60 GEL one way or 100 to 120 GEL return with waiting, and the last 2.6 km of road has been closed since a collapse in June 2025, so everyone walks the final stretch. Fix the fare before you set off; Bolt barely works here. Our Truso and Juta pages describe each walk; both are snowbound from November until late May. Eat at your guesthouse in the evening and say yes to whatever is offered.
Days 6 and 7: Sighnaghi
By van, day 6 is the long one: a morning departure from the small bus station on the east side of the river in Stepantsminda (20 GEL, cash), Didube around midday, the metro across to Samgori (1 GEL, tap a bank card at the gate) and the Navtlughi terminal beside it. Vans to Sighnaghi are 15 GEL and timetabled at 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 18:00, 2 to 2.5 hours. The 15:00 gets you there for the last of the light; the 17:00 does not. With a GoTrip driver you skip the city: Stepantsminda to Sighnaghi direct is 259 km, 4 h 36 min on the road and 293 GEL per car.
Drop your bags and walk the wall before the light goes. Dinner at Pheasant's Tears on Baratashvili Street 18 is the one to book ahead; the Sighnaghi guide covers the town. On day 7, Bodbe convent, 2 km below the town, is free, open 10:00 to 18:00 and has the best-kept gardens of any monastery in the country; walk down in the morning before the coaches. Back in town, a family cellar is the tasting to have: a hand-painted sign reading ღვინო (wine) or მარანი (cellar) means stop, family tastings run from free to 20 to 80 GEL, and you buy a bottle. The commercial wineries with caves and shops are further up the valley than a morning allows without a car; the Kakheti wine road trip lists them with prices.
Vans back to Tbilisi leave from the stand on 9 April Street, 15 GEL, 2 to 2.5 hours, and arrive at Samgori; take the 13:00 and you are in the city by 15:30. A GoTrip driver from Sighnaghi to Tbilisi is 191 GEL per car. Check into the same area as before, and use the evening. This is the night for the wine bar or the restaurant you did not get to on day 2; our wine bar guide lists ten with addresses.
Day 8: west to Kutaisi
Vans to Kutaisi leave Didube roughly hourly through the day, 25 GEL (about $10), about four hours, and the main routes have a small ticket desk at the yard. One thing to get right: since the new highway opened, vans running through to Batumi or Zugdidi use the bypass and no longer enter Kutaisi, so take a van that is going to Kutaisi itself. Be at Didube by 08:30 and you are in the west for a late lunch. There is no direct train to the city any more (the Kutaisi I service was cancelled in March 2025), and the fast Batumi trains stop at Kutaisi Airport, 24 km out, which only helps if you are heading there anyway. A GoTrip driver is 231 km, about 3 h 17 min and 244 GEL per car, and can stop at Gori or Uplistsikhe on the way if you add them; that is the sidebar link on this page.
The van arrives at the central bus station on the west bank of the Rioni, beside the McDonald's; city bus 1 stops outside and runs to the Colchis Fountain in the centre (about 1 GEL if you tap a foreign bank card), or a Bolt is a few lari. Stay on the east bank between the Green Bazaar and Bagrati and you will walk everywhere.
The afternoon is the city, and it is a good one. Eat late lunch at the Green Bazaar, the big produce market on the east bank: Imeretian cheese, churchkhela, herbs by the armful, and bakeries around the edge selling lobiani and khachapuri hot. Then walk: up to the Colchis Fountain, then down to the river and along it past the White Bridge, the Chain Bridge on its 1770s pillars and the Red Bridge, with the old houses hanging over the water between them, about two hours. The Soviet-era cable car from the edge of the central park crosses the Rioni to a small amusement park on the hill, runs from midday to 21:00 and costs 3 GEL; the old ferris wheel at the top is another 2 GEL and has the better view. Finish at Bagrati Cathedral on its hill for dusk: entry is free, the gate stays open late, and the whole town is below you. Dinner at Doli inside the Communal Hotel, the best kitchen in town, or Magnolia with its balcony over the river; for lunch the way the city eats it, the canteens Nikhrik and Bikentina's do a plate and a drink for 11 to 14 GEL. Our Kutaisi guide has the addresses and the rest.
The Green Bazaar is the one place on this route where a few Georgian numbers pay for themselves, because prices are called out by the kilo and the stallholders will happily let you guess. EasyGeorgian's numbers in Georgian is a ten-minute read on the van west.
Day 9: Gelati, Motsameta and the cave
Gelati is the reason Kutaisi is on the UNESCO map: founded in 1106 by King David the Builder as a monastery and an academy, with 12th-century murals and Byzantine-style mosaics inside and David's tomb in the old south gate. It has been under rehabilitation for several years after problems with its roof, and the most recent visitor report our Kutaisi guide could find, from April 2026, had the complex open on Saturdays and Sundays only with scaffolding on parts of it. The rehabilitation committee's own site says nothing about visiting days. That is why our sample dates put Kutaisi on a weekend; if yours do not, ask your guesthouse to check before you take a taxi out. Entry is free. Motsameta, about 2 km back down the hill, is a small monastery on a cliff above a wooded river bend, free and open every day until nightfall, and a shaded footpath links the two.
Gelati is about 20 minutes by road from the centre and a Bolt out that way is around 12 GEL; ask the driver to wait or walk to Motsameta and call another from there. Two hours covers both. If the signage frustrates you, the Kutaisi guide lists a three-hour guided monasteries tour from $25.
The afternoon is Prometheus Cave, 20 km from the city near Tskaltubo: a 1.4 km lit trail through a huge cave system, 40 GEL (about $15) for foreign adults, 5.50 GEL for 6 to 18 year olds and free under six, with an optional boat ride at the end for 30 GEL, open every day from 10:00 to 17:00 according to the Agency of Protected Areas, which runs it. Tickets are sold at the gate for cash or card and online at guru.ge. It is the same in any weather, which makes it the fallback for a wet day. The nearby Sataplia cave is smaller, closer and has dinosaur footprints for 30 GEL; do one or the other, not both. A Bolt out to the cave is straightforward; for the ride back, ask at the visitor centre or take the Tskaltubo marshrutka (2 GEL, 20 minutes to the far end of Kutaisi's Red Bridge) from the spa town if you have walked the 5 km down.
The canyon alternative. If you would rather spend day 9 outdoors, swap Gelati and the cave for the two canyons an hour north of the city. Okatse is a 780 m metal walkway bolted to a cliff above a forested gorge, reached by a 2.5 km forest path (or a 12 GEL jeep), 30 GEL; Martvili is a narrow green limestone gorge you float through on an inflatable boat, 40 GEL plus 20 GEL for the boat, which is the part worth paying for; a combo ticket for both plus Kinchkha waterfall is 80 GEL. Do Okatse first, because it closes in rain and fog. Without a car, the group tours from Kutaisi cover both canyons and Prometheus Cave for $27 to $42 a person with tickets extra, and a GoTrip driver is from 91 GEL per car to Martvili and 105 GEL to Okatse one way. Our canyons guide has the timings and the day plan. With a rental car, all three sites fit into one long day and this becomes the best day of the trip.
Day 10: home or back to Tbilisi
This is where the ten-day shape pays off. Kutaisi International Airport is Wizz Air's Georgian base, 24 km west of the city, and if it serves your home city an open-jaw booking (into Tbilisi, out of Kutaisi) saves you the four hours back east. From the centre, the airport shuttle bus runs around the clock, every two hours, 5 GEL by card, about 40 minutes; a Bolt is 25 to 30 GEL; and a GoTrip driver was 39 GEL per car when we checked in September 2026. Our Kutaisi Airport guide covers the terminal, and our flights guide explains when Kutaisi beats Tbilisi as the airport to book.
Flying from Tbilisi instead: vans to Tbilisi leave the central bus station beside Kutaisi II railway station for 25 GEL, 3.5 to 4 hours, and arrive at Didube, from where the metro and a Bolt reach the airport in about an hour; leave Kutaisi by 09:00 for any flight after 18:00. The Georgian Bus, OmniBus and Metro Georgia coaches from Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi are 30 GEL and timed to the Wizz arrivals, so they only help if you are out at the airport anyway. The one rail option is the fast Batumi train from the airport station to Tbilisi, 34 GEL and 2 h 35 min, but only when one is due; our trains guide has the times. A GoTrip driver Kutaisi to Tbilisi is 244 GEL per car and can drop you at the airport door.
Where to sleep: one room per stop
Five beds in ten days. In Tbilisi, choose a central area and walk; in Stepantsminda the family guesthouses beat most of the hotels and the guesthouse dinner is part of the trip; in Sighnaghi a room on the valley side of the hill is the point; in Kutaisi the family guesthouses and small hotels on the east bank are good value and Communal Kutaisi, with Doli downstairs and a pool in the garden, is the one to splash out on. We book on Booking.com for all of them because the family places list there with free cancellation, which matters when a forecast decides whether you go up the mountain or into a canyon.
What the ten days cost
The table is for two people sharing, travelling by marshrutka, sleeping in the rooms above with the 70 GEL Leon Rooms double for the day 7 night, and eating at the mid-range rate our budget calculator uses (85 GEL a person a day, built from unit prices checked in September 2026). Flights and the mandatory travel insurance are on top.
Ten days for two people, by marshrutka
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vans: Kazbegi, Sighnaghi and Kutaisi return, Mtskheta return | 248 GEL | 124 GEL a person; 50 GEL less if you fly home from Kutaisi |
| Nine nights in the five rooms above | 842 GEL | Booking.com, 21 September 2026, for 10 to 19 October |
| Private sulfur bath, one hour | 130 GEL | Per room at Chreli Abano; kisa scrub 15 to 30 GEL extra |
| Truso or Juta taxi | 100 to 140 GEL | Per car, return with waiting |
| Gergeti 4x4 | 0 to 40 GEL | Free on foot |
| Tbilisi cable car, garden, Sighnaghi Museum | 75 GEL | 2.50 each way, 4 GEL, 30 GEL a person |
| Prometheus with the boat, Kutaisi cable car, Bolt to Gelati | 170 GEL | 70 GEL a person at the cave; about 30 GEL of Bolt rides |
| Tastings and a cellar bottle | 60 to 150 GEL | Family cellars from free to 80 GEL |
| Food and drink, ten days | 1,700 GEL | 85 GEL a person a day at the mid-range rate; less at the guesthouses and canteens |
| Total | about 3,400 GEL | About $1,300 at the rate of 2.61; about 4,300 GEL with a driver instead of vans |
Prices checked September 2026. Ranges reflect season and operator.
Three levers move that number. A GoTrip driver for all the legs adds about 930 GEL over the vans and buys you Ananuri, a direct run to Sighnaghi and a stop at Gori on the way west. Eating at the guesthouses and the Kutaisi canteens instead of restaurants takes a good part of the food line off. A Localrent compact for ten days is about $260 plus roughly 300 GEL of fuel for 1,100 km; against the vans it is the most expensive option, against the driver it is cheaper, and it turns day 9 into a three-site day. It does not solve day 5, because the Truso and Juta roads are excluded in the rental terms.
Swaps that work
| If you | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Have a driver | Go Sighnaghi to Kutaisi direct on day 7: 332 km, 4 h 39 min and 326 GEL per car on GoTrip, with a stop at Gori or Uplistsikhe on the way. That drops the night in Tbilisi and gives Kutaisi three nights, enough for the monasteries, the cave and both canyons. |
| Land at Kutaisi rather than Tbilisi | Run the route backwards: two nights in Kutaisi first, then the van to Tbilisi, Kakheti, Kazbegi and out of Tbilisi. The 30 GEL airport coaches meet every Wizz flight if you want to skip Kutaisi altogether; our airport guide says which one to take. |
| Care more about wine than caves | Give days 8 to 9 to Telavi instead of Kutaisi: the monasteries at Alaverdi, Ikalto, Gremi and Nekresi are all within 30 km of it, rooms for two start around 60 GEL, and the wine road trip is the route. You lose the airport option. |
| Are coming between November and May | Keep the shape but drop day 5's valley: Truso and Juta are under snow. The cave and Martvili work all year; Okatse closes in rain and snow. Read our winter guide before you rent a car, because winter tyres are compulsory on the highway from December. |
| Have two weeks | Do not stretch this route; add Svaneti and the coast from Kutaisi, which is what our 14-day itinerary does: one night here, three in Mestia for Ushguli and Koruldi, two in Batumi and the train home, with the same checked fares. |
Mistakes to avoid
- Spending the extra three days on the road to Svaneti or Batumi. Each is a full day from Tbilisi in each direction. Kutaisi is four hours and has more within an hour of it than either.
- Boarding a Batumi van at Didube and asking for Kutaisi. Through traffic uses the bypass now. Take a van that terminates in Kutaisi.
- Taking a taxi to Gelati on a weekday without checking. The most recent report we have is weekends only while the restoration lasts. Motsameta is open every day.
- Saving Okatse for a wet day. The walkway closes in rain, snow and fog. Prometheus Cave and Martvili are the bad-weather plans.
- Booking a rental car for the valley day. Truso and Juta are excluded in the rental terms, and the Juta road is cut anyway. Day 5 is a taxi day.
- Tasting and driving in Kakheti. The limit is 0.03% and there are checkpoints on the Tbilisi road. Rotate a dry driver, stay in town and walk, or hire one.
- Booking a return flight from Tbilisi without checking Kutaisi. If Wizz Air flies to your city, the open-jaw ticket saves a four-hour van and a wasted morning.
Frequently asked questions
Is ten days enough for Georgia?
How much does ten days in Georgia cost?
Should I add Kutaisi or Telavi to a one-week trip?
Can I fly home from Kutaisi instead of Tbilisi?
Is Gelati Monastery open?
Do I need a car for this itinerary?
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