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Shida Kartli, Georgia
LAA
Shida Kartli, Georgia
LAA
Shida Kartli, Georgia
LAA
Shida Kartli, Georgia
LAA
Shida Kartli, Georgia
LAA
Uplistsikhe
Iron Age rock-hewn town
REGION
Shida Kartli, Georgia
ALTITUDE
~600 m
TOP SIGHTS
Rock-hewn halls and streets · Hall of Queen Tamar · Pagan sanctuaries · Christian basilica
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Year-round; little shade in summer
HOW TO GET
1.5 hrs from Tbilisi, 10 km from Gori
TIME NEEDED
2 hours
Rising above the Mtkvari River near Gori, Uplistsikhe — “the Lord’s Fortress” — is one of the oldest settlements in Georgia, a whole town carved from the rock and inhabited since the Iron Age.
At its height Uplistsikhe was a major pagan religious and trading centre on the Silk Road, home to thousands of people. Cut into the soft stone are halls, a pharmacy, a theatre, wine cellars and pagan altars, along with a later Christian basilica that marks the town’s long transformation.
Walking its streets and stairways, you move through three thousand years of history in a single afternoon — from sun-worship to Orthodox Christianity, all written into the same hillside.
Uplistsikhe sits close to the ancient capital of Mtskheta, and the two are often combined into a single day of deep history near Tbilisi.
Join us at Uplistsikhe to walk the oldest streets in Georgia, carved straight into the rock.
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