5 Days – Mountains and the South

The morning belongs to Tbilisi: the Old Town lanes, the cable-car ride up to Narikala fortress and the brick domes of the sulphur-bath district. In the afternoon we drive twenty minutes to Mtskheta, the country's ancient capital, to stand in UNESCO-listed Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and look down on the meeting of two rivers from the clifftop Jvari Monastery. It is a compact first day that spans fifteen centuries of Georgian history.

We leave the capital on the Georgian Military Highway, stopping at Ananuri fortress above the turquoise Zhinvali reservoir and at the Friendship Monument viewpoint with its sweeping mountain panorama. By afternoon we are in Stepantsminda, the small town lying right beneath Mount Kazbek, with time to settle in and watch the light change on the peak. Depending on timing we go up to Gergeti Trinity Church today or save it for the calm of the morning.

Depending on season and mood, we walk into the Truso Valley, past mineral travertines, half-abandoned villages and medieval towers, or drive up to Juta, a hamlet at 2200 m beneath the jagged Chaukhi massif, for an alpine stroll. Either way it is a full day of high-mountain scenery with the crowds simply absent. In the late afternoon we descend the Military Highway back to Tbilisi.

We leave the capital southward onto the volcanic plateau: Dashbashi Canyon with its glass bridge and waterfall trails, then a windswept highland of mirror lakes and stone villages. By evening we are near Vardzia, sleeping within striking distance of the cave city.

The morning belongs to Vardzia, thirteen levels of tunnels, chapels and cellars carved into the mountainside by Queen Tamar's builders, with frescoes still glowing in the rock church. Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe follows, and a stop in the Borjomi mineral park breaks the return drive to Tbilisi.