New Year in Tbilisi & Snow

We meet you at the airport and check you in at a central 4* hotel. Then straight out into the sparkle: the giant tree on First Republic Square, Christmas markets tucked into old-town courtyards, and a guided mulled-wine walk through streets dressed in a million lights.

A festive UNESCO morning in Mtskheta — Jvari on its cliff and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in holiday dress. Back in Tbilisi, aprons on: a hands-on masterclass in satsivi (chicken in cold walnut sauce) and gozinaki (honey-caramelised walnuts) — the two dishes without which no Georgian New Year table is legal.

A slow morning — sleep in, or book the private sulfur baths to enter the new year thoroughly steamed. At night, the main event: a gala supra with a tamada conducting the toasts, live music, dancing, and at midnight — fireworks over the Kura. Georgian New Year tables do not end; they pause.

January 1 the Georgian way: a late festive brunch and the story of mekvle — the 'first-footer' whose entrance sets the luck of the house for the year. In the afternoon, the Narikala cable car over the winter city at dusk, when the lights come on one district at a time.

Bedoba — 'the day of fate': Georgians believe the year goes the way January 2 goes, so we spend it well. Up to Gudauri at 2,200 m for skiing, sledging or snowmobiles with mulled wine on a panoramic terrace — or, for the wine-inclined, a day in winter Kakheti among the qvevri instead. Farewell supra with live folk music in the evening.

Breakfast and airport transfers per your flight schedule. Prefer a longer fate? Extend to January 7 for Georgian Christmas and the candle-lit Alilo procession through the old town.