Excursions in Georgia . Everywhere I tried to find excursions online, the prices were given in dollars or euros, and to put it mildly, they didn’t please me at all. For example, an excursion to Kazbegi costs from 90 dollars on one of the websites. But if you do as we did, you change your dollars into the local currency, the lari, and the Kazbegi excursion cost us about 80 lari — three times cheaper.
In Tbilisi, take the metro to the city centre, to Avlabari station. Then stroll calmly around the centre and keep an eye out for people with brochures. Most likely these brochures will describe excursions with prices in lari. Collect the brochures, sit down on a bench and, while resting, compare the prices for the same excursions in different brochures. Then pick the cheapest — and voilà.
IMPORTANT ☝️ different excursions don’t run every day of the week, so take that into account when planning to go on several.
So we went on the following excursions in Georgia: “Kazbegi and the Georgian Military Road“, “Borjomi, Vardzia, Rabati Fortress“, “Kakheti” and Kutaisi. On our own we also visited Tbilisi Zoo (luckily it wasn’t far from our hotel), the “Mtatsminda” amusement park, the botanical garden and the Abanotubani sulphur baths, took a boat ride on the Kura River and rode various cable cars. All of this is on the Maps.me maps. And of course we visited various cafés in Tbilisi.
So, let’s get to the description of the excursions in Georgia.
Kazbegi and the Georgian Military Road. The road runs along the shore of a reservoir, with the most beautiful views opening up all the way. The first stop is the reservoir, with a stunning view of its amazing turquoise water. Then you’ll visit Ananuri Fortress, built in the 16th century and well preserved to this day. The next stop, with lunch, is in Pasanauri. Pasanauri is the birthplace of khinkali: here you can try khinkali made to old recipes, as well as trout, kebab, shashlik and much more. Next you’ll arrive at the Friendship Monument (the “Arch of Friendship”). Here you’ll feel for the first time that you’re in the mountains: it’s cold, and in spring there’s snow. This arch was built in honour of friendship between Russia and Georgia. The next stop is Kazbegi! On the slope of Mount Kazbek, at 2,170 m above sea level, you’ll visit the old Georgian Trinity Church — Gergeti — with stunning panoramic viewpoints.
Vardzia, Rabati Fortress, Borjomi. Your first stop will be Vardzia, a complex of ancient caves founded in the 12th century during the reign of George III, father of Queen Tamar. You go up by minibus for an extra fee, and you can come down the same way. You can walk up, but it takes a long time and isn’t very pleasant in the heat. You’ll walk through the caves and visit a church, and you’ll be shown various passages — but you won’t go down the secret passage: it was closed because of the number of accidents. It’s too dangerous ⚠️. Rabati Fortress. Mentions of this fortress date back to the 16th century. You’ll stroll through the fortress streets and look into the fortress itself. I don’t remember exactly, but I think photography in the fortress was paid. And the main thing on this excursion, of course, is a visit to the famous town of Borjomi. This is where the spring water is extracted, and from here it reaches the shop shelves of your country or city. You’ll walk through the park and can drink the water straight from the spring. You’ll learn the history of the park. There’s also a chance to take the cable car up and see the park with its springs and the town itself from a bird’s-eye view.
Kakheti. The first stop will be the Bodbe Monastery, where Saint Nino rests. You can stroll around the monastery grounds with beautiful panoramic views of the gardens. In the town of Sighnaghi you’ll walk near the town hall and along the walls of the ancient fortress, and admire the Alazani Valley. At the second stop the booze tour begins: the second stop is Kvareli, where you’ll visit the first winery and taste chacha, wine and brandy. The third and final stop is in Tsinandali. Here you’ll visit more wine cellars and estates and can buy the drinks you liked as souvenirs to take home.
Those are all the excursions in Georgia that we booked with a tour agency. We did the rest ourselves, as I wrote above.
Tbilisi Zoo is an ordinary zoo; I don’t know what else to add. There’s a petting area with small animals. We walked to the zoo from our hotel.
The amusement park, with very tasty and beautiful Adjarian khachapuri. Take the cable car up and on the left — I think to the left of the entrance — there’ll be a café/restaurant with very beautiful and tasty khachapuri. There’s also a very beautiful view from the Ferris wheel, and a very beautiful view of the city.
The botanical garden and Mother Georgia. They’re very close to each other, so you can combine the visits. Near the Peace Bridge there’s Rike Park, with a cable car to the botanical garden and Mother Georgia. In Rike Park you can also book a boat trip on the Kura River from the touts. On the boat they’ll pour you tea, coffee ☕️ or wine for free — but the wine there is diluted and not tasty, and the tea and coffee are cheap. But the view is beautiful.
The Abanotubani sulphur baths. Every evening, groups of young men gathered near the baths and performed folk songs and dances. If you follow the path by the baths to the end, you’ll reach a small but no less beautiful waterfall. The baths offer different services at different prices. We went to Bathhouse No. 9 and liked it, but going to a bathhouse in the warm season is a so-so kind of fun.
Souvenirs. We bought wine to take home in the same cafés where we’d tasted it, to be sure we were buying exactly what we wanted. There’s a flea market on the Dry Bridge, and a little below the Dry Bridge there’s another flea market. You can find good things there, including real Georgian daggers. Fridge magnets and other small souvenirs can be found in the shops near the sulphur baths.
And once on the metro we accidentally missed the last stop and ended up going to the depot. Those were our interesting excursions in Georgia.
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