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◆ Country guide · Caucasus

Top 10s across Georgia

Wine older than most countries, a capital of sulfur baths and balconies, and mountains an hour from the city. Georgia over-delivers on every axis except crowds.

City guides

3.9M

People

Video guide

Region

Batumi

Kutaisi

Khinkali

Best months

May · Jun · Sep · Oct

Ideal length

8–12 days

Budget / day

$50–90

Language

Georgian

Getting around

Marshrutka & metro

When to visit Georgia

Best months balance mountain access, the wine harvest and the coast.

Full month guide →

Jan

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May

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Dec

Best: wildflowers on the passes in spring, the wine harvest in autumn, and rooms still available Peak: hot on the plains and packed along the Black Sea coast Good: shoulder months, plus the Gudauri ski season from December Off: cold, and the roads into Svaneti and Kazbegi can close

Quick answer · where to go in Georgia

Tbilisi earns three nights for its sulfur baths under brick domes, a balconied old town and a fast-moving restaurant scene. East is Kakheti for qvevri wine, Sighnaghi and Telavi, best as an overnight. North, the Georgian Military Highway climbs to Stepantsminda and Gergeti Trinity under Mount Kazbek. Give the west a week: Kutaisi for caves, Batumi for the Black Sea and Mestia for the towers of Svaneti. May to June and September to October work everywhere.

Jump toCity guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Georgians Food FAQ

3 Georgia city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Georgia has been making wine in clay qvevri for around 8,000 years, the longest continuous winemaking tradition on record.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Georgia is a side trip from Russia"

The realityIt is its own country, with its own language and its own alphabet, and has been for a very long time. The Caucasus range is the border, and almost nothing on this side of it reads like the other.

"A supra is just a long dinner"

The realityIt runs to a form. A tamada leads, the toasts follow an order, and the pacing is the point. Eating fast and leaving early misses the event you were actually invited to.

"You have to drink to keep up"

The realityNobody is counting. Say early and warmly that you are pacing yourself and the table will accept it. Raising the glass for the toast matters more than emptying it.

"It is all mountains"

The realityThe high Caucasus is one band of it. Batumi and the Black Sea coast are subtropical, growing tea and citrus, and the southeast around Davit Gareja is semi-desert.

"Khachapuri is one dish"

The realityEvery region shapes it differently. Imeruli is a round with cheese through the middle, Megruli melts more on top, and the Adjaruli boat with an egg and butter is the one that travels.

Toasts that outlast the foodCheese bread with an egg on topSulfur baths under brick domesEvery family with a wine cellarWatchtowers on a mountain ridgeMarshrutka drivingTarragon-flavoured lemonade

Cultural notes that actually help

Wine is poured by the host and toasted before it is drunk. Sipping between toasts is fine, drinking through one is not.
Bread from the tone oven is torn by hand and sits on the table, not the plate.
Guests are treated as a gift. Turning down an invitation to eat takes more effort than accepting one.
Churches ask for covered shoulders, and women are usually handed a scarf at the door.
Tipping is light. Many restaurants add ten per cent service, so read the bill before adding more.
Cash still runs marshrutkas, markets and mountain guesthouses, and ATMs thin out fast outside the cities.
Georgian uses its own alphabet, and menus outside Tbilisi are often not transliterated. Photos help.

Famous Georgian faces

The names behind Georgia's history, letters, art, cinema, music, stage, sport and politics. Pick a field.

Shota Rustaveli

Wrote The Knight in the Panther's Skin around 1200, the national epic, still quoted

Queen Tamar

Ruled from 1184 to 1213, the reign Georgians call the golden age

Niko Pirosmani

Self-taught painter of tavern signboards, now the country's defining artist

Katie Melua

Singer-songwriter, born in Kutaisi in 1984 and raised in Britain

Nona Gaprindashvili

Women's world chess champion 1962 to 1978, and the first woman Grandmaster

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Winger and captain, Serie A player of the year at Napoli before Paris Saint-Germain

Khatia Buniatishvili

Concert pianist, born in Batumi in 1987

Rezo Gabriadze

Puppeteer and painter who built the leaning clock tower by his Tbilisi marionette theatre

Vakhtang Gorgasali

Fifth-century king credited with founding Tbilisi on its hot springs

David IV the Builder

King who broke Seljuk control in 1121 and set up the medieval Georgian state

Joseph Stalin

Born in Gori in 1878, Soviet ruler until 1953. His home-town museum still stands

Ilia Chavchavadze

Writer and reformer who led the nineteenth-century national revival

Nikoloz Baratashvili

Romantic poet of the 1840s, whose Merani is learned by every schoolchild

Zurab Tsereteli

Monumental sculptor, whose work stands in Tbilisi, Moscow and New York

Elene Akhvlediani

Painter of old Tbilisi streets, whose house on Kiacheli Street is now a museum

Sergei Parajanov

Tbilisi-born director of The Colour of Pomegranates, jailed by the Soviet state

Tengiz Abuladze

Director of Repentance, the 1984 film that helped open the glasnost era

Otar Iosseliani

Director who left for Paris and kept filming Georgia from a distance

Nino Katamadze

Jazz singer from Batumi, and the voice most associated with modern Georgian song

Vakhtang Kikabidze

Actor and singer, best known abroad for Mimino

George Balanchine

Founder of New York City Ballet, born in Saint Petersburg to a Georgian family

Nino Ananiashvili

Bolshoi and American Ballet Theatre ballerina, later head of the Tbilisi company

Lasha Talakhadze

Super-heavyweight lifter, three-time Olympic champion and all-time world record holder

Maia Chiburdanidze

Took the women's world chess title in 1978 at seventeen and held it until 1991

Eduard Shevardnadze

Soviet foreign minister at the end of the Cold War, then Georgia's president until 2003

Salome Zourabichvili

French-born diplomat who served as president of Georgia from 2018 to 2024

Must-try Georgian food

The classics first, then what each region cooks. Pick a category.

Khinkali

Spiced meat dumplings full of broth. Hold the knot, bite, drink, and leave the knot.

Pkhali

Greens, beetroot or beans bound with ground walnut and spice, served cold in mounds.

Chakapuli

Lamb simmered with tarragon, sour plums and white wine. The spring dish to order.

Khachapuri (Imeruli)

The everyday round, with salty cheese through the middle. The shape the others vary.

Mtsvadi

Pork grilled over vine cuttings and served under raw onion. The wood is the seasoning.

Badrijani nigvzit

Fried aubergine rolled around walnut and garlic paste, finished with pomegranate seeds.

Lobio

Kidney beans stewed with coriander in a clay pot, with cornbread alongside.

Kharcho

Beef soup thickened with walnut and rice, soured with plum. For a cold Kakheti day.

Adjaruli khachapuri

The Batumi boat of bread and cheese, with egg yolk and butter stirred in at the table.

Shoti

Sword-shaped bread baked on the wall of a clay tone oven. Buy it warm.

Sulguni

Elastic brined cheese from Samegrelo, eaten fresh, smoked or melted into everything.

Guda

Sheep cheese matured in a skin bag in the mountains. Sharp, salty, and not subtle.

Elarji

Cornmeal beaten with sulguni until it pulls into threads. Megrelian and filling.

Gebjalia

Cheese rolled around cheese and mint, served in warm milk. A western starter.

Megruli khachapuri

The Imeruli round with a second layer of cheese melted over the top.

Ajika

Red chilli, garlic and herbs pounded into a paste. The heat of Megrelian cooking.

Kubdari

Svan bread filled with hand-chopped spiced meat. The thing to order in Mestia.

Chvishtari

Cornbread with cheese worked through it, fried until the crust turns. Svaneti again.

Svanuri marili

Svan salt with garlic, coriander, blue fenugreek and marigold. Worth carrying home.

Churchkhela

Walnuts on a string dipped in thickened grape must until set. The harvest, made portable.

Pelamushi

Grape must cooked down with flour into a firm pudding. Churchkhela without the nuts.

Tklapi

Sour fruit leather, usually plum, dried in sheets and used in cooking.

Qvevri wine

Fermented on the skins in a buried clay jar. White grapes come out amber.

Chacha

Grape spirit distilled from winemaking leftovers. Poured at the end of a supra, strong.

Tarkhuna

Bright green tarragon lemonade, sweeter than it looks. Found nowhere else.

Borjomi

Salty mineral water from the Borjomi gorge springs. Most people acquire the taste.

Know before you go

The essentials for planning a Georgia trip.

Currency

Georgian lari (GEL)

Cards work in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi. Markets, marshrutkas, mountain guesthouses and small Kakheti wineries take cash, and ATMs thin out quickly beyond the cities.

Language

Georgian

Georgian has its own alphabet and no close relatives. Older Georgians understand Russian and younger ones English. Tbilisi menus are usually translated, others often not.

Calling code

+995

Local SIM cards are sold at both airports and in any operator shop in town, and coverage is good on the main roads. It thins in the high valleys of Svaneti and Tusheti.

Power

220V, 50Hz, plug types C and F

The same round two-pin sockets as most of continental Europe. UK and US plugs need an adapter, and US devices need to handle 220 volts.

Emergency

112

One number for police, ambulance and fire, and operators handle English. Mountain rescue runs through it too.

Visa

Visa-free up to a year for many passports

Around ninety nationalities enter visa-free for a full year per entry. Check your passport on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular portal, and read the border stamp.

Getting around

Marshrutka, train and hired driver

Marshrutkas leave Tbilisi from Didube and Ortachala when full and reach almost everywhere. Trains run to Batumi, Kutaisi and Zugdidi. For Kakheti and the mountains, hire a driver for the day.

Tipping

Around ten per cent

Many restaurants add a ten per cent service charge and print it on the bill. Where they do not, rounding up is normal. Taxis are not tipped.

Georgia travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Georgia?+

Eight to ten covers Tbilisi, Kakheti and one trip into the mountains, which is the shape most first visits take. Add three or four more for the west, meaning Kutaisi, Batumi and Svaneti, because the driving is slow. Under five days means Tbilisi and one day trip, and that still works.

When is the best time to visit Georgia?+

May, June, September and October. Spring brings wildflowers to the high passes and autumn brings the wine harvest, and both sit either side of the July heat on the plains and the crowds on the Black Sea coast. Winter belongs to the ski resorts, but the roads into Svaneti and Kazbegi can close.

Do you need a visa for Georgia?+

Passport holders from around ninety countries do not, and the visa-free stay runs to a full year per entry, one of the longest anywhere. The list changes, so check your own passport on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular portal before booking.

What makes Georgian wine different?+

The vessel. Grapes ferment skin-on in a qvevri, a clay jar buried to its neck, and the method is old enough that UNESCO listed it in 2013. White grapes treated that way come out amber, tannic and closer to a red in structure than to anything labelled white.

How do you get from Tbilisi to the mountains?+

Stepantsminda is roughly three hours north on the Georgian Military Highway, by marshrutka from Didube or by hired driver. Mestia in Svaneti is a long day by road, or a small-plane hop when the seasonal service is running. Both depend on the weather, so check the pass before committing.