Tbilisi 7-Day Itinerary

Settle in slowly. Walk into Dzveli Tbilisi, the old town, and let yourself get lost in the lanes around Sioni and Shardeni streets — wooden balconied houses, carpet sellers, and wine bars packed close together. Find Anchiskhati Basilica, the 6th-century church that's Tbilisi's oldest surviving building, tucked just off the main tourist spine.

In the evening, cross the Bridge of Peace to Rike Park and look back at Narikala Fortress floodlit above the old town. Dinner nearby: khinkali and a carafe of house wine to start orienting your palate for the week ahead.

With a full week ahead, resist the urge to see everything on day one. Tbilisi rewards a slower pace better than most capitals — the old town's charm is cumulative, not a single photo-stop, and you'll walk past the same corners a dozen times over the week and notice something new each time.

Morning: the cable car from Rike Park up to Narikala Fortress. The 4th-century walls, part-ruined and part-restored, run along the ridge above the city, and the Church of St Nicholas inside has a vivid modern fresco cycle. The view over the old town's terracotta roofs and the Mtkvari gorge is the best in Tbilisi.

Walk down through the Botanical Garden into Abanotubani, the sulphur bath district, directly below the fortress. Book a private room at Chreli-Abano (the most photogenic tiled facade) or the Royal Baths (Orbeliani, the most historic). The natural hot spring water, 37–45°C, has drawn bathers here for over a thousand years — the ritual of soaking, being scrubbed by an attendant, and soaking again is unmissable and gives the city its name (Tbilisi derives from the Georgian word for "warm").

Evening: dinner in the old town, then an early night before a fuller day tomorrow. If you're staying nearby, a second, shorter soak the following morning before breakfast is not excessive — locals do exactly this, and the baths open early.

A cultural day. The Georgian National Museum on Rustaveli Avenue houses the treasury room — gold and enamelled icons from Georgia's medieval golden age, and the world's oldest known worked gold and silver, excavated from a Bronze Age kurgan at Trialeti. The Soviet Occupation exhibition on the upper floor is unflinching and essential context for modern Georgia.

Walk the length of Rustaveli Avenue afterwards, from Freedom Square to the Rustaveli Theatre and the Parliament building, then detour into Sololaki just to the south — a quieter neighbourhood of faded Art Nouveau facades and Persian-influenced courtyard houses.

Evening: take the funicular up Mtatsminda hill for sunset. The park at the summit has a Ferris wheel and restaurant terraces with the best night view in the city, and the Mamadaviti Church near the upper station is worth a quiet five minutes before you head back down.

Spend the morning at Fabrika, the converted Soviet-era sewing factory in the Chugureti district, now Tbilisi's creative hub — specialty coffee roasters, independent shops, and a courtyard that fills with a young local crowd by evening.

Devote the afternoon to Georgia's natural wine tradition properly. Georgia has fermented grape must in buried clay qvevri vessels for roughly 8,000 years, the oldest continuous winemaking culture on earth, and Tbilisi's wine bars are the best place in the country to taste widely without travelling to the vineyards. Vino Underground and 8000 Vintages both run flights from small producers; ask about amber wines made from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane, and the deep reds made from Saperavi.

Evening: dinner on Lado Asatiani Street in Marjanishvili/Vera, the city's strongest restaurant strip for unpretentious Georgian cooking. This is a good night to order lobio and mtsvadi alongside the usual khinkali and khachapuri — by day four you'll have earned the variety.

Mtskheta, 20km northwest of Tbilisi and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was Georgia's capital for over a thousand years and remains the spiritual heart of Georgian Orthodoxy. It's a short trip — 30 minutes by marshrutka or taxi.

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built in the 11th century on the traditional site of Georgia's conversion to Christianity in the 4th century, is one of the most significant religious buildings in the Caucasus and still an active cathedral. Climb to Jvari Monastery on the hill above town for the view that appears on every Georgia postcard: the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers with Mtskheta spread out below.

Return to Tbilisi in the afternoon; visit Holy Trinity Cathedral (Sameba), Georgia's largest church, completed in 2004, on your way back into the city — its gold dome dominates the eastern skyline. Both Mtskheta and Sameba are worth photographing in the late-afternoon light, which softens the stonework considerably compared to midday.

Kakheti, Georgia's principal wine region and the historic birthplace of qvevri winemaking, is roughly 2 hours east of Tbilisi. Hire a driver or join a day tour — the roads are easy but public transport connections between towns are patchy.

Sighnaghi (Signagi), a walled hill town overlooking the Alazani Valley and the snow-capped Caucasus beyond, is the region's most picturesque stop — cobbled streets, 18th-century fortress walls, and small family-run wineries within walking distance of the centre. Bodbe Monastery, just outside town, holds the tomb of St Nino, the woman credited with converting Georgia to Christianity in the 4th century.

Continue to Telavi, Kakheti's regional capital, for lunch and a visit to a larger qvevri winery — many offer tastings straight from the clay vessels buried in their cellar floors. If your visit falls in late September or October, you may catch Rtveli, the grape harvest festival, when villages across Kakheti open their cellars and streets fill with music, food, and fresh must.

Return to Tbilisi by early evening, tired and well-stocked with bottles to bring home. If you'd rather not drive, several Tbilisi-based operators run this exact Sighnaghi–Telavi loop as a guided day tour with tastings included, which removes any concern about driving home after a day of wine.

Morning: the Dry Bridge flea market near Rike Park — Soviet medals, old cameras, carpets, and genuine antiques spread along the riverside railings. Go before 11:00 to beat the crowds and the tour groups.

Afternoon: walk or taxi to Vake, Tbilisi's leafier and more affluent western district, for a change of pace from the old town's cobblestones. Vake Park is popular with locals for a reason — wide paths, a lake, and views back toward the hills. It's also a good neighbourhood for a last round of café-hopping if you want an afternoon that isn't structured around a monument.

Final evening: arrange a proper supra if you can — a long Georgian feast led by a toastmaster (tamada), with course after course of khinkali, khachapuri, pkhali, lobio, and mtsvadi (grilled meat skewers), all washed down with Saperavi and amber wine that keeps arriving whether you asked for it or not. If a full supra isn't possible, any old town restaurant terrace with a view of Narikala lit up above the rooftops will send you off properly.