The Caucasus
Georgia tour packagesThe Caucasus, three hours away
Snow peaks, rock-cut towns, eight thousand years of winemaking and a Black Sea coast, all within a few hours of one small capital.
About Georgia
Small country, long memory
Georgia is the short flight almost nobody in the Emirates has taken yet. Tbilisi is three hours and twenty minutes non-stop, on the same clock as Dubai, and the country on the other end of it is about the size of Sri Lanka with the Greater Caucasus laid across the top of it.
The capital is the reason most people stay longer than they planned. Tbilisi sits on both banks of the Mtkvari, wedged between a fourth-century fortress on one hill and a botanical garden in the gorge below it. The old town is brick-domed sulphur bathhouses, carved wooden balconies leaning over the street, a mosque and a synagogue and a sixth-century church within a few minutes of each other, and a glass-and-steel footbridge dropped into the middle of it in 2010. It has been a crossing point between Asia and Europe for as long as there has been traffic, and the architecture reads like a list of everyone who came through.
Two hours north, the Georgian Military Highway climbs the Aragvi past a reservoir and a seventeenth-century fortress, over the Jvari Pass and down to Stepantsminda, where Gergeti Trinity Church stands alone on its hill with Mount Kazbek behind it. It is the image on the front of every book about the country, and the last stretch up to it is steep enough that the packages put a four-wheel drive under you for it.
East of the capital is Kakheti, where the vineyards are. Georgians have been fermenting grapes in buried clay qvevri for something close to eight thousand years, which makes this the oldest winemaking tradition anyone has found, and the method is still in everyday use rather than kept for show. Sighnaghi looks down over the Alazani valley from inside an eighteenth-century wall with twenty-eight towers, and its marriage registry never closes.
West is a different country again. The dry plains around Tbilisi give way to subtropical forest, limestone gorges at Martvili, a cave system at Kumistavi with an underground river you can take a boat along, and finally the Black Sea at Batumi — palm trees, a seven-kilometre boulevard, and a nine-metre steel sculpture of two lovers that passes through itself and separates again every evening.
It is an easy country to travel and a hard one to summarise, which is why the packages below run from five nights to seven rather than three. Five is enough for Tbilisi, Mtskheta, Kazbegi and the wine road. Seven gets you to the sea.
What to see
What to see in Georgia
Sulphur baths and carved balconies in the Tbilisi old town. A cross-domed church from the sixth century looking down on the old capital. The Military Highway over the Jvari Pass to Kazbegi. Cellars in Kakheti where the wine is still made in buried clay. Canyons, caves and, at the far end, the Black Sea.
CultureTbilisi Old TownBrick-domed sulphur bathhouses at Abanotubani, the Narikala fortress above them, and Anchiskhati, the city's oldest church, from the sixth century.
NatureGergeti Trinity ChurchA fourteenth-century church alone on a hill above Stepantsminda, with Mount Kazbek behind it. The last climb is by four-wheel drive.
CultureMtskhetaThe old capital, 24km from Tbilisi. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral stands where the first Georgian church went up in 337; Jvari looks down from the hill. Both UNESCO-listed.
DiningKakheti and SighnaghiThe wine country, where grapes are still fermented in buried qvevri. Sighnaghi watches the Alazani valley from inside an eighteenth-century wall.
BeachBatumiThe Black Sea coast — a seven-kilometre boulevard begun in 1881, a 108-hectare botanical garden above the water, and the Ali and Nino sculpture.
AdventureMartvili Canyon and Prometheus CaveWestern Georgia's limestone country. A narrow river gorge with walkways above it, and 1.8km of cave at Kumistavi with a boat route through part of it.Cinematic Georgia holidays
Georgia CinemaTrip experiences
Ready-made trips
Trips we already run in Georgia
Each one is operated with a private vehicle and an English-speaking guide, and each is a starting point — we rebuild the days around your dates and who is travelling.
Classic cityClassic GeorgiaThe short version, and the one to start with — Tbilisi, Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe, Borjomi, Kazbegi and the Kakheti wine road from one hotel.FromAED 2,920pp5 nights / 6 daysDay by dayMulti-cityGeorgia with KutaisiThe west of the country in two days — caves, canyons and Sataplia — then Tbilisi, Mtskheta and the Kakheti wine towns from the capital.FromAED 3,636pp5 nights / 6 days · Tbilisi → KutaisiDay by dayLakes & canyonsGeorgia with Dashbashi CanyonSix nights in one Tbilisi hotel, with Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe, Borjomi, Kazbegi, the wine road and the Dashbashi glass bridge as day trips.FromAED 3,287pp6 nights / 7 daysDay by dayMulti-cityKutaisi, Kakheti and KazbegiA night in Kutaisi for the caves and canyons of the west, then Tbilisi for Mtskheta, the wine road and the Military Highway to Gergeti.FromAED 4,224pp6 nights / 7 days · Tbilisi → KutaisiDay by dayMulti-cityGeorgia with BatumiThe full width of the country — Tbilisi, two nights on the Black Sea at Batumi, then Mtskheta, Kakheti and Kazbegi from the capital.FromAED 5,234pp7 nights / 8 days · Tbilisi → BatumiDay by dayPrices shown are the lowest hotel line of each trip. Per person, twin share. Land only — international flights are not included.
Why go
Why Georgia works from the UAE
Three hours and twenty minutes, no time difference, no jet lag and no long-haul recovery day at either end. A week here covers a capital, a mountain range, a wine region and a coastline without a single internal flight, and the whole thing is driveable.
- 01
Tbilisi Old Town
Brick-domed sulphur bathhouses at Abanotubani, the Narikala fortress above them, and Anchiskhati, the city's oldest church, from the sixth century.
- 02
Gergeti Trinity Church
A fourteenth-century church alone on a hill above Stepantsminda, with Mount Kazbek behind it. The last climb is by four-wheel drive.
- 03
Mtskheta
The old capital, 24km from Tbilisi. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral stands where the first Georgian church went up in 337; Jvari looks down from the hill. Both UNESCO-listed.
- 04
Kakheti and Sighnaghi
The wine country, where grapes are still fermented in buried qvevri. Sighnaghi watches the Alazani valley from inside an eighteenth-century wall.
Practical
Planning your visit
- Best time to visit
- May to June and September to October — warm days, open mountain roads and, in late September, the Kakheti grape harvest. July and August are hot in Tbilisi and humid on the coast. The Jvari Pass on the road to Kazbegi can close in heavy snow between December and March.
- Getting there
- 3h 20m non-stop to Tbilisi (TBS)
- Currency
- Georgian Lari (GEL)
- Languages
- Georgian, in its own alphabet; Russian widely understood, English common among younger Tbilisi staff
- Time zone
- UTC+4 — the same time as the UAE
- Entry requirements
- Requirements vary by passport and UAE residence visa status. We confirm current entry rules and handle the application as part of your package.
Entry rules, tourism taxes and health requirements change without notice and depend on your passport. Everything above is confirmed by our operations desk before your booking is finalised.
Gallery
Georgia in frames
Questions
Before you book
Do you offer Georgia tour packages from Dubai?
Yes, and five are listed on this page — from five nights based in Tbilisi to seven that cross the country to Batumi on the Black Sea. None of them is a group departure: each is quoted for your own party against your own dates. Guiding is the one thing to check before you choose. Georgia with Batumi and Kutaisi, Kakheti and Kazbegi both travel with an English-speaking driver-guide. The two Tbilisi-based packages carry a separate English-speaking guide only above a party size — eight people on Georgia with Dashbashi Canyon, ten on Classic Georgia — so a couple on either gets the car and driver without one. Tell us the shape you want and we will price a guide in where you need one.
How long is the flight from Dubai to Tbilisi, and is there a time difference?
Three hours and twenty minutes non-stop, and no time difference at all — Georgia is UTC+4, the same as the UAE. You land on your own body clock, which is the practical reason it works so well as a long-weekend-plus destination.
When should UAE residents travel to Georgia?
May to June and September to October. Late September is best if wine matters to you, because it is the Kakheti harvest. July and August are hot in Tbilisi and humid in Batumi, and the mountain road over the Jvari Pass to Kazbegi can close in heavy snow between December and March, which is worth knowing before you book a winter trip built around Gergeti.
Should we add Batumi or Kutaisi, or just stay in Tbilisi?
Stay in Tbilisi if you have five nights. The capital, Mtskheta, Kazbegi and the Kakheti wine road all work as day trips from one hotel, which is what Classic Georgia does — five nights, one bed, nothing repacked. The other five-night package, Georgia with Kutaisi, spends a night out west instead, so take that one only if the caves and canyons matter more to you than the single base. Six nights is where Kutaisi fits comfortably, and only go to Batumi at seven — it is the full width of the country and the drive is most of a day each way.
Do we need a visa for Georgia?
It depends on your passport and your UAE residence status, and the rules for Georgia have changed more than once in recent years. We check the current position for each traveller in your party before you book, and handle the application where one is needed.
What is the food like, and can you plan around what we eat?
Georgian cooking is one of the reasons to come — khinkali dumplings, khachapuri, walnut-heavy vegetable dishes, grilled mtsvadi. Some of it is pork-based and much of it is cheese-based, so tell us at the planning stage what your party does and does not eat and we will build the restaurant list around it rather than leaving it to chance in the mountains.
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Enquire
Plan your trip to Georgia
Tell us your dates and who's travelling. We'll build the itinerary and quote it properly — no templates.