Georgia’s Black Sea Coast and Armenia: Tbilisi, Batumi and Yerevan, 8 Nights

Your driver meets you at Tbilisi International Airport and takes you to your hotel, with check-in from early afternoon. The rest of the day is free to settle in. Walk down to the Mtkvari river, cross the glass Bridge of Peace and find a table in the old town for a first plate of khachapuri.

A guided day in old Tbilisi. The cable car rises from Rike Park to the Narikala fortress, and from the walls you walk down to the brick domes of the sulphur baths. The route then follows Shardeni Street past cafés and wine bars to the Anchiskhati Basilica and the leaning clock tower beside the Gabriadze puppet theatre.

A long travel day west across Georgia. After about four hours you reach Martvili, where a small boat takes you between the mossy limestone walls of the canyon; boats stop when the water runs high and in winter. The road then continues for around two and a half hours to Batumi on the Black Sea, arriving in the evening.

A day in Georgia’s seaside city. You walk through the Piazza and Europe Square with its Medea statue, see the moving steel figures of Ali and Nino on the seafront, and ride the Argo cable car for the view over the port and the mountains behind. Later you visit the Botanical Garden, laid out on green hills above the sea.

An early start for the longest day of the trip. You drive to Prometheus Cave, with its lit halls of stalactites (closed on Mondays), then into Kutaisi for the Colchis Fountain, the White Bridge, Bagrati Cathedral and the hilltop Gelati Monastery with its mosaics. From Kutaisi it is about three and a half to four hours on to Tbilisi, arriving late.

A later start after yesterday’s long day, then south by road into Armenia across the Sadakhlo–Bagratashen border. The drive takes about five to six hours with formalities and runs through the Debed valley before reaching the Ararat plain. The transfer is confirmed with your quote. Evening free in Yerevan.

East of Yerevan, the temple of Garni stands on a cliff above a gorge lined with the basalt columns of the Symphony of Stones, and the monastery of Geghard is carved into the rock further up the valley. Back in the city you see Republic Square, the Cascade, the Genocide Memorial and, at weekends, the Vernissage market.

North to Lake Sevan, a vast blue lake almost 1,900 metres above sea level, where the churches of Sevanavank stand on a rocky peninsula. Over the pass is Dilijan, a forested spa town with a restored old street, then the woodland lake of Parz and the monastery of Haghartsin among the trees. You return to Yerevan for the evening.

Breakfast at the hotel and, depending on your flight time, a last stroll to the top of the Cascade for the view across the city towards Mount Ararat. Your driver then takes you to Zvartnots International Airport for your flight home.