Georgia from One Base: Tbilisi with Kakheti, Kazbegi and Dashbashi Canyon, 5 Nights

You are met at Tbilisi International Airport and driven into the city, about half an hour away. This hotel is your home for all five nights, so you unpack once and leave it that way. The rest of the day is free: a first walk along the Mtkvari river or a supper of khachapuri and khinkali near the hotel is a gentle start.

A cable car lifts you over the river to Narikala, the fortress that has watched over Tbilisi since late antiquity, for the best view of the old town. You walk down to the brick domes of the Abanotubani sulphur baths, along the cafés of Shardeni street, into the sixth-century Anchiskhati Basilica, the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi, and to the crooked clock tower of the Gabriadze puppet theatre.

East over the Gombori hills into Kakheti, Georgia’s main wine region. Sighnaghi sits on a ridge inside its old defensive walls, looking across the Alazani valley to the Caucasus. Nearby is the convent of Bodbe, where St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia, is buried. The afternoon takes in Telavi and the Tsinandali estate of the Chavchavadze family, with a winery visit confirmed with your quote.

The longest day of the week: about three hours each way on the Georgian Military Highway. You stop at Ananuri’s fortress above the Zhinvali reservoir and at Gudauri, then cross the Jvari Pass to Stepantsminda for a 4x4 ride up to Gergeti Trinity Church. From December to March snow can close the pass; if it does, we rework the day with you.

South-west of the capital, towards Tsalka, the Khrami river has cut a deep green canyon into the plateau. The Diamond Bridge spans it with a glass floor and a view straight down to the waterfalls. Paths along the rim and down into the canyon let you see it from every side. Back to Tbilisi by late afternoon for a last evening in the old town.

Breakfast at the hotel and, depending on your flight, a little free time for the Dry Bridge market, where locals sell Soviet-era curios, paintings and old cameras, or for buying churchkhela and wine to take home. Your driver then takes you back to Tbilisi International Airport for your flight.