Monastery

A day from Kutaisi to Gelati, Motsameta and Tskaltubo, combining a UNESCO monastery, a cliffside shrine and Soviet-era spa ruins.

A long private day trip to eastern Kakheti: Gremi, Nekresi, the Kvareli wine tunnel and a short walk into the Lagodekhi forest.

A day trip to Davit Gareji’s Lavra and the striped semi-desert hills, with an honest note on the border-closed Udabno caves.

Eight days from Tbilisi to the Black Sea through the places where Georgia became Christian in 337: Mtskheta and the Robe of Christ, Bodbe and St Nino, the Assyrian Fathers’ monasteries, Davit Gareji, Gergeti under Mount Kazbek, Gelati of David the Builder, the cave monastery of Vardzia and the Catholic villages of Meskheti. Daily Mass or Liturgy arranged for groups travelling with their priest.

Three days through the monastic heart of Georgia: Mtskheta and the cliff monastery of Shio-Mgvime, Zedazeni of the Assyrian Fathers, the desert caves of Davit Gareji, then Alaverdi, Ikalto, Nekresi and Bodbe in Kakheti — with a Sunday Liturgy and its polyphonic chant.

One day on the trail of the woman who converted Georgia in the fourth century: her grapevine cross at Sioni, the Living Pillar and the Robe of Christ at Svetitskhoveli, the cell where she lived at Samtavro, Jvari above the rivers, and her tomb at Bodbe.

The country’s essentials in a week: capital, mountains, wine, cave cities and the ancient west — private, unhurried, boutique hotels throughout.

Three days on the Caucasus slopes, then the sulphur baths and wine cellars of a mild Georgian winter.

Pick grapes, tread them, seal the qvevri and sit at the harvest table — the most joyful weeks in the Georgian year.

The complete Georgia: capital and wine, the Kazbegi highway, Svaneti’s towers and the Black Sea, ending in Batumi.

Georgia’s quietest region: pine forests, alpine lakes and the semi-sweet red the Soviets made famous.

Sea and mountains in one weekend: Batumi’s boulevard, then stone bridges, waterfalls and highland villages.