Trip to Georgia Europe – 10 days itinerary in Georgia

SIM abroad

I personally recommend using an ESIM, which is an electronic SIM, and recommend Airalo. I was very satisfied with their user experience (simple tutorial videos for operating the SIM card) and everything worked without any special problems. I wrote more about them in an extended post on the subject of taking a SIM card abroad and also about other options such as buying a local SIM card.

Blog followers have a 15% discount code for the Airalo company to purchase an ESIM – to redeem the discount, click on this link. The discount code is already included in the link. See it at checkout.

The biggest drawback at the moment is that some devices do not support an electronic SIM. How can you know if your device supports the electronic card? Very simple: go to this link and you can see. Link to which devices support ESIM.

Car rental in Georgia

I do not recommend renting a car in Georgia, there are bumpy roads and the drivers there drive really fast. It is best to take local taxis and the train. In addition, it is also possible to go on organized trips in some places or on jeep trips.
If so, you decide to rent a car then you can search for a car in the search engine Papam Papam. Personally, I really like to search through them because they save me time (instead of going to several websites) and they also have the option of filtering out non-recommended rental companies.

Attractions in Georgia

There are two websites through which you can find various attractions in Cyprus such as wine tours, jeep tours and more. I recommend searching on the following sites: Get your guide and Viator.

Lodging in Tbilisi

We booked a shared room in a hostel called Nest Hostel Tbilisi in advance, and coordinated with them to pick us from the airport because we landed in the middle of the night.

The room had 4 beds and a shared bathroom with other rooms as well. It cost us 40 Lari. There is also an option to request a private room and it cost 70 Lari (I guess the prices might have changed since we were there). We were pleased with this hostel, the workers there are super nice and the location is great.

Things to do in Tbilisi

• Wander around the old city- great atmosphere and it’s really nice to walk there
• Cable car in the old city- I really recommend to go up with the cable car; the view is very nice. We went down by foot and it was great to walk through the narrow passageway
• Try local restaurants and try the local cuisine like khinkali (filled dumplings) you can try them at the restaurant The Most Tasty Khinkali Restaurant and also to try the khachapuri (pastry filled with cheese) you can try it at this recommended restaurant Machakhela
• Public bath house

Trips and tours from Tbilisi

Book tickets to Tbilisi: City Highlights Guided Walking Tour
Book tickets to Tbilisi: Cooking Class with a Local Family
Book tickets to trip from Tbilisi: Kazbegi, Gudauri & Zhinvali Guided Group Tour
Book tickets to a Day Trip to Kakheti Wine Region Including Seven Wine Tastings

How to arrive to Mestia from Tbilisi?

Train to Zugdidi and then a taxi or marshrutka (minivan shared taxi) to Mestia.
The train departs every day at 21:50 and arrives at 06:30.
We booked a private car in the train. The road was cool and we slept all the way.

In Zugdidi we decided to share a taxi with another couple instead of the marshrutka, it cost almost the same. The way to Mestia was pretty stiff, I had nausea from all the spinning but at least the road was so beautiful that it helped. Also the driver stopped twice, once near a big dam and later near an amazing lake view. We arrived to Mestia at around 11:30am

How many days to spend in Mestia?

3-6 days. The trek to Ushguli takes about 3-4 days and there are other treks that you can do like one day to the cross on the mountain. It is also very nice to wander around Mestia.

Lodging in Mestia

• Marina’s guesthouse–Marina is so nice and she cooks great food and the place itself is very clean.
• Eka’s guesthouse – big guesthouse, big rooms, and great food. They booked us a place in Nora’s house in Zabeshi.

Things to do in Mestia

• Trek to Ushguli- 3-4 days
  • The first day is a trek to the Zabeshi village; 15 km walking (supposed to take between 6-9 hours (depends on your walking speed). The way is so beautiful and you pass several small villages and the landscapes change all the time. This was an amazing day. We slept at Nora Chahliani’s house. She is an older lady but she works like an ant. So energetic 🙂 and she gave us a homey feeling. She cooked an amazing healthy food and we really liked to stay there.
  • Second day is the trek to Adishi. 10km and half of them are uphill. The trails are marked but it’s a little bit hard to understand the way. We took a guide that showed us the way for the uphill part because we didn’t want to get lost. If you have a good navigation tool you probably can manage without the guide. The way up was a little bit difficult but it’s not scary or something that can’t be done. The next part with the road to the Adishi village was absolutely stunning. When we arrived there we search for a place to spend the night. We saw a few places and decided to stay with a nice family. They had pigs and dogs in the yard and it felt like a farm. If you don’t want to or don’t have enough time to continue to Ushguli you can pay someone in the village to take you back with their car to Mestia.
  • Third day was a trek to Aprili 16 km. Flat and a nice way.
  • Fourth day was a trek to Ushguli. 10 km. Many people skip this part and pay someone to take them to Ushguli.
• Trek to the cross on the mountain. Supposed to take around 5-6 hours to arrive to the cross and go back

I recommend you to go to the tourist center in Mestia town center. You can take maps for the treks for free and also see which other treks you can do.

How to arrive to Kazbegi?

If you get there from Mestia you can take a marshrutka to Zugdidi (around 4p, you need to check the schedule with them). From Zugdidi you can take a night train back to Tbilisi. From the train station you go to the marshrutka station. We waited there about 2 hours until the marshrutka arrived and got full.

If you go there from Tbilisi go to the marshrutka station near the train station around 8am (it’s worth checking the schedule)
It’s a ride of about 3.5 hours with a few stops.

How many days to be in Kazbegi?

3-4 days

Lodging in Kazbegi

• Nazi guesthouse – great guesthouse with excellent food. Nazi really takes considerations if you have allergies or intolerance to certain ingredients. We booked a private room there with a private shower and it was really nice.

Things to do in Kazbegi

• Trek to the glacier- you can go by foot to the start of the hill to the glacier or to take a taxi.  If you go by foot it’s about 1.5 hours walking to the beginning of the hill. The trail up is very clear; you can’t get lost. It’s a long way up but it’s so worth it. The glacier is amazing. I really recommend this one-day trek. Some people even camp there and continue even more.
• Chachalala Mountain Trek- Nazi’s husband drove us to the beginning of the trek. If there are more people in the guesthouse that want to do this trek, you can coordinate with them in order to save money. Anyway you choose, he isn’t expensive. You can do a trek there or do horse riding. We did the trek but 2 other couples did the horse riding.
• There are more treks you can do in this area
• You can wander around the town
• You can also do paragliding there which looked awesome (we didn’t have enough time for it)

How to arrive Signagi?

If you go from Kazbegi, you can take a marshrutka from the town center to Tbilisi and from Tbilisi take a taxi.If you arrive from Tbilisi take a taxi.
We found another couple to share the taxi. It’s about 2 hours of ride.

How many days to stay there?

2-4 days

Lodging in Signagi

David Zndarshvili– a beautiful guesthouse with an amazing view and great people and food.

For more detailed information about Signagi visit our post “Signagi a town from the 18th century”