Christmas in Georgia
5 DAYS | EX COCHIN | DEP 22 DEC · TBILISI · GUDAURI · GORI AND MTSKHETA
EXPERIENCES:
Air Arabia Flights | Georgia Visa | 4 Star Hotels | All Meals | Malayalee Tour Manager | Travel Insurance to 70
The Star of the Caucasus
Georgia: Where Wine Was Invented, 8,000 Years Ago
Snow peaks over a hilltop monastery, sulphur baths under a fortress, vineyards older than written history, and a table that will not let you leave hungry. Europe's edge, at Asia's prices.
Why Georgia
Small Country, Enormous Welcome.
Georgia sits where Europe stops being Europe, a country of high Caucasus peaks and warm valleys that has been making wine for eight thousand years, longer than anywhere else on earth, still buried in clay kvevri under the ground. Tbilisi tumbles down its hillsides in carved wooden balconies, sulphur bathhouses, and cable cars to a fortress, cheerfully broke and cheerfully stylish. An hour east, Kakheti's vineyards run to the horizon; three hours north, the road climbs to a lone church at seven thousand feet under Mount Kazbek. The food arrives in mountains: cheese-filled khachapuri, dumplings the size of a fist, walnut and pomegranate everywhere, all of it vegetarian-friendly and none of it expensive. It is one of the softest landings in international travel for a Kerala family, and Fortune runs it as a fixed departure.
Across the Caucasus
The Corners That Fill a Georgia Trip.
Journeys begin in Tbilisi and travel out to the mountains and the vines. These are the pieces.
Tbilisi and the Old Town
Balconied houses stacked above the Kura river
The Narikala fortress reached by cable car, the domed sulphur baths of Abanotubani, Holy Trinity Cathedral, and a flea market on the Dry Bridge selling Soviet medals and silver.
Kazbegi and the Military Highway
The old road north through Ananuri fortress and the Jvari pass
Ending at Gergeti Trinity Church, a fourteenth-century chapel standing alone at seven thousand feet with the white shoulder of Mount Kazbek behind it.
Kakheti and the Wine Country
The birthplace of wine
Cellars where the harvest still ferments in buried clay vessels, the walled hill town of Sighnaghi looking over the Alazani valley, and long tables where a toastmaster keeps the evening moving.
Mtskheta, Gudauri and Beyond
The old capital and its UNESCO cathedrals half an hour from Tbilisi
The ski slopes and paragliding lines of Gudauri in the high country, and the Black Sea at Batumi for those who add the coast.
Before you go
Georgia, in brief.
Mountains, monasteries, and the world's oldest vineyards, an easy flight away and gentle on the budget. The essentials first.
The Church on the Mountain
The Road to Gergeti
Seven Thousand Feet Up
A Chapel Alone Beneath Mount Kazbek
Gergeti Trinity Church has stood on its green shoulder of mountain since the fourteenth century, a single stone chapel and bell tower with nothing around it but grass, sky, and the snow wall of Mount Kazbek rising behind. The drive up the Georgian Military Highway is half the pleasure: reservoirs, gorges, the fortress at Ananuri, and a pass where the whole Caucasus opens at once. Weather runs the show up here, clouds can swallow the peak in minutes and clear just as fast, so the trick is being there in the morning when the air is sharpest and the mountain is out. That is when the photograph everyone comes for takes itself, and it is exactly how the day is scheduled.
Worth Knowing
Eight Thousand Years of Wine, and the Table That Comes With It.
Georgia has the oldest winemaking tradition on earth, and it never industrialised: the grapes still go into kvevri, egg-shaped clay vessels buried to the neck in cellar floors, exactly as they did in the stone age. UNESCO lists the method as living heritage. What makes it memorable is the supra, the Georgian feast, where a tamada or toastmaster raises long, poetic toasts to family, ancestors, and guests, and the table keeps filling. Non-drinkers are never awkward here; the toasts matter more than the glass, and the food alone is worth the trip.
The Fortune Way
A Warm Country Deserves a Warm Plan.
20 Years of Experience
Two decades of journeys from Kerala, with the Caucasus among our fastest-growing departures.
Routes That Follow the Weather
Mountain mornings scheduled for clear skies, and Kakheti timed for the September harvest.
Tables That Taste of Home
Georgian food is famously vegetarian-friendly, and Indian meals are arranged in Tbilisi for those who want them.
One Booking, Door to Door
Flights, visa file, hotels, mountain transfers, and cellar visits held together by a single Fortune team.
The Fortune departure
One Fixed Departure, Leaving 22 December.
Five days from Cochin to Tbilisi, with a night up at Gudauri in the Caucasus, a day out through Gori and Mtskheta, and Christmas Day itself spent walking the old streets of Tbilisi. Flights, the Georgia visa, 4-star hotels, all meals and travel insurance sit inside the one booking.
FAQ
Questions with useful answers
Yes, and the single entry visa cost is inside the tour price. Your passport needs at least six months validity beyond the return date. Send your documents early, because processing times vary and granting the visa is the consulate's decision, not ours.
Cold, and Gudauri sits at 2,200 metres where it is colder still. Carry a proper winter jacket, gloves, a cap and shoes with grip. Everything indoors is heated, so it is the outdoor stops that need the layers.
It can. Mountain roads in December run to conditions, so the order of the days may be resequenced for safety. Nothing is dropped, it simply moves, and the tour manager makes that call on the ground.
Very. Georgian cooking is unusually vegetarian friendly, built around cheese breads, beans, walnuts, pomegranate and vegetable dishes. Lunch and dinner also run at Indian restaurants through the tour, so nobody is short of options.
The five day route reaches Gudauri and the Georgian Military Highway as far as the Gudauri Panorama. Gergeti sits further north at Kazbegi, and December conditions on that stretch decide what is possible. Ask the desk what your departure can include before you book.
Yes, with two things to know. Drives are short but the mountain day involves altitude, and the Tbilisi walking day covers cobbles and slopes. A cable car handles the climb to Narikala. Tell the desk who is travelling and they will pace the day accordingly.
On the December 22 departure, day four falls on Christmas and that is the full Tbilisi walking day, through the old town, the fortress and the sulphur bath quarter. Georgia keeps Christmas on 7 January under the Orthodox calendar, so the 25th is an ordinary working day there, with the city decorated for the season rather than closed for it.
The December 22 departure runs on a fixed date, but everything around it can be arranged. Extra nights in Tbilisi either side, a Kakheti wine day, a gentler pace through Gori and Mtskheta, or a private departure for your own group all sit within reach. Tell the desk what you need and a fresh plan comes back for approval.