Things to do in Kakheti
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Kakheti
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best for hiking and the desert: green valley, full Lagodekhi trails, Vashlovani still visitable.
Tusheti fully open; valley floor and semi desert are punishingly hot.
Rtveli harvest and the best overall window; Tusheti closes around mid October.
Quiet gold in the valley and Iliaoba in Kvareli; Tusheti closed.
Cold, clear and empty valley towns; Tusheti inaccessible and Vashlovani tracks unreliable.
What's on
- Rtveli grape harvest late September to mid October peak
A working harvest season across Kakheti; book winery harvest days such as Shumi weeks ahead.
- Iliaoba, Kvareli 8 November
The feast day associated with Ilia Chavchavadze, marked at his Kvareli museum and in the town.
Best things to do in Kakheti
Kindzmarauli Corporation Wine House
A working winery from 1533 in Kvareli, with cellars, a small museum and a four wine Kindzmarauli tasting for about 8 GEL.
Shumi Winery
A winery complex with a 900 variety vine collection, Georgia's first wine museum, qvevri marani and harvest days.
Ilia Chavchavadze Kvareli State Museum
The birthplace house, ancestral tower and working qvevri cellar of Georgia's national writer, in the centre of Kvareli.
Dartlo
A stone tower village stacked above the Pirikita Alazani gorge, walked lane by lane with nothing to buy a ticket for.
Old Mosque, Duisi
Home of the Friday women's zikr, a Sufi rite visitors may ask to observe by arrangement through a valley guesthouse.
Where to stay in Kakheti
Telavi
best base for the valley, wineries and monasteries
The regional hub whose stays are covered in full in the Telavi brief, and where Tusheti drivers are hired.
Sighnaghi
slow evenings and the Gareja side
The walled hill town base covered in full in the Sighnaghi brief, well placed for Bodbe and David Gareja days.
Kvareli town and Kvareli Lake
the northern valley at walking pace
Kindzmarauli and the Ilia museum in town, a chateau hotel in the centre and a full resort on the lake minutes out.
Lagodekhi town
hikers
Guesthouses and small hotels a short drive from the Lagodekhi trailheads, in a leafy local border town.
Udabno
David Gareja done slowly
One village in open steppe 15 km from the Lavra, with one famous place to stay and eat and no fallback option.
Omalo, Tusheti
the only Tusheti base
Seasonal family guesthouses with meals by custom, cash only, reached by the Abano Pass 4x4 road.
Think twice about
- Dedoplistskaro as a general Kakheti base
Right for Vashlovani, wrong for wine country: hours from the valley sights on slow roads.
- Unregistered border strips in Vashlovani, Lagodekhi and Tusheti
Register, take permits where required and stay on marked routes; do not wander or camp informally near border areas.
- Tusheti outside the season
When the Abano road closes the villages largely empty and there is no visitor infrastructure to base in.
Best restaurants in Kakheti
Oasis Club
Georgian and Svan cooking on a garden terrace in open steppe, and the table every David Gareja day depends on.
Restaurant Chateau Kvareli
The reliable sit down Georgian dinner in Kvareli town, on the chateau terrace with the winery's own wines.
La Deka
The guesthouse restaurant in Lagodekhi town, and the easy refuel after a Ninoskhevi waterfall day.
Udabno Terrace
A village Georgian restaurant in Udabno, the second table in a village with nothing else until Sagarejo.
Outdoor things to do in Kakheti
David Gareja Monastery
A 6th century cave Lavra above semi desert, with the banded Rainbow Mountains on the approach road from Udabno.
Abano Pass
The only road into Tusheti, 72 km of unpaved hairpins to about 2,926 metres, open in season and 4x4 with a local driver only.
Omalo
Tusheti's main village under the Keselo towers, and the trailhead for day hikes and horse treks to Dartlo and Shenako.
Ninoskhevi Waterfall
An 8.5 km river trail from Gurgeniani through chestnut forest, with repeated crossings, to a waterfall about 40 metres high.
Vashlovani National Park
Semi desert badlands, pistachio forest and gazelle steppe in the far south east, visited by registered 4x4 routes only.
Best hotels in Kakheti
Kvareli Lake Resort
A full resort on its own 44 hectare lake by Kvareli, with pool, spa, boats and Alazani Valley views.
Chateau Kvareli
A winery owned hotel in the centre of Kvareli with pool, terrace and tasting rooms, walkable to Kindzmarauli.
Wald Hotel Lagodekhi
A three star hotel with restaurant, sauna and seasonal pool, and the practical base for Lagodekhi trailheads.
Oasis Club Cottages
Wooden cottages with terraces in open steppe, 14 km from the David Gareja Lavra and effectively the only Udabno stay.
Samzeo Tusheti
One of Tusheti's better appointed guesthouse hotels on the Omalo to Dartlo road, with home cooked meals, in season only.
Guesthouse Omalo
A family guesthouse in Omalo praised for generous home cooking, whose hosts arrange the 4x4 ride from Telavi.
La Deka Guesthouse
A four room riverside guesthouse with kitchens, balconies and its own restaurant, the budget base for Ninoskhevi.
Nazy's Guest House
A family guesthouse in Jokolo, and the standard respectful way to stay in Pankisi and arrange valley visits.
Is Kakheti expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | GEL 100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | GEL 260 a person |
| Splurge | GEL 650 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Shumi Winery: a few days ahead
- Old Mosque, Duisi: weeks ahead
- Abano Pass: weeks ahead
- Omalo: a few days ahead
- Vashlovani National Park: a few days ahead
- Kvareli Lake Resort: weeks ahead
- Chateau Kvareli: a few days ahead
- Oasis Club Cottages: weeks ahead
- Tusheti guesthouses and drivers weeks ahead for July and August, and rtveli programmes for late September to October.
- Oasis Club Cottages ahead for Gareja season weekends; it is the only Udabno stay.
- Pankisi stays and visits always in advance through a guesthouse, never unannounced.
Is Kakheti safe?
- Roads are the main risk: daylight driving, seatbelts and a sober trusted driver.
- Gareja and Vashlovani are semi desert with no shade or shops; carry all your water and start early.
- Register in Lagodekhi and Vashlovani, stay on marked paths at Gareja, and take local advice before border routes.
Kakheti travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- One day tours promising Sighnaghi, Gareja, Kvareli and Telavi in a single day are windscreen time.
- Tusheti in a day does not exist; the pass road alone is four to five hours each way.
- Buy wine at the cellar door, where prices are honest, not at the airport.
Getting around Kakheti: public transport and more
- Base in Telavi or Sighnaghi and treat Kvareli, Gareja and Lagodekhi as driver days or single overnights.
- Tusheti and Vashlovani need specialist local 4x4 drivers; the Abano Pass is never a visitor self drive.
- Marshrutkas link the valley towns cheaply; there is no passenger train in Kakheti.
Who Kakheti suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Kakheti your trip
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