Things to do in Telavi
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Telavi
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best joint window: green valley, comfortable walking temperatures, Lagodekhi waterfalls running well.
Festival and rtveli harvest season: the peak of the Kakheti year, book everything ahead.
Hot season, 32 to 35 degrees: sightsee early and late, swim at Ilia Lake, expect full resorts at weekends.
Green spring with common heavy rain; forest trails at their muddiest.
Quiet gold: harvest over, cellars calm, first snow on the Caucasus and sharper views.
Quiet, clear and cheap: best mountain views, low prices, some venues on reduced hours.
What's on
- Tsinandali Festival September, around one week, dates vary by year
International classical music festival in the Tsinandali Estate amphitheatre and grounds.
- Rtveli grape harvest late September to mid October, varies by vineyard
Harvest season across Kakheti: picking, pressing and supra feasts, booked ahead at estates.
- Gurjaani Wine Festival Usually early to mid October
One day open festival of Kakhetian wine and food in Gurjaani, about 40 minutes south of Telavi.
- Orthodox Christmas 7 January
Family celebration rather than a public event, in the quiet and clear winter season.
Best things to do in Telavi
Batonis Tsikhe
Seventeenth century fortress palace above Telavi, with ramparts, towers and the best viewpoint in town.
Telavi History Museum
Strong painting gallery and ethnography museum whose ticket also admits King Erekle II royal palace.
Giant Plane Tree
A roughly 900 year old plane tree with a 12 metre trunk, a local pilgrimage spot opposite the fortress.
Cholokashvili Street
Telavi prettiest cobbled lane of carved balconies, studios and wine bars, layered with Telaviin QR stories.
Telavi Bazaar
Kakheti great covered market for cheese, spices, adjika and the freshest churchkhela in Georgia.
Odlisi
Family cheese bar in a 100 year old schoolhouse, ageing its own infused cheeses and serving generous boards.
Dakishvili Wine & Chocolate
Underground bar boutique pairing qvevri wines with handmade chocolate, and welcoming walk ins.
House Museum of Alexander Chavchavadze
The estate where Georgian wine was first bottled, with period rooms, gardens and a historic enoteca.
Where to stay in Telavi
Cholokashvili Street & Old Town centre
best base, walking to everything
Restored lanes between the fortress and the bazaar, with the best boutique stays and restaurants on your street.
Central Telavi, Rustaveli Avenue
full service hotels and easy arrival
Flatter ground at the fortress foot, close to the bazaar, theatre and bus connections.
Tsinandali village
luxury estate base
Vineyards and estate gardens 10 km east, with Telavi a short taxi ride away.
Kisiskhevi & Vardisubani winery villages
chateau stays with a car
Wake among vines and taste where you sleep, 5 to 7 km from the centre.
Napareuli & Lopota Lake
resort stay
A lakeside resort destination in the foothills, with northern Kakheti on its doorstep.
Think twice about
- Outlying villages sold as Telavi
Listings in Kisiskhevi, Shalauri, Napareuli and further strand you a taxi ride from every sight, on unlit rural roads, unless you have a car.
- Highway fringe on the Tbilisi and Gurjaani roads
Noisy truck roads with nothing to walk to and pavements that give up. Fine for a driver needing a bed, miserable as a holiday base.
- Steepest upper lanes above the fortress in winter
Beautiful lanes that ice over in deep winter. With heavy luggage in January, base in the flatter centre instead.
Best restaurants in Telavi
Doli
Communal Hotel restaurant serving Kakhetian cooking, mountain style khinkali and local qvevri wine.
Zodiako
The Telavi branch of the famed khinkali taverna, with meat, cheese and mushroom dumplings at tavern prices.
Kapiloni
The local favourite for Georgian classics and local wine in a beautiful leafy courtyard.
Badia
Quality Georgian cooking paired with one of the best restaurant views in the Telavi area.
Bravo
Generous classic Georgian portions, local wine and breakfast daily on a favourite outdoor terrace.
Alkhanaidze Beer Restaurant in Telavi
Khinkali with craft beer in a tavern room, the more local half of Telavi dumpling argument.
Mala's Garden
Georgian classics in a green garden setting, built for long warm evenings and group tables.
HB Telavi
German style beer hall pouring house beer beside a Georgian menu, and a reliably fun room.
Outdoor things to do in Telavi
Dzveli Shuamta Monastery
One of Georgia oldest church groups in a forest clearing, reached by a woodland walk from its sister convent.
Akhali Shuamta Monastery
A working 16th century convent with frescoes, linked to Old Shuamta by a 2 km forest path.
Nadikvari Park
Telavi hilltop park with platforms over the Alazani Valley and the Caucasus, best at sunset.
Gremi Museum
The tower museum of Kakheti former royal capital, climbable for a panorama over the valley.
Nekresi Monastery
A 6th century monastery on a forested ridge with the finest elevated view on this side of the valley.
Winery Khareba
Kilometres of rock wine tunnels in Kvareli, toured with tastings of qvevri and European style wines.
Sighnaghi
Kakheti walled hilltop showpiece town, with walkable 18th century walls and a sheer valley view.
Bodbe Monastery of St. Nino
The tomb of St. Nino in manicured gardens above the valley, with a pilgrim path to her spring.
Best hotels in Telavi
Tsinandali Estate, A Radisson Collection Hotel
Kakheti flagship luxury hotel inside the Chavchavadze estate, with rooftop infinity pool and spa.
Lopota Lake Resort & Spa
Eight hotels around a private lake, with winery, pools, spa and a full activity menu.
Schuchmann Wines Château, Villas & SPA
Working winery chateau with villas and a wine spa in the vines, five kilometres from Telavi.
Park Hotel Tsinandali
Quieter boutique scale alternative to the Radisson, in the same estate village setting.
Communal Hotel Telavi
Design led boutique hotel on Telavi best street, with a pool and the Doli restaurant downstairs.
Holiday Inn Telavi
Full service hotel at the fortress foot with pools, sauna and a rooftop restaurant bar.
Château Mere
Castle styled winery hotel with pool and spa among the vines, at mid range prices.
Hestia Hotel, Wine & View
Family run hilltop hotel with big bright rooms, a panoramic rooftop terrace and home cooked dinners.
Is Telavi expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | GEL 90 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | GEL 230 a person |
| Splurge | GEL 600 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Odlisi: a few days ahead
- Lopota Lake Resort & Spa: a few days ahead
- Ambassadori Kachreti Golf Resort: a few days ahead
- Château Buera: weeks ahead
- Marleta's Farm: a few days ahead
- Dzveli Galavani: a few days ahead
- Rtveli season and Tsinandali Festival dates fill Telavi small hotels and the estate hotels early.
- Harvest programmes, Marleta's Farm and Odlisi outside summer all need booking ahead.
Is Telavi safe?
- Roads are the main risk: fast rural driving, livestock, and the winding Gombori Pass. Drive it in daylight.
- The driver does not taste. Hire a driver or taxi after winery visits and supras.
- Monastery dress codes are strict: covered shoulders and knees, scarves for women. Emergency number 112.
Telavi travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Kakheti in a day from Tbilisi means 4 plus hours of driving. Stay the night in Telavi.
- Listings marketed as Telavi that are actually 10 to 30 km away in villages.
- Unannounced family cellar visits. Family maranis host by arrangement through your hotel.
Getting around Telavi: public transport and more
- Walk the centre. Bolt works in Telavi; agree out of town taxi fares before you get in.
- Marshrutkas run from Tbilisi Isani and Ortachala, about 2 hours via the Gombori Pass. There is no train to Kakheti.
- Monasteries and wineries need a car: hotel arranged drivers and GoTrip cars are the local pattern.
Who Telavi suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Telavi your trip
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