Rufus Reade Tours

5 to 21 June 2012

The detailed itinerary can be seen by clicking this link

This itinerary gives you a summary of our intentions:
One place remains on this tour

5 June Fly with bmi to Tbilisi from London Heathrow.
6 June Tbilisi sightseeing tour mainly on foot. Overnight in our hotel in Tbilisi.
7 June Visit the ancient capital and religious centre of Georgia – Mtskheta. Drive up the Georgian Military Highway up into the Greater Caucasus. We’ll stop at the lovely 17 century Ananuri monastery before continuing to Kazbegi where we’ll spend two nights.
8 June Walk up to the Gergeti Trinity Church (at 2170m.). Dinner and overnight at a hotel in Kazbegi.
9 June The drive to the town of Gori and Uplistsikhe Cave Town (1 millennium BC). We’ll continue to Kutaisi where we’ll stay the night.
10 June 11 km north-east of Kutaisi we’ll see the Gelati monastery beautifully positioned on a forested hillside. After our visit we’ll drive to Zugdidi before continuing to Mestia. Our accommodation in Mestia will be in a delightful homestay where the true extent of Svan hospitality will become apparent!
11 June A three-hour drive will take us to 2200 metres, the highest permanent village in Europe – Ushguli which together with the whole Upper Svaneti region, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ll have our picnic lunch in the village and walk up to see a lovely little chapel. In the afternoon we’ll drive back to Mestia.
12 June As we take the road back to Zugdidi we’ll pause at the Lenjeri and Latali churches. We’ll spend a night in Kutaisi .
13 June Leaving Kutaisi we’ll drive towards the Lesser Caucasus. We’ll spend two nights in a homestay in Akhaltsikhe.
14 June Our destination is the remarkable monastery caves at Vardzia. We’ll have a picnic lunch by the River Mtkvari before returning to our homestay at Akhaltsikhe.
15 June After our breakfast we’ll drive to the border with Armenia and cross over. Our Armenian guide will then take us south to Gyumri.
16 June Tour of Gyumri and then drive to the charming 10 century church complex at Marmashen. We’ll return to Gyumri for our second night in the Berlin Hotel.
17 June We’ll continue towards Alaverdi to our very comfortable hotel at Dzoragets.
18 June Visit the pretty village of Odzun with an interesting church, parts of which date to the 6 century and later continue to two monastic academies, Haghpat and Sanahin. We’ll return to Dzoragets for our hotel on the river.
19 June We’ll follow the river northwards and fork off to see the lovely church of Akhtala. After our visit we’ll continue to the Georgian border, and after formalities we’ll drive to Tbilisi for our last two nights.
20 June For our last day of the holiday we’ll have a free day in Tbilisi. Overnight in Tbilisi.
21 June We plan to catch the 0850 bmi flight to London Heathrow, scheduled to arrive at 1400.

To see the detailed itinerary click here.
To see the cost of this holiday click here

The images on this page are all from Georgia. Click on the arrow beneath the image to see the slide show.