Georgia's hidden gems: 10 places most tourists miss

Beyond the standard circuit

Every Georgia traveller discovers Tbilisi, Kazbegi, and Kakheti. The more adventurous add Svaneti and Batumi. But Georgia has layers of extraordinary destinations that most visitors never reach — places where the tourist infrastructure is minimal, the landscapes are extraordinary, and the sense of discovery is complete.

These are the ten places I return to when I want Georgia without the crowds.

1. Tusheti — the last medieval kingdom

Accessible only by the Abano Pass road (one of Europe’s most extreme mountain roads, open May–October), Tusheti is a cluster of medieval stone tower villages at 1,700–2,100m elevation with no permanent year-round population. In summer, families return from their winter lowland homes to their ancient mountain villages. In autumn, they descend again. The cycle has continued for centuries.

The villages — Omalo, Dartlo, Shenako, Diklo — are unlike anything in Western Europe’s mountain heritage. The architecture is rough stone, the towers are purely defensive, the landscape is wild and open. Reaching Tusheti is genuinely difficult; being there is genuinely extraordinary.

2. Racha — the secret wine region

Racha in the northern highlands produces some of Georgia’s rarest and most culturally significant wines: Khvanchkara (Stalin’s favourite, a semi-sweet red from Aleksandrouli and Mujuretuli grapes, barely available outside the region), Tvishi (a semi-sweet white), and various natural wines from tiny family operations on terraced vineyards that cling to mountain slopes at over 1,000m.

Almost no tourists visit Racha. The roads are challenging. The wine is extraordinary. The small city of Ambrolauri is charming and almost entirely off the international tourist map.

3. Chiatura — Soviet cable cars above a manganese mine

The cable car city in Imereti — original Soviet-era cabins still running above a working industrial city — is one of the most unusual travel experiences in Georgia. Combine with Katskhi Pillar (a 40m limestone monolith with a medieval church on top) for a full day of genuinely unusual Georgian sights. See our Chiatura post for the full picture.

4. Lagodekhi — pristine Caucasus wilderness

In Georgia’s far east, bordering Azerbaijan in a corner where the Greater Caucasus meets the Alazani plain, Lagodekhi Nature Reserve preserves some of the most pristine temperate forest in the Caucasus. The Black Lake hiking route (20 km round trip, full day) passes through forest that has not been logged since before the Soviet period — old-growth beech and hornbeam, clear mountain streams, wildlife including lynx and brown bear.

This is not a tourist destination with infrastructure. It is a wilderness experience that happens to be accessible from Tbilisi in 3 hours.

5. The Truso Valley near Kazbegi

Most Kazbegi visitors hike to Gergeti Trinity Church. The Truso Valley — accessible by 4WD from Kazbegi along the Terek River — is only visited by a fraction of that number, which is extraordinary given that it may be the most dramatic landscape in the region.

The valley follows the Terek upstream through a gradually narrowing gorge, passing travertine terraces (calcium carbonate formations deposited by mineral springs), sulphur springs that turn the river orange, abandoned medieval Georgian villages, and ultimately the Georgian-Ossetian border.

It is an almost alien landscape — the mineral colours, the abandoned settlements, the geological violence of the formations — and almost entirely free of crowds.

6. Vardzia — cave city of the Georgian queens

Built in the 12th–13th century by the Georgian kings and most associated with Queen Tamar (the greatest ruler in Georgian history, reigning 1184–1213), Vardzia is a cave monastery city carved into a volcanic cliff face in the Samtskhe region. The scale is extraordinary: hundreds of cave rooms on multiple levels, including a fully frescoed cave church at the heart of the complex.

Vardzia appears on most Georgia lists but is undervisited because it requires a substantial detour from the standard Tbilisi-Kazbegi-Kakheti circuit. The extra driving (combine with Borjomi and Rabati on a southwest day trip) is entirely worth it.

7. Ushguli in January

Most people visit Ushguli in summer. The highest permanently inhabited settlement in Europe, surrounded by glaciers and the peaks of the western Caucasus, is spectacular year-round. But in January, when the snow is deep, the towers are white-topped, and the population has largely descended to their winter homes, Ushguli becomes something even more extraordinary: a medieval landscape in winter silence.

The access road (rough 4WD in good conditions) becomes more challenging in winter. The guesthouses that remain open are warm and serve extraordinary food. Visiting Ushguli in winter requires planning and appropriate equipment; it rewards both.

8. Katskhi Pillar

A 40-metre-high freestanding limestone monolith with a 9th-century church complex on its flat summit, accessible by a steep metal stairway (280 steps). The Katskhi Pillar was used by hermit monks for centuries, taking advantage of its inaccessibility as a form of isolation. Rediscovered by archaeologists in the Soviet era, it is now technically accessible but remains very lightly visited — 15 km from Chiatura in Imereti.

The view from the summit — across the Imereti hills with the gorge below — and the extraordinary fact of a medieval church on top of a freestanding rock column make this one of Georgia’s most remarkable sites.

9. Sighnaghi in the off-season

Sighnaghi, the fortified wine town above the Alazani Valley, is crowded in summer and transforms completely in winter. The cobbled streets, the views over the valley toward the Caucasus, the wine bars, and the guesthouses are all at their best when the tourist buses have stopped running and the only visitors are those who sought the place out specifically.

Staying two nights in Sighnaghi in October or April, with the vineyards either golden and harvesting or just leafing out in spring green, and eating breakfast on a terrace with the mountains visible, is one of Georgia’s quiet pleasures.

10. Sno Valley near Kazbegi

Less extreme than the Truso Valley but equally beautiful, the Sno Valley runs south from the Georgian Military Highway near Kazbegi through a wide, open mountain valley with several traditional Caucasus villages and excellent views of the surrounding peaks. The valley sees a fraction of the traffic that goes to Gergeti Trinity Church.

A half-day walk through Sno Valley — taking in the medieval defensive tower in the village of Sno, the wide valley floor with its stone-walled fields, and the mountain backdrop — offers the Kazbegi mountain experience with near-total solitude.

Why these places are still hidden

Georgia’s tourism boom of the 2010s and early 2020s was real but geographically concentrated. Tbilisi’s infrastructure developed rapidly; Kazbegi was connected to Tbilisi’s tourist ecosystem; Kakheti wine country became a day-trip standard; Svaneti found its way onto international trekking itineraries. These are all genuinely excellent places. They are also now genuinely popular.

The destinations in this list require more effort: more planning, more time on difficult roads, more willingness to arrive somewhere without a tourist information office or a restaurant that takes card payments. This effort filters visitors more effectively than a formal access restriction ever could.

The result is that Tusheti still has the feeling of genuine discovery that Kazbegi had twenty years ago. Racha’s wineries are still mostly unknown outside of a small circle of Georgian natural wine enthusiasts. The Truso Valley is walked by a few dozen visitors on a summer weekend when Gergeti Trinity Church has a few hundred.

This will change. It is already changing — Georgian tourism promotion has identified most of these destinations and is actively developing infrastructure. Visit now, while the infrastructure serves the experience rather than replacing it.

Building a trip around hidden gems

A 14-day Georgia trip that reaches beyond the standard circuit:

Days 1–3: Tbilisi — Foundation of Georgian food, wine, and urban culture. Essential even for those who have been before.

Days 4–5: Kakheti with Lagodekhi extension — Wine country plus the Lagodekhi wilderness. The Black Lake trail is a full day; stay overnight in Lagodekhi rather than rushing back.

Days 6–7: Tusheti — Two nights minimum to justify the Abano Pass crossing. Omalo as base; Dartlo and Shenako as day walks from the village.

Days 8–9: Racha — Ambrolauri and the Khvanchkara territory. An overnight brings you close enough to the winemakers to visit multiple cellar doors.

Days 10–11: Chiatura and Katskhi Pillar — The industrial and historical contrast in a single two-day circuit from Kutaisi.

Days 12–13: Vardzia and Borjomi — The southwest circuit covers both cave city and mountain spa in two days.

Day 14: Return to Tbilisi.

This itinerary is ambitious and requires a rental car (4WD recommended). It visits a version of Georgia that most travellers with two or three visits have not yet seen. See our 14-day Georgia itinerary for a more detailed framework.

How to reach Georgia’s hidden gems

The common thread across these destinations is that they require either a rental car, a local driver, or an organised tour that covers less standard itineraries. Public transport covers most of Georgia, but not all of it, and not on the schedules that allow efficient day trips from a base.

For Tusheti specifically: a guided tour or a hired 4WD driver with experience of the Abano Pass road is strongly recommended over self-driving.

For the others: a rental car (automatic or manual, standard sedan for most, 4WD for Tusheti and winter Svaneti) covers the full list.

The digital nomad guide to Georgia has information on renting cars and navigating Georgia independently. The safety guide covers the specific road safety considerations for mountain routes.