Why Georgia should be your next travel destination

The country that will make you forget everywhere else

There are destinations you visit and destinations that change you. Georgia is the second kind. Not because it is the most dramatic landscape on earth (though the Caucasus mountains are extraordinary), not because it has the oldest wine culture in the world (though 8,000 years of winemaking is genuinely remarkable), and not because the food is exceptional (though Georgian cuisine deserves a place at any table alongside the great world cuisines). It is all of these things, and the way they combine, and the people who carry this culture with such ease and generosity.

Georgia sits in the South Caucasus between Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It has been a crossroads of civilisations for millennia, absorbing influences from the Persian Empire, the Byzantine world, the Mongols, the Ottomans, and the Soviet Union, while retaining a culture so distinctively its own that visitors consistently describe arriving and feeling immediately that they are somewhere completely unlike anywhere else.

The wine that predates recorded history

Archaeological evidence from Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli region documents wine production from 6000 BCE — making Georgia the world’s oldest identified wine culture. The method used — fermenting and ageing wine in large clay vessels (qvevri) buried in the earth — is UNESCO-listed, still practised, and produces wines unlike anything else in the wine world.

Georgian amber wines (white wine fermented with the grape skins for months, producing a deep amber colour and a tannic, complex wine) are currently one of the most exciting categories in the international wine scene. Natural wine enthusiasts have been discovering them for a decade; the rest of the world is catching up.

The wineries are accessible, the tasting is inexpensive, and the cultural experience of a Kakhetian cellar visit — the cool earth smell, the ancient vessels, the glass handed to you by the winemaker’s grandmother — is unlike any winery visit in Bordeaux or Barossa.

The food that deserves a Michelin star

Georgian cuisine is not a niche interest. It is one of the world’s great food cultures, and the fact that it has received relatively little international attention is simply a function of how recently Georgia has become accessible to travellers.

Khachapuri — the cheese bread — is comfort food perfected over centuries, with regional varieties that represent completely different characters (the boat-shaped, egg-topped Adjaruli; the griddle-cooked, mild-cheese Imeruli; the double-cheese Megruli). Khinkali — the pleated soup dumplings — are a technical achievement: perfect dough, perfectly spiced broth inside, the eating ritual as pleasurable as the taste. The walnut-based dishes (badrijani nigvzit, satsivi, various pkhali) represent a cooking philosophy that is genuinely different from any European or Asian culinary tradition.

And then there is the supra — the Georgian feast tradition with its tamada toastmaster and elaborate toasting ritual. To sit at a Georgian table and receive those toasts — about peace, about Georgia, about your friendship, about the meaning of life — is one of the most humanising things travel offers.

The mountains that will stop your breath

The Greater Caucasus mountains forming Georgia’s northern border contain some of the most dramatic high-mountain landscapes in Europe. Kazbegi and its Gergeti Trinity Church (14th century, perched on a hilltop at 2,170 metres above a valley with a 5,047-metre peak above it) is already one of the iconic images of the Caucasus. Svaneti — the remote medieval tower village kingdom accessible only by a spectacular mountain road — is what happens when you discover the Caucasus has been hiding a completely different civilisation from the rest of the world.

The hiking, trekking, and adventure sports infrastructure in Georgia’s mountains is developing rapidly. The Mestia–Ushguli trek (crossing high passes through Svan villages) is already considered one of the finest multi-day treks in Europe.

The people who will feed you until you can’t move

The cliché about Georgian hospitality is not a cliché — it is an understatement. The concept of guests as gifts from God is not a marketing line; it is a lived cultural value expressed in how families cook, pour wine, compose toasts, and treat strangers.

Travelling in Georgia, you will be invited to share meals by people who have just met you. You will be given wine you cannot pay for. You will be shown things that are not in any guidebook by someone who simply wants you to understand their country better. This is not performance — it is character.

The ancient culture that still lives

Georgia has been Christian since 337 CE (one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity). The Georgian Orthodox Church is not a historical institution — it is an active presence in daily life, with ancient churches still in regular use, icons centuries old still venerated, and a calendar of religious festivals that structures the Georgian year.

Georgia also has its own unique script (mkhedruli), its own polyphonic choral singing tradition (UNESCO Intangible Heritage), its own theatrical tradition, and a medieval literature (the 12th-century epic poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” by Shota Rustaveli) that holds a place in Georgian culture comparable to Shakespeare in English or Dante in Italian.

The practicalities that make it easy

Georgia’s visa-free policy for most Western nationals (365 days, no application required) is extraordinarily generous. Flights from major European cities are increasingly direct; from Istanbul and Dubai, connections are excellent. The cost of living is low by European standards — a good meal with wine in a Tbilisi restaurant costs less than a coffee at an Italian airport.

The country is safe by any regional comparison. English is widely spoken in Tbilisi, tourist areas, and among younger Georgians. The infrastructure — roads, accommodation, restaurants, tours — has improved dramatically over the past decade.

The history that makes sense of everything

To understand why Georgia’s food, wine, architecture, and people feel so distinct from everywhere else, you need a brief historical sketch. Georgia has been fought over, invaded, and occupied by the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, the Arab Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. In between, it has had periods of glorious independence, most notably the reign of King David the Builder (1089–1125) and Queen Tamar (1184–1213), during which Georgia was briefly the dominant power in the Caucasus.

This history explains several things that first-time visitors notice:

Why the culture is so distinct: Eight invasions and eight colonial periods, and the culture is still unmistakably Georgian. The language survived (one of only four Kartvelian languages, unrelated to any other language family). The polyphonic singing survived. The qvevri winemaking survived. The script survived. This is not stubbornness — it is an extremely strong cultural identity that has resisted a remarkable amount of external pressure.

Why there are so many ancient churches: Georgia became Christian in 337 CE, one of the first nations in the world to do so. Over the next seventeen centuries, in between the invasions and the occupations, Georgians built churches. Hundreds of them. On clifftops, in cave complexes, in mountain passes, on islands in the middle of rivers. The density of ancient religious architecture in Georgia per square kilometre is extraordinary.

Why Georgians are the way they are: A culture that has survived this many external pressures develops very strong internal bonds. The hospitality, the family loyalty, the communal table — these are not tourist performance. They are the social structure that helped a small nation maintain its identity against considerably larger forces.

The cities beyond Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the obvious starting point and richly deserves extended time (see our 3-day Tbilisi itinerary for a proper introduction). But Georgia’s other cities each offer something distinct:

Kutaisi: Georgia’s second city and historical capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. Bagrati Cathedral (UNESCO, 11th century) and Gelati Monastery (founded 1106, described in its day as a “second Jerusalem”) are two of the most significant medieval buildings in the Caucasus. The city itself is relaxed, inexpensive, and undervisited — in the best way.

Batumi: Georgia’s Black Sea port city has transformed from Soviet-era resort into an unexpectedly cosmopolitan city of casinos, botanical gardens, Art Nouveau architecture, and subtropical beach culture. It is an odd combination and somehow it works.

Mtskheta: The ancient capital, 25 minutes from Tbilisi, where Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (5th century, rebuilt 11th century) stands on the site of Georgia’s first church. UNESCO World Heritage Site, active place of worship, and genuinely moving.

Sighnaghi: The small wine town in Kakheti with its intact medieval city walls, beautiful views over the Alazani valley, and the highest concentration of natural wine producers in Georgia. Essentially a Georgian Tuscany, but less crowded and more interesting.

Planning your trip

For practical planning, see our complete itineraries for different trip lengths. The safety guide for Georgia addresses the questions most first-time visitors have about the region. The digital nomad guide is useful if you are considering an extended stay.

When to go

Every season has something to offer. Spring (April–May) brings wildflowers in the mountains and the freshest wine. Autumn (September–October) is harvest season in Kakheti — grapes, festivals, and the most alive version of the wine culture. Summer (June–August) is peak season with full mountain access. Winter is quieter, cheaper, and magical in the mountains.

There is no bad time to go to Georgia. There is only the question of what you most want to see.

The question you will ask yourself leaving

Almost everyone who visits Georgia leaves asking the same question: why haven’t I heard more about this place? The food deserves the international reputation it is only now beginning to receive. The wine is one of the great undiscovered stories of the wine world. The mountains are legitimately among the most dramatic in Europe. And the welcome — the specific, genuine, culturally embedded Georgian welcome — is something most travellers have not experienced anywhere else.

The answer to the question is simple: Georgia was isolated for most of the 20th century and has been building its tourism infrastructure for less than twenty years. The early adopters are already there. The secret is still being kept, but not for much longer.

Go now, while it still takes a small amount of effort to find it.