Tradition holds that Tbilisi was founded in the 5th century AD by King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Iberia, who according to legend went hunting near a hot sulfur spring and named the settlement after it — "tbili" means warm in Georgian. His son, Dachi, is credited with moving the capital here from Mtskheta not long after.

Sitting on the Silk Road crossroads between Europe and Asia, the city was fought over and rebuilt for centuries — by Persian, Arab, Mongol, Ottoman, and Russian rule in turn — which is why its Old Town still mixes Persian-style balconies, Georgian Orthodox churches, and Art Nouveau townhouses within a few streets of each other.

Tbilisi became the capital of independent Georgia in 1991 and has since layered a wave of contemporary architecture — glass bridges, cable cars, concert halls — over its historic core.

Archaeological evidence points to continuous winemaking in this part of the South Caucasus for around 8,000 years, making Kakheti one of the oldest wine-producing regions on Earth. The qvevri method — fermenting grapes in large clay vessels buried underground — was inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013, and is still practiced by family producers across the region today.

The walled hilltop town of Sighnaghi, known as the "City of Love," was founded in the 17th century under King Heraclius II and remains the only town in Georgia with its complete defensive walls and watchtowers intact. Nearby, Alaverdi Monastery has produced monastery wine since 1011, and Gremi Fortress once served as the 16th-century capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti.

Svaneti's defensive stone towers, most dating from the 9th to 12th centuries, were built by individual households rather than whole villages — the terrain was too rugged for a single defensive wall, so every family fortified its own home instead. The towers of Upper Svaneti, centered on Mestia and the village of Ushguli, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

The Svans are a distinct ethnic subgroup of Georgians with their own unwritten language, and the region's isolation — reachable only by a handful of mountain roads until recent decades — let its architecture, polyphonic singing traditions, and way of life survive largely intact. Ushguli, at 2,100 meters, is among the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe.

For most of its history Svaneti was a summer-only destination, visited between June and September for trekking. That changed with the opening of Hatsvali, Mestia's first ski resort, followed by the larger Tetnuldi resort in December 2015 — giving Svaneti a second season, from late December to April, built around some of the best off-piste and freeride terrain in the Caucasus.

Batumi began as Bathys, a Greek colony in the ancient kingdom of Colchis, prized for its natural deep harbor — the name itself comes from the Greek for "deep harbor." Rome later fortified it under Hadrian, and it passed through the hands of the Kingdom of Georgia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire, which annexed it in 1878 and turned it into a major crossroads port.

Today Batumi is the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. Since the 2000s it has rebuilt itself as a subtropical resort city, pairing restored 19th-century Old Town streets with a wave of contemporary towers along its seven-kilometer boulevard, while staying Georgia's main warm-weather escape from the mountains.

The Gergeti Trinity Church was built in the 14th century on a hilltop at 2,170 meters, directly below Mount Kazbek — at 5,047 meters, one of the highest peaks in the Caucasus and long treated as sacred ground in Georgian folklore. In times of danger, treasures from Mtskheta, including relics linked to Georgia's conversion to Christianity, were said to have been hidden here for safekeeping.

The town at the mountain's base, Stepantsminda (known for decades under the Soviet-era name Kazbegi), sits along the Georgian Military Highway, the historic route through the Caucasus connecting Georgia to the North Caucasus — still one of the most dramatic drives in the country.

Khevsureti is a historical-ethnographic highland province on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, divided by the mountains into Piraketa and Pirikita Khevsureti. Its villages weren't built as loose settlements but as single unified fortifications — most famously Shatili, whose roughly 60 stone towers cluster into what looks from a distance like one continuous castle, built primarily between the 12th and 18th centuries and now on UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List.

The Khevsurs developed a distinct warrior culture — chainmail armor, sword dances, and a mix of Christian and older folk belief — shaped by the region's role guarding Georgia's northern mountain passes for centuries. Villages like Mutso, abandoned since the mid-20th century, remain remarkably intact thanks to the region's isolation and harsh climate.

Samegrelo, also known as Mingrelia, is the ancestral homeland of the Mingrelians, a Georgian sub-ethnic group with their own language and traditions. The region traces its roots to the ancient kingdom of Colchis — the legendary destination of Jason and the Argonauts — whose fortified capital, Archaeopolis, now lies in ruins near the village of Nokalakevi.

From 1046, Samegrelo was ruled for centuries by the House of Dadiani, one of Georgia's most powerful noble families, who governed the region as a semi-independent principality until the last prince was forced to abdicate under Russian imperial pressure in 1867. Their palace in Zugdidi — which came to house Napoleon Bonaparte's death mask through a 19th-century family marriage — remains the region's centerpiece today.

Gudauri sits at roughly 2,200 meters along the Georgian Military Highway, developed as a dedicated ski resort starting in 1987–1988 by Georgian and international planners who recognized its high altitude and reliably deep snow cover. It has since grown into the largest and highest ski area in the country.

The resort's terrain is famously treeless above the tree line, which is exactly what makes it a favorite for freeride and off-piste skiing — Gudauri regularly hosts FIS-sanctioned freestyle competitions and is considered a major heli-skiing hub for the wider Caucasus region. The ski season typically runs from December into April.

Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti is Georgia's most sparsely populated region, formed from three historical provinces — Racha, Lechkhumi, and Kvemo Svaneti — in the upper valley of the Rioni River. Human presence here dates back to the Stone Age, and the area was a significant bronze and copper-working center in the Bronze and Iron Ages, tied into the wider legends of Colchis and the Golden Fleece.

Mount Khvamli, a limestone massif near Tsageri, holds a central place in Georgian legend as the mountain where Zeus chained Prometheus for teaching humanity how to make fire — some sources also link it to the Argonauts' journey and describe caves once used to hide the treasury of Georgian kings. The region later formed the medieval Racha Saeristavo (duchy) before passing to the Kingdom of Imereti and, in the early 1800s, the Russian Empire.

Traces of human life in Guria date back to the Lower Paleolithic period, with the region later forming part of the ancient kingdom of Colchis and its successor, Egrisi. Guria's compact geography packs Black Sea coastline, subtropical lowlands, and alpine mountain terrain into one of Georgia's smallest regions.

In the 19th century, Guria became the center of Georgian tea cultivation after Count Vorontsov ordered the first tea bushes planted near Ozurgeti; by the Soviet era, the region's plantations supplied tea across the USSR. The industry declined after 1991 but has been slowly revived in recent years through local initiatives like Ozurgeti's Tea Route.

Khachapuri is Georgia's single most recognizable dish, and there is no one version of it — nearly every region bakes its own shape, its own cheese blend, and its own rules for eating it. This masterclass moves through three of the best-known styles in one sitting: the boat-shaped Adjarian version from the Black Sea coast, the round Imeretian version found on tables from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, and the heavier, doubly-cheesed Megrelian version from the west.

Sessions run in a village kitchen or bakery with a working tone oven, led by a home baker rather than a restaurant chef — the same dough, three different fillings, and the same friendly argument about which one is best that most Georgian families have already had many times over.

Khinkali began in Georgia's mountain regions — Pshavi, Khevsureti, and Mtiuleti are usually credited as its home ground — where a well-sealed dumpling that trapped its broth inside made sense for herders working far from a kitchen. Today it's found everywhere in Georgia, but the highland version, folded by hand into a tight knot at the top, is still considered the standard against which every other khinkali is measured.

This session is entirely hands-on: guests learn the traditional pleat-and-twist fold from a family that makes khinkali daily, fill their own dumplings with the classic beef-and-pork mix (or a mushroom-and-potato version for vegetarians), and then eat everything they make — the proper way, by the knot, without cutlery.

Georgia is widely regarded as one of the birthplaces of wine, with archaeological evidence of grape fermentation in the South Caucasus reaching back roughly 8,000 years. The traditional method — fermenting and aging wine in large, egg-shaped clay vessels called qvevri, buried underground — was recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013, and it's still how a large share of Georgia's family producers make wine today.

This session pairs a working qvevri cellar with a guided tasting of Georgia's core grape varieties: reds like Saperavi and whites like Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, and Kisi. Guests see the qvevri method explained on site — skins, seeds, and stems fermenting together in clay — before tasting how it changes the wine compared to steel or oak.

Kubdari comes from Svaneti, Georgia's high mountain region, where a hearty bread stuffed with meat made practical sense for a diet built around long winters and physical work. The filling is usually beef or pork, chopped fine and seasoned heavily with Svanetian spices — caraway, coriander, and dried herbs are typical — then sealed inside a round of dough and baked until the crust is dark and the filling inside stays juicy.

This masterclass takes place in a Svan household, where guests mix and season the filling, seal the dough by hand, and bake it in a traditional stone oven, finishing with the same Svanetian salt blend used across the region's other dishes.

Both churchkhela and phelamushi come from the same base: tatara, a thickened grape-must syrup made at harvest time. For churchkhela, walnuts (or hazelnuts, or almonds) are threaded onto a string and dipped repeatedly into the hot syrup until it builds up into a firm, candle-shaped coating — sometimes called Georgia's answer to a candy bar. Phelamushi is the same syrup thickened further and eaten warm with a spoon, more pudding than candy, and especially associated with western Georgia.

This session runs during or just after the grape harvest where possible, and walks guests through both the dipping technique for churchkhela and the stirring-and-cooling process for phelamushi, finishing with a tasting of both alongside a few other harvest-season treats.

A supra is Georgia's traditional feast, built around a long table crowded with dishes rather than a set menu, and led by a tamada — a toastmaster who opens with a toast to peace or to the homeland before working through a set order that touches on family, ancestors, and guests. The tradition of the supra was inscribed on Georgia's own Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017, and it remains the standard way Georgians mark anything from a casual visit to a wedding.

This experience is a full sit-down supra rather than a single-dish masterclass: a spread built around pkhali (chopped, spiced vegetable dishes), badrijani nigvzit (walnut-stuffed eggplant), lobio (bean stew), mtsvadi (skewered grilled meat), and satsivi (chicken in walnut sauce), hosted by a family and guided by a tamada who explains the toasting order as it happens.

Georgian hospitality runs on a specific principle — stumar-maspindzloba, roughly “guest as a gift from God” — that shapes everything from how a visitor is fed to how a toast is structured. It shows up most visibly at the supra table, but it extends into music, dance, and drinking customs that are just as central to a Georgian trip as any landmark.

This page covers the customs behind the food: the tamada's toasting order, the kantsi drinking horn and how it's used, the qvevri method behind the wine on the table, and the folk dance and polyphonic singing evenings we can build into a group itinerary — separate from any single masterclass, and often the best way to close out a trip.

Georgia's landscapes and hospitality culture make it an increasingly popular wedding and elopement destination — a vineyard estate in Kakheti, a mountain church backdrop near Kazbegi, or a coastal celebration in Batumi. We handle the logistics the same way we handle a group tour: through direct relationships with venues, caterers, and transport, rather than a layer of subcontractors.

Ceremony planning, venue booking, guest transport and lodging, and catering built around a traditional Georgian supra are all arranged through the same local network we use for our regional trips — with live folk music or a tamada-led toasting program if you want the full Georgian celebration built in.

We run corporate groups the same way we run any other trip — through direct relationships with guides, venues, and transport across Georgia, rather than a layer of subcontractors. That means we can build anything from a single-day team offsite outside Tbilisi to a multi-day incentive trip combining wine country, mountain activities, and a closing supra, with reliable logistics for groups that need to move as a unit.

As with our B2B tour partnerships, everything can be packaged under your own company name, with one point of contact handling the ground arrangements from arrival to departure.

Mtsvadi is Georgia's classic barbecue — cubes of pork, beef, or lamb threaded onto skewers and grilled over open coals, traditionally fuelled by dried grapevine cuttings, which burn hot and fast and leave a faint smokiness in the meat. It's a fixture of the supra table and of everyday gatherings alike, cooked outdoors by whoever's turn it is to tend the fire.

This masterclass covers marinating, skewering, and fire management — building the right bed of coals, judging heat by hand, and turning the skewers at the right pace — finishing with the meat served straight off the skewer with tkemali, Georgia's sour plum sauce, and fresh herbs.

Pkhali is a category of Georgian dishes rather than a single recipe: finely chopped vegetables — spinach, beetroot, cabbage, or green beans are the most common — mixed with a ground walnut, garlic, and spice paste, then formed into small mounds and often topped with pomegranate seeds. It's a cornerstone of the vegetarian side of a Georgian table, and one of the dishes visitors most often ask to learn.

This session walks through the walnut paste that ties every version together, then covers two or three vegetable bases so guests leave with a working method for pkhali generally, not just one recipe.

Kutaisi is Georgia's second-largest city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, believed to be the capital of ancient Colchis — the land visited by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology in search of the Golden Fleece. From the 8th to 5th centuries BC it was the capital of the Kingdom of Colchis, and it later became the capital of the united Kingdom of Georgia under Bagrat III in the 11th century.

The city's landmark Bagrati Cathedral, built in 1003, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while nearby Gelati Monastery, founded in 1106 by King David the Builder, served as a center of science and learning in medieval Georgia and remains one of the country's most important religious and cultural sites.

Gori sits at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Liakhvi rivers in the Shida Kartli region, and has been settled since antiquity as a crossroads between eastern and western Georgia. Its hilltop fortress, Goris Tsikhe, dates back to the medieval period and once anchored the town's defenses, standing largely intact today above the modern town.

Gori is widely known as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, and its Stalin Museum remains one of Georgia's most visited — and most debated — historical sites; travelers often find it as revealing about how history gets presented as about the man himself. Just outside town, the rock-hewn cave city of Uplistsikhe predates Gori by well over a thousand years.