Kakheti Wine Tour: David Gareja, Sighnaghi & Tastings

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

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Duration8h–11h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · RU

PickupAt your hotel

A 6th-century monastery carved into a rock mountain, rainbow-colored slopes, and five wines to taste in one day.

This private wine tour departs Tbilisi at 9:30 am and covers the Kakheti wine region over 8 to 11 hours, with stops at David Gareja desert monastery, Bodbe convent, the walled city of Sighnaghi, and an organic wine cellar where you taste at least 5 types of wine and 2 cognacs. Hotel pickup, entrance fees, an English-speaking guide, and smoked Shoti bread with cheese are included in every package; lunch and wine inclusions vary by option you choose at checkout.

8h–11h

Step-by-step itinerary

Kakheti Wine Tour and David Gareja Visit

Pick up from hotel at 9:30 am
Taste Churchkhela, wine, and chacha in Manavi
Taste hot Shoti bread with cheese in Badiauri
Visit Bodbe convent and St. Nino's burial place
Explore Sighnaghi, the city of love
Visit David Gareja desert monastery and rainbow mountains
Wine tasting and food at organic wine cellar
Return to hotel

The Experience

How do you fit a monastery carved into a mountainside, a convent built over a saint's tomb, a walled city known as the city of love, and a wine tasting into one day without driving yourself? The tour handles the route and the timing. You're picked up at your hotel at 9:30 am and driven east into Kakheti, stopping first at a Churchkhela shop to taste Georgian candies, wine and chacha before the main sites. The drive continues through the Alazani valley—the landscape that makes the region famous for wine—and you'll stand in front of each place with enough time to move through it without rushing.

David Gareja is the centerpiece: a 6th-century monastery complex carved directly into the rock face of a desert mountain, with rainbow-colored geological layers visible on the slopes around it. Before that, you stop at Bodbe, the convent where Saint Nino—who converted Georgia to Christianity in the 4th century—is buried, and the views down into the Alazani valley from there are the reason people bring cameras. Sighnaghi, surrounded by defensive walls and 23 towers, sits on a ridge overlooking the same valley; it's a short drive from Bodbe and the town itself is small enough to walk through without a plan. At each stop, the guide explains what you're looking at and why it matters to Georgian history.

The wine tasting happens at an organic cellar at the end of the day, and this is where your package choice matters. All packages include at least 5 types of wine and 2 cognacs with snacks; if you book with lunch, you get a heavy Georgian dinner with barbecue and wine instead. Either way, you taste the wines where they're made. The drive back to Tbilisi leaves you at your hotel in the evening. Along the way, in Badiauri, you stop for hot Shoti bread and homemade cheese—this is included and it's the kind of detail that makes the day feel less like a checklist and more like someone showing you how people actually eat here.

What’s included

Private transportation from your hotel.
hotel pickup at 9:30 am and return in the evening.
entrance fees to David Gareja monastery, Bodbe convent and the organic wine cellar.
an English-speaking guide for the full day.
at least 5 types of wine and 2 cognacs tasting with snacks or a Georgian dinner depending on your package.
smoked Shoti bread and homemade cheese in Badiauri.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePublic transport nearby

Operated by Karlo-Georgia

Is this one for you?Book this private pickup tour if you're traveling from Tbilisi and want a guide to contextualize each site—Bodbe convent, Sighnaghi's walled city, and David Gareja monastery—rather than navigating between them yourself; choose the value package if you're skipping lunch, or add a meal at checkout.