Kakheti Private Tour: Rainbow Mountains, Gareji & Signagi

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/18

Duration9h–11h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

David Gareji Monastery sits in the middle of a landscape that looks like Mars.

This private day trip from Tbilisi takes you through Southern Kakheti's most distinctive sites: the Rainbow Mountains, the David Gareji Monastery Complex (a sixth-century pilgrimage site in a semi-desert landscape), and the town of Signagi overlooking the Alazani valley. Your guide leads the route, handles all transport in a private car with air-conditioning, and includes wine tasting at a family winery and fresh bread tasting. You can add lunch at the winery or extra wine tastings for an additional fee.

9h–11h

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Kakheti's highlights from Tbilisi

Visit Bodbe Convent and St. Nino spring
Explore David Gareja Monastery and Rainbow Mountains
Stop at salt lake in semi-desert
Snack on Kakheti bread and cheese
Stroll Signagi's picturesque streets
Wine tasting at family marani

The Experience

The day starts with hotel pickup in Tbilisi and heads southeast into Kakheti. The drive takes you through the Gareji semi-desert and past salt lakes — the landscape shifts from green valleys into something otherworldly, which is why locals call the Rainbow Mountains Mars-like. You walk the colored rock formations and explore the terrain around them before moving to the David Gareji Monastery Complex, a sixth-century structure built into the cliffs. The monastery draws pilgrims from across the Orthodox world to visit the tomb of St. Nino and the healing spring dedicated to her; the site sits in the middle of that stark, pristine landscape, so the scale of the place and its isolation hit differently than a monastery in a town would.

From there, the route heads to Signagi, a walled town known as the City of Love for its steep, colorful streets and terraces that open onto the Alazani valley and the Caucasian mountains beyond. You stroll the old town, then stop at a family winery on the ancient city walls for wine tasting with that same valley view. A snack of fresh Kakheti bread and cheese rounds out the day — the bread comes from a village of traditional bakers, so it arrives warm and made that morning. If you book the option with winery lunch, that meal happens here instead of a quick stop. The return to Tbilisi takes the same route back, arriving after nine to eleven hours out.

Your guide is a live English speaker who knows the region and handles the driving. The car is private, so the pace and the stops are yours — you're not waiting for other groups or moving faster than you want to. Wine tastings beyond the one included cost extra, as do lunch arrangements and any add-ons like zip line, quad bikes or horseback riding in the area. Infants can sit on a lap or use a specialized infant seat; the tour suits all fitness levels, though comfortable shoes matter for walking the Rainbow Mountains.

What’s included

Hotel pickup and drop-off in Tbilisi.
transportation in a private car with air-conditioning and a live English-speaking guide.
wine tasting at a family winery in Signagi.
fresh bread and cheese tasting from traditional Kakheti bakers.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availableInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Real Georgia Tours

Is this one for you?Book this private tour if you want to move at your own pace through Kakheti's most distinctive landscape and sites — the guide and car stay with you, so you control the stops and the timing instead of following a group schedule. Add the winery lunch option if you'd rather eat a full meal than snack between stops.