Armenia and Georgia in 14 days
Two weeks is enough to do both countries in the South Caucasus without either half feeling like an afterthought. Nine days in Armenia, a land border crossing with monasteries on either side of it, and five in Georgia.
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 6
- Best months
- May, Jun, Sep, Oct
- From
- $2,310 per person
We put Armenia first on purpose. It is the harder country, higher and drier, and the food and wine are heavier work. Georgia at the end is a softer landing, and Tbilisi is the better city to have a last two nights in.
One planning fact to state plainly at the top. Armenia’s land border with Azerbaijan is closed, and so is its border with Turkey. There is no overland route between Armenia and Azerbaijan and we do not build one. Georgia is the open door in both directions, which is why this is the Caucasus combination.
Who it suits: travellers with two clear weeks, an interest in medieval architecture and wine, and the patience for one land crossing. Two optional walks of ninety minutes, nothing harder.
Your specialist: a named Armenia specialist here, with our long-standing Yerevan partner running the Armenian ground and our Tbilisi partner running Georgia. One WhatsApp group across both.
Day by day
Days 1 to 3: Yerevan. Arrival in the small hours with the room held from the night before. A late guided walk through the city: Republic Square and the Tamanian plan, the Cascade with its sculpture terraces, the Matenadaran manuscript library, the covered GUM market. The genocide memorial and museum at Tsitsernakaberd on a morning with a free afternoon after it, because it is hard. A day west to Echmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian church, and the ruined seventh-century cathedral at Zvartnots.
Day 4: Garni, Geghard, and Lake Sevan. The first-century Hellenistic temple at Garni above its gorge, then Geghard cut into the rock with the singing arranged. Over to Lake Sevan at about 6,200 feet (1,900 m) for the afternoon: the Sevanavank churches on the peninsula and, better, the khachkar field at Noratus on the western shore. Night at the lake or at Dilijan.
Day 5: South over the pass to Vayots Dzor. Over the Vardenyats pass at about 7,900 feet (2,410 m), with the fourteenth-century caravanserai on top, into the wine province. Noravank at the end of its red gorge. A family cellar at Areni, and the cave nearby where a winemaking installation dated to around 4100 BC was excavated. Night at Yeghegnadzor or Areni.
Day 6: Tatev. Two and a half hours south into Syunik. The cable car across the Vorotan gorge, about 3.5 miles (5.7 km), to a ninth-century monastery on a promontory. Afternoon at Khndzoresk, the abandoned cave village below Goris, with the swinging bridge. Night at Goris.
Day 7: North to Yerevan, with Khor Virap. The long drive back up the spine of the country, four and a half hours, with Khor Virap in the Ararat valley on the way and Mount Ararat, 16,854 feet (5,137 m), behind it if the morning is clear. Afternoon in Yerevan.
Day 8: North to the Debed canyon. Three hours north through the Lori highlands to the Debed canyon, and the two monasteries that are the best thing in northern Armenia: Haghpat and Sanahin, tenth to thirteenth century, both on the UNESCO list, both largely unrestored. Night in the canyon.
Day 9: Across the border to Tbilisi. Twenty minutes to the Bagratashen and Sadakhlo crossing, which takes anything from twenty minutes to an hour and a half depending on the queue and on nothing you can predict. You walk through with your bags and change cars on the other side. Then two hours to Tbilisi, arriving early afternoon. Three nights.
Day 10: Tbilisi on foot. A guided morning through the old town: the Abanotubani sulphur district where the brick bath domes sit at street level, the Sioni cathedral, and up to the Narikala fortress on the ridge. Then the parts that are not medieval, which is most of what makes Tbilisi interesting: the art nouveau stairwells of Sololaki, the Soviet layer, and the Dry Bridge flea market. The change of register from Armenia is immediate and it is the reason to do both countries.
Day 11: Mtskheta and free Tbilisi. Forty minutes north to the old Georgian capital: Svetitskhoveli cathedral in the town and the sixth-century Jvari monastery on the bluff above the confluence of two rivers. Back for a free afternoon, a bathhouse and a scrub, and the wine bars in Vera.
Days 12 and 13: Kakheti. East into the Georgian wine country. Alaverdi cathedral with its working monastery cellar, family qvevri cellars around Telavi, Sighnaghi on its walls above the Alazani valley, and a marani lunch that takes four hours. Georgian wine is made in buried clay qvevri and Armenian wine in karas, which are cousins, and drinking them within a week of each other is the single most interesting thing about combining these two countries. Two nights in Kakheti or one and one back in Tbilisi.
Day 14: Departure from Tbilisi. Back to the capital and out. Tbilisi flights are also inconveniently timed, though less so than Yerevan’s.
What is included
Thirteen nights of accommodation with breakfast, private vehicles with English-speaking drivers in both countries, licensed English-speaking guides on eight days, the border crossing handled with both partner teams in contact on the day, the Tatev cable car, the arranged singing at Geghard, family cellar visits in both wine countries and a marani lunch in Kakheti, all monastery, museum and site entries in both countries, a day-by-day document with honest drive times, and one WhatsApp group with your consultant, our Yerevan partner and our Tbilisi partner for the whole trip.
What we would change, and when
- Want the Georgian mountains? Add three days for Kazbegi and the Georgian Military Highway, or seven for Svaneti in summer. Fourteen becomes seventeen or twenty-one.
- Weighted the other way? If Georgia is the country you actually want, we invert this: five days in Armenia, nine in Georgia. Tell us at the enquiry stage.
- Travelling in winter? The Vardenyats pass closes, the southern Armenian road is slow, and Tatev becomes a gamble. We build a winter version around Yerevan, Sevan, Dilijan, Tbilisi and Kakheti and we say plainly what it leaves out.
- Flying between the two capitals instead? There are flights, they are short, and they cost you the Debed canyon monasteries, which are among the best buildings on this route. We recommend the road.
Honest notes
The border. Bagratashen to Sadakhlo is a normal land crossing and it works. It takes twenty minutes on a good day and considerably longer on a bad one, and we build slack into that day. Both partner teams are in contact while you are between the two.
Two ground operations, neither of them ours. GO EAST staffs its own offices in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Armenia and Georgia are both run through long-standing local partners rather than people we employ, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. Your consultant here is on the thread the whole time.
Monastery fatigue is a real risk on a two-country trip. There are six on this route across fourteen days, which we consider the maximum. If you add Goshavank, Hayravank, Odzun and Gelati, and people ask us to, you will stop looking somewhere around day nine.
Armenia is higher, drier and hotter than Georgia and the transition is noticeable. Yerevan in July and August is frequently above 100°F (38°C), which is hotter than Tbilisi, and the southern road towards Tatev is hotter still.
Six hotel changes in fourteen days is at the upper end of what we like to build. The alternative is cutting Syunik or the Debed canyon, and we think both earn their place. If you would rather travel slower, say so and we will drop one.
Built by your named Armenia specialist, checked against notes our founder made in the field.
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