What a trip to Georgia really costs
The cost of a trip to Georgia is the first question we get and the one the internet answers worst, because the two loudest answers are both wrong. One says Georgia is a fifteen dollar a day country, which is true if you sleep in hostels and take marshrutka minibuses and skip the mountains. The other
Here is the honest version, in US dollars, with the arithmetic shown.
Everything below is land only, per person, based on two people sharing a room. It excludes international flights, because those depend entirely on where you fly from. It includes accommodation, food, ground transport with a driver, entries and the guiding we would normally build in.
Daily cost by traveller type
These are the four anchors our consultants price against, and they are the same numbers as in our complete Georgia guide, because the guide and the magazine should not contradict each other.
| Style | What it looks like | Per person, per day |
|---|---|---|
| Careful | Guesthouses and family tables, shared transport where it works, minimal guiding | $110 |
| Comfortable | Good three to four star hotels and the better guesthouses, a private car and driver, three or four guided days | $180 |
| Boutique | Design hotels, wine estates, private cellar visits, guiding where it changes the day | $300 |
| Luxury | The best rooms in the country, private guiding and vehicles throughout | $520 |
Two things to notice. The gap between careful and comfortable is mostly the vehicle, not the room. And the gap between boutique and luxury largely disappears in the mountains, because in Ushguli and Omalo there is no luxury option to buy at any price.
What the same trip costs at each tier
| Style | 9 days | 12 days | 21 days with Armenia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Careful | $990 | $1,320 | $2,310 |
| Comfortable | $1,620 | $2,160 | $3,780 |
| Boutique | $2,700 | $3,600 | $6,300 |
| Luxury | $4,680 | $6,240 | $10,920 |
Nine days is the shape most first visits take, and it is our classic route. Twelve adds one high mountain region properly. Twenty-one adds Armenia over the land border in the south.
Accommodation, night by night
This is where the budget moves most. Rates below are per room per night for two sharing, as planning guidance rather than a quote. Georgian hotel pricing moves sharply with the season, so we confirm the live rate for your exact dates before anything is booked.
| Type | What you get | Per room, per night |
|---|---|---|
| Village guesthouse, Kakheti or the lowlands | A clean twin room, breakfast, often dinner and wine from the house | $30 to $55 |
| Mountain guesthouse, Ushguli or Omalo | Simple twin room, sometimes a shared bathroom, hot water on a generator, stove heat, very good food | $35 to $60 |
| Good three star, Tbilisi | A proper room in a walkable district, breakfast | $70 to $110 |
| Four star city hotel, Tbilisi or Batumi | Space, a view, a bar worth sitting in | $130 to $200 |
| Boutique hotel, Tbilisi old town or Sighnaghi | Small, particular, usually the reason you remember the city | $180 to $320 |
| Wine estate room, Kakheti | A room on the property with the cellar downstairs | $150 to $300 |
| The best rooms in the country | A short list, mostly in Tbilisi | $400 and up |
The mountain line is the one to read twice. In the high villages the standard is simple and that is the region rather than something we can fix by spending more. A room in Ushguli with a shared bathroom and a wood stove is what exists. The food in those houses is usually the best you eat in Georgia, which is the trade.
Food and wine, which is the good news
Georgia is one of the two or three countries we work in where we tell people they are budgeting too much for food.
- Bakery breakfast, a hot shoti bread and cheese: $2 to $4
- Khinkali, five dumplings at a neighbourhood place: $3 to $5
- Lunch at a village restaurant with three dishes shared: $8 to $12 a head
- Dinner in a good Tbilisi restaurant, three courses: $18 to $30 a head
- Dinner at the top end of Tbilisi, tasting menu: $60 to $90
- Bottle of decent Saperavi in a restaurant: $10 to $18
- Bottle from a family cellar, bought at the cellar: $8 to $15
- Tasting at a family marani, with bread and cheese: $10 to $20 a head
A realistic daily food and wine budget for someone eating well and eating widely is $30 to $45. You can eat very well at $22. Above $70 a day you are eating at the six or seven Tbilisi restaurants that are trying to be internationally serious, which is a decision rather than a default. Our article on what to eat in Georgia covers where the money is best spent.
Monasteries and churches are almost all free. Museums cost a few dollars. Cave cities and canyons charge modest entry fees. Entries are simply not a material line in a Georgian budget.
Transport, which is the line people underestimate
This is where a Georgia budget is actually decided, and it is the opposite of most countries: the rooms are cheap and the wheels are not.
| Vehicle day | What it covers | Per day, per vehicle |
|---|---|---|
| Sedan or minivan with driver, highway day | Tbilisi to Kakheti and back, Mtskheta, Kutaisi transfers | $80 to $120 |
| Long transfer day, Tbilisi to Mestia | About nine hours of driving | $180 to $260 |
| Mountain 4×4 with a specialist driver, Svaneti | Mestia to Ushguli and back | $120 to $180 |
| Mountain 4×4 with a specialist driver, Tusheti | The Abano Pass, each way | $200 to $300 |
| Licensed guide, full day | Tbilisi, Kakheti or a monastery day | $60 to $110 |
Split between two people, a highway driver day is $40 to $60 each. That is the single best value item in the country.
The Tusheti figure is the one that surprises people. The road from Pshaveli over the Abano Pass at about 9,350 feet (2,850 m) is single-track gravel cut into a hillside, with drops and no barrier, and it takes four to five hours to cover about 45 miles (72 km). It is driven in a local 4×4 by someone who does that road for a living and nothing else. That is why a route with Tusheti in it costs materially more than one without, and it is not because of the rooms. It is also summer only, usually from around June to the first heavy snow in early October, and the opening date moves with the snowpack rather than the calendar.
The train from Tbilisi to Batumi or Kutaisi is a genuine alternative to a long drive and costs roughly $8 to $20 depending on class.
Three complete nine-day budgets
Each of these is nine days, per person, two sharing, land only, on the Tbilisi, Kakheti, Mtskheta and Kazbegi shape.
The careful trip, about $990
Guesthouses throughout, dinner in the house most nights, a driver for the four days that need one and independent days in Tbilisi, one guided day.
| Line | Total |
|---|---|
| Accommodation, 8 nights | $300 |
| Food and wine | $260 |
| Transport, drivers and shared legs | $310 |
| Guiding, entries and incidentals | $120 |
| Total | $990 |
The compromises here are in bathrooms and in flexibility, not in what you see or eat.
The comfortable trip, about $1,620
Good three to four star hotels in Tbilisi, the better guesthouses in Kakheti and Kazbegi, a private car and driver throughout, three guided days.
| Line | Total |
|---|---|
| Accommodation, 8 nights | $620 |
| Food and wine | $340 |
| Private car and driver, 9 days | $450 |
| Guiding, three days | $180 |
| Entries and incidentals | $30 |
| Total | $1,620 |
This is the most common shape of trip we build in Georgia and the one we would choose ourselves for a first visit.
The boutique trip, about $2,700
A small hotel in the Tbilisi old town, a wine estate room in Kakheti, the best available room under Kazbek, a private car throughout, private cellar visits and a supra in a family house.
| Line | Total |
|---|---|
| Accommodation, 8 nights | $1,380 |
| Food, wine and a private supra | $520 |
| Private vehicle and transfers | $560 |
| Private guiding, three days | $200 |
| Entries and incidentals | $40 |
| Total | $2,700 |
What actually moves the number
- The vehicles. Mountain days need a 4×4 and a specialist driver and cost two to three times a highway day. This is the largest single variable in a Georgian budget.
- The season. Tbilisi and Batumi in August, and Kakheti during the rtveli harvest in the second half of September, are the expensive weeks. May and early June deliver a better trip for less. Georgia month by month has the detail.
- Hotel changes. Every extra base adds a transfer day and a wasted half day. Georgia tempts people into one-night stops because the map is small.
- How many mountain regions. One is a trip. Two, as in our Svaneti and Tusheti route, is a different and more expensive trip, and a very good one.
Plan this trip
Tell us your dates, your rough budget and whether the mountains are part of the plan, and a Georgia specialist will build you a first outline with real hotels and real numbers. Free, and with no obligation.
Keep reading
- Georgia: the complete guide to planning your trip
- Georgia month by month
- How many days do you need in Georgia?
- What to eat in Georgia, and how a supra works
- What we would skip in Georgia
- Classic Georgia in 9 days
- All our Georgia trips
Frequently asked questions
Is Georgia cheap?
How much cash should we carry?
Do these figures include international flights?
Does the price change because you use a partner rather than your own office?
When do you confirm the actual prices?
Plan a trip to Georgia, a small country that takes far longer than the map suggests All Georgia, a small country that takes far longer than the map suggests trips
