23 Unique Things to Do in Georgia for Foodies & Adventurers

After spending ten months travelling around Georgia, eating everything, and absolutely falling in love with the country, this post is something I have been putting off.

Because, how do I even write it?!

One of our favourite countries on the planet, there are so many unique things to do in Georgia that even trying to put everything down on paper is a mammoth task.

Honestly, to see everything, you need at least a month but obviously that is just not feasible for folks with a 9-5. Even after spending ten months here, we still have more on our list we want to see.

These things to do, eat, and see are la crème de la crème in our opinion! So if you’re planning a trip to Georgia, these are our top recommendations for experiences to add to your itinerary.

I’ve split it into three categories – food, history, and nature – to help you navigate this chunky post written by a Georgia-obsessed traveller who couldn’t narrow the article down any further because there are too many amazing things to do here!

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2. Learn How to Eat Khinkali the Georgian Way & Devour Them All

Hint: do not use a knife and fork!

A Georgian classic, you’ll see groups of locals ordering plate after plate of them, throwing them in the middle of the table and everyone tucking in. Khinkali is a large brothy dumpling traditionally filled with meat, but there are also several veg filling options – mushroom and herb, buttery mashed potato, cheese, or even a cheesy mash combo.

A proper khinkali has a lot of juice inside which means that you cannot simply pick up and knife and fork and cut into it without losing all the tasty bit!

So, to make sure you keep all the broth (and don’t upset any Georgians), pick it up by the nob on top. Flip it upside down, nibble a small hole in the dough, suck out as much broth as you can, and then carefully eat your way through the rest of the khinkali.

You don’t have to eat the nob of dough; many people save them on their plate to keep track of how many they have eaten. The sign of a true khinkali eating master is to have a clean plate by the end of it. Not a drip in sight!

Seriously though, cutting up khinkali with a knife and fork is the equivalent of snapping pasta in front of an Italian!

3. Discover Svan Cuisine in the Mountains of Mestia

The regions of Georgia have a variety of cuisines and flavour profiles, and one of the best has to be in Svaneti up in the mountains in the west of Georgia.

Svan salt should be a permanent fixture in everyone’s spice cabinet; it makes everything tastier. Tashmijabi is jazzed up cheesy mashed potato. Svanetian khachapuri has spring onions added to the mix. Chkhetvra is almost like a savoury bread and butter pudding with melted cheese.

Eating all the cheesy dishes up in the mountains over Mestia is a whole unique experience in itself.

4. Eat Your Body Weight in Cheese at a Kakheti Cheese Tasting

Did you know that cheese tastings were a thing? Because we sure did not! Kakheti is Georgia’s most famous wine region, but it is also known for its cheese (and sunflower oil).

At Telavi’s Tsivis Cheese, you can go for a cheese tasting and then have a tour of the small factory. But when I say ‘tasting’ it is SO much more than a tasting.

Go hungry because you will be given a full table spread of cheesy dishes, accompaniments, and drinks. Khachapuri, cheese khinkali, smoked cheese, wine-soaked cheese (yep, you read that right!), herby cheese, deep fried sulguni sticks, salad, bread, a fruit platter, churchkela, sweet cheesecake balls, red wine, lemonade.

You could quite literally spend all afternoon eating and drinking in their beautiful garden! You’ll also get a tour of the cheese factory. Don a sexy hair net and head inside to see the entire process, storage, and packaging.

5. Go For a Wine Tasting Where Georgia’s First Wines were Bottled

Sampling traditional wines from the birthplace of wine is an absolute must in Georgia, and what better place than where Georgian wine was bottle for the very first time?

Not only is Tsinandali Estate a great spot to try the wines and a chacha, but it’s also a beautiful place to wander the historic grounds and house. And you can even see some of the earliest bottles of wine in the cellar dating back to 1814!

Oh, and Tsinandali wine specifically is one of my favourite Georgian white wines – crisp and dry, but not too dry.

6. Sample all the Delicious Wines at a Natural Wine Festival

If you into wine, Georgia is already the place for you. But if you want to try something really special, try Georgia’s natural wines.

Every year in May, there is a Natural Wine Festival which sees natural wine producer from all around the country come together (plus some international producers of wine and spirits) in Tbilisi. In 2025, the festival was held in an abandoned Soviet radio factory!

Buy your tickets in advance on tkt.ge and then you can try as many different wines as you like, confident in the fact that you won’t have a hangover the next day because there aren’t any nasties in the wine! My absolute favourite discovery was pet nat, which is naturally sparkling.

7. Explore a Soviet Tea Factory on a Tea Plantation Tour

Did you know that Georgia used to be the fourth largest tea exporter in the world? Well, that was before the Soviets came and switched the traditional process around to prioritise quantity over quality.

Nowadays, some tea plantation and factories are trying to make a comeback. They offer tea tastings and factory and plantation tours. You can find this unique foodie experience in Guria – one of Georgia’s most tropical, yet least touristy regions.

If you’re into history…

8. Get Covered in Mud at Berikaoba Pagan Festival

Ok, I’m not going to lie, I was NERVOUS about going to this festival. I had seen pictures of people running around in scary costumes with big whips and smearing mud on people’s faces.

And yes, at first it was scary because we didn’t understand what was going on, but after 15 minutes, we were in it!

Berikaoba is a Pagan festival celebrated in only a handful of villages across Georgia that is meant to scare off the winter and welcome spring.

Local men dress up in scary costumes and go from door to door through the village kind of like ‘trick or treat’. They get given gifts of food or drink by the locals, and then everyone ends up at the village field drinking wine, eating cheese and barbecue, and watching wrestling.

If you can time your Georgian trip with early March, I guarantee that this will be one of THE most incredible, unique, and bizarre experiences that you will forever be talking about.

9. Take a Dip in Tbilisi’s Historic Thermal Sulphur Baths

One of my favourite things to do in Tbilisi is to take a dip in the traditional baths! The word ‘Tbilisi’ literally means ‘warm place’ in Georgian, and the thermal sulphur springs here are what gave the city its name.

The sulphur baths are underground in traditional brick buildings that have a seemingly ‘Persian’ feel to them. If you’re feeling adventurous, sign yourself up for a kisi scrub too. It’s rough and brutal and quite shocking, but you’ll be walking out with baby soft skin!

10. See the Ancient Gelati & Motsameta Monasteries

Just outside of Kutaisi are two iconic monasteries: Gelati and Motsameta. Gelati is UNESCO listed and is full of religious artwork from floor to ceiling.

Bearing in mind that it’s been around since the 12^th century, it blows my mind that the artwork is still so visible.

Motsameta is located in what feels like a rainforest with a river and canyon either side. Both monasteries are beautiful in very different ways and can be seen in a half-day trip.

11. Witness a Lonely Limestone Pillar with a Historic Church Perched on Top

On the way to Chiatura is the single limestone pillar of Katskhi standing tall with a church on the top. It’s one of those sights that you really have to see with your own eyes to fully grasp how amazing it is.

Up the side of the pillar is a particularly dodgy looking metal ladder to enable monks to reach the church on the top (tourists aren’t allowed to scale the pillar). And in all honesty, even if tourists were allowed to go up, I would struggle to get myself to climb this death-defying staircase.

12. Fly Through the Skies on Chiatura’s Network of Cable Cars

Chiatura was a Soviet mining town built in a valley. Either side of the valley is pretty steep, so to make the daily commute easier for the miners, a cable car network was set up. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the closing of many mines, the cable cars fell into disrepair.

Some have recently been renovated and you can now fly across the valley. Some however, have not been renovated.

The cable cars remain rusted and still hanging in the same spot for decades, while the operating rooms look like the workers just upped and left leaving belongings behind. You’ll also see Soviet reminders around Chiatura too.

13. Delve Deep into the Underground City of Vardzia

Without doubt, Vardzia is Georgia’s most impressive cave city. Networks of tunnels lead to houses, wineries, and even churches within the rock face itself. There is even an area where a natural spring was discovered inside the rock, which meant that inhabitants didn’t need to leave to the city to get water while they were hiding from invaders.

Wander through series of hidden passages and dodgy original stone staircases to navigate your way through the ancient city. A section of the city was lost during an earthquake when some of the cliff collapsed, but it is still very impressive.

If you’ve been to Cappadocia’s Derinkuyu, it has a similar feel, but I’d say Vardzia has more interesting sights inside the city itself.

14. Head to Mtskheta to See the UNESCO Monasteries

Mtskheta was the ancient capital city before Tbilisi and is known as Georgia’s spiritual capital. It has a concentration of UNESCO listed monasteries decorated with amazingly beautiful artwork.

The two must-sees are Svetitskhoveli Monastery or the best ancient artwork, and Samtavro’s Convent for the decorated caskets of the first king and queen of Christian Georgia back in the fourth century.

Order a Bolt taxi to take you up to Jvari monastery which looks over Mtskheta and a river confluence.

15. Get Your Urbexing Shoes on to Explore Abandoned Sanatoriums of Tskaltubo

Very much a niche attraction, Tskaltubo used to be a spa resort town for the Soviet elite. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the sanatoriums were left abandoned and fell into disrepair.

Nowadays, some have been restored and are functioning, however, many have not. But you can go exploring some of the abandoned buildings.

It’s eerie and a bit nerve-wracking at times, but fascinating to step back in time in these buildings. They are abandoned and absolutely not maintained, so take care where you step!

Oh, and some stray dogs may get a tad territorial over their newly adopted homes, so be aware. Highlights are Sanatorium Medea and Stalin’s decorated bath in Spring 6.

If you’re into nature…

16. Be Amazed by Prometheus Cave

I was fully expecting not to be impressed with this cave because I had read mixed reviews. But it was pretty spectacular! It is huge, and it’s deep; you can walk for about 20-30 minutes into the cave and still be finding more impressive formations.

I’m not going to lie though, the tour is pretty crap. They take a group of way too many people through at once and the guides could not seem any less interested.

But our top tip is just to hang back. Let everyone else follow the guide and then you’ll have the cave more to yourself. There are some information boards dotted around so you’ll probably actually learn more from those than the tour guide.

17. Eat Baked Sulguni with a View in Sighnaghi

Views from Sighnaghi are stunning! If you’re exploring the Kakheti wine region, make Sighnaghi a priority. It feels like a small and pretty Italian village, but it’s the views that are really special.

Head to Terrace Aura and order the fried sulguni (trust me) and just eat your cheese while your mind tries to comprehend the insane beauty of the plains that stretch on forever from Sighnaghi with a beautiful Caucasus Mountains backdrop.

18. Take a Road Trip up Georgia’s Most Scenic Road

Hire yourself a GoTrip driver to take you up the Georgian Military Highway, otherwise known as Georgia’s most scenic road, because this is not a journey you want to be cramped in the back of sweaty marshrutka with no views!

There are SO many stops on the way from Tbilisi to Kazbegi and every single one will make your jaw drop. The mountains and the views are some of the best that we have ever seen anywhere; this is the ultimate one day road trip!

19. Hike from Mother of Georgia to Turtle Lake

Tbilisi has some great hikes you can do within the city and one of the best is from the Mother of Georgia all the way to Turtle Lake.

It’ll take maybe five hours and the entire way you’ll have panoramic views over Tbilisi city. Once you get to the end, you’ll see an old Svan tower and Turtle Lake. But once you make it to the lake, the adventure hasn’t ended.

From the lake back down to the city, you have to take an old Soviet cable car that has been around since the 60s. It’s nerve-wracking but good fun all at the same time.

20. Complete the Famous 4-Day Trek from Mestia to Ushguli

So as people who have never done a multi-day hike (other than a 5-day hike through the Guatemalan jungle, but that was all on the flat and guided), this 4-day hike from Mestia to Ushguli was a challenge. But oh my god are the views outrageous.

I guarantee that it is something that you will be talking about for years to come. Mestia and Ushguli are up in the mountains of Svaneti in the northwest of Georgia, and the hike takes you over mountain passes, fierce rivers (that you may even have to cross by horse!), through medieval villages with ancient watchtowers, past glaciers, and through some of the most breath-taking scenery that Georgia has to offer.

Each leg is around 10km and ends at a mountain village for you to stay for the night, so there’s no need to lug your tent and food with you (which makes the hike even better!)

21. See the Chaukhi Mountains on a Juta Valley Hike

Near Kazbegi in the north east mountains of Georgia, is Juta Valley. The hike isn’t too strenuous but the views of the Chaukhi mountains are outstanding!

And there is a small lake (Chaukhi Lake) at the end of the valley that looks beautiful in the foreground of your shots of the mountains and the whole valley. If you go in the summer, you can hike even further across the Chaukhi Pass and see Abudelauri Blue and White Lakes.

22. Hike the Length of Truso Valley and Picnic at Zakagori Fortress Ruins

Truso Valley is a relatively flat trek alongside a river and through a valley past abandoned mountain villages and meadows of wildflowers with a beautiful mountain backdrop. At the end of the valley are the ruins of Zakagori Fortress, which is THE perfect spot for a picnic with a mountain view.

23. Photograph Gergeti Trinity Church with a Mountain Backdrop

The iconic symbol of Georgia. I am confident that if you have been researching things to do in Georgia, that this is one of the top photos that Google comes up with.

The church itself isn’t the impressive part. It’s the view from the church with the Caucasus mountain backdrop and of the church perched on the edge of a cliff with the backdrop. Stunning.

Gergeti Trinity Church is a short but steep hike from Kazbegi (Stepanstminda) or a ten-minute drive.

Planning More of Your Trip

Booked your flights yet? 😉

Our guides on travelling Georgia will help you plan your trip from which ATMs have with no withdrawal fees for foreign cards, how to travel around the country by the classic marshrutka, to the best things to do in Tbilisi, to the tastiest vegetarian Georgian dishes to try while you’re here.

See all Georgia posts

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