Georgia + Armenia 2026

Tbilisi
2026-09-14 | city | scheduled
Arrive and settle. Buy the Gyumri bus ticket for tomorrow and get Armenian dram in cash.
city

Kumayri historic district
The 19th-c. black-tuff old town. Evening walk.
city

Ninotsminda
2026-09-15 | logistics | optional
Fallback route only: marshrutka here, then taxi 10 km to the Bavra crossing.
logistics

Bavra border crossing
2026-09-15 | border | optional
Fallback crossing. Walk across, then a GG taxi to Gyumri (~6,500 AMD).
border

Gyumri
2026-09-15 | city | scheduled
Bus from Tbilisi, roughly 6-8 h including the border. NIGHT.
city

Black Fortress (Sev Berd)
2026-09-16 09:00 | fortress | scheduled
Russian-built round fortress from the 1830s.
fortress

Dzitoghtsyan House-Museum
Museum of national architecture and urban life of Gyumri.
museum

Gyumri Railway Museum
Railway equipment museum by the station.
museum

Yerevan
Afternoon train from Gyumri (~3 h, 1,500-2,500 AMD, four a day) or marshrutka (2 h). NIGHT 16 + 18.

Cascade Complex
2026-09-16 18:00 | viewpoint | scheduled
Evening in Yerevan: Cascade, then Saryan Street.
viewpoint

Saryan Street
Wine bar street. Open-air tasting strip.
wine

Khor Virap
2026-09-17 11:00 | monastery | scheduled
Ararat directly behind it. First stop after picking up the rental car.
monastery

Areni
Cellars on foot. Harvest week - the best-timed day of the trip. NIGHT (Areni / Yeghegnadzor).
wine

Old Bridge Winery
Areni cellar, walkable. POSITION APPROXIMATE - drag to correct.
wine

Momik Wine Cube
Areni cellar, walkable. POSITION APPROXIMATE - drag to correct.

Hin Areni Winery
Areni cellar, walkable. POSITION APPROXIMATE - drag to correct.

Trinity Canyon Vineyards

Yeghegnadzor
2026-09-17 | city | optional
Alternative bed for the 17th if Areni is full. Book ahead - harvest week.

Noravank
2026-09-18 09:00 | monastery | scheduled
Go at opening, before the tour buses.
monastery

Garni Temple
Hellenistic temple. Afternoon, on the way back north.
ruin

Geghard Monastery
2026-09-18 16:00 | monastery | scheduled
Rock-cut. Drop the rental car in Yerevan afterwards.
monastery

Sevanavank
Stop on the marshrutka north out of Yerevan.

Lake Sevan
1,900 m. The big one.
nature

Dilijan
Buy trek food, repack, leave the big bags at the guesthouse - most hold them free. NIGHT 19 + 21.

Haghartsin Monastery
Trek day 1 waypoint - you walk to it instead of taking a taxi.

Parz Lake
Trek day 1, ~13 km. Camp SHORT of the lake - Parz itself is developed, restaurant and zipline. WILD CAMP.
camp

Dilijan National Park
2026-09-20 | nature | scheduled
Brown bears - hang the food, keep a clean camp. Springs frequent but carry a filter. Nights 5-10 C.
nature

Gosh village
hike

Goshavank
End of the trek. Taxi back to Dilijan, about 20 minutes.

Vanadzor
2026-09-22 10:00 | logistics | scheduled
Marshrutka change. Dilijan-Vanadzor 45 min ~800 AMD, then Vanadzor-Alaverdi ~1 h ~500 AMD.
logistics

Alaverdi
NIGHT (Haghpat or Alaverdi). Leave Dilijan by 09:00.

Sanahin Monastery
UNESCO. Afternoon of the 22nd.

Mikoyan Brothers Museum
Next to Sanahin. The MiG designer and the Politburo survivor.
museum

Haghpat Monastery
Marshrutkas up from Alaverdi hourly from 08:15, 200 AMD, 20 min - but the LAST ONE BACK LEAVES AT 17:00 and people do get stranded.

Odzun Church
2026-09-23 | church | optional
Only if you take the half-day taxi.
church

Akhtala Monastery
2026-09-23 | monastery | optional
Only if you take the half-day taxi. Frescoes.

Car pickup - Tbilisi centre
2026-09-24 10:30 | logistics | scheduled
Ford Explorer SUV, two drivers. Photograph every scratch, the fuel gauge, and check the spare and jack are actually in the car.
logistics

Gori
DAY 1 VARIANT only: 85 km west of Tbilisi, makes Day 1 ~300 km and ~7 h driving. Do NOT attempt on Day 3 - it wipes out Shuamta and Tsinandali.

Stalin Museum
1957 Stalinist neoclassical. Birth house under a temple canopy, plus the armoured carriage. Allow two hours.
soviet

Ananuri
2026-09-24 12:30 | fortress | scheduled
Fortress and churches on the Zhinvali reservoir, directly off the highway.
fortress

Pasanauri
2026-09-24 14:00 | logistics | scheduled
FUEL HERE. Last reliable cheap station before the pass - not in Stepantsminda.

Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument
1983 concrete semicircle with a tiled mural, on the cliff edge below the 2,379 m Jvari pass.
soviet

Jvari Pass
2026-09-24 15:30 | viewpoint | scheduled
2,379 m. Check georoad.ge the night before - late September is when it takes its first snow.
viewpoint

Stepantsminda (Kazbegi)
1,740 m, 4-8 C. BOOK A GUESTHOUSE - this is not a car-sleeping night. NIGHT 24 + 25.

Dariali Monastery
Twenty minutes north. Look at Russia and turn around. POSITION APPROXIMATE - not in OSM, drag to correct.

Gveleti Waterfall
Waterfall walk, then the gorge.
nature

Gergeti Trinity Church
GO AT DAWN. Kazbek is clear early and buried in cloud by midday.
church

Sno
If the damage waiver dies off asphalt, PARK HERE and walk or hitch the last 15 km. Signal dies in this valley.

Juta
Last 15 km unpaved - settle the off-asphalt clause before you commit.
hike

Abudelauri Lakes
4-5 h round trip beneath the Chaukhi walls, topping out near 2,700 m.
hike

Chaukhi massif
2026-09-25 | nature | scheduled
The rock walls above the lakes.

Kobi
The Truso turnoff here is BANNED by the rental contract. Do not take it. Russia-bound freight queues build through the morning.

Mtskheta
Sits at the junction, so it costs no detour.

Jvari Monastery
On the ridge above the confluence.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Below Jvari, in Mtskheta itself.
church

Gombori Pass
2026-09-26 13:30 | viewpoint | scheduled
East over the Trialeti range. Paved, empty, unrestricted, and far better than the main road. Signal drops out here.
viewpoint

Old Shuamta
Three fifth-century churches in dense forest. Nearly always empty.

New Shuamta
The working convent up the road.

Tsinandali Estate
Chavchavadze manor and cellar. The polished European face of Georgian wine.

Telavi
NIGHT 26 + 27. First of three nights in Kakheti.

Ikalto Monastery
Ruined twelfth-century academy where Rustaveli studied. Old qvevri still set in the floor.

Alaverdi Monastery (Kakheti)
Eleventh century, and the monks here have never stopped making wine.

Twins Wine Cellar
Qvevri museum attached. The clay-amphora method properly explained.

Gremi
2026-09-27 14:30 | fortress | scheduled
Citadel church on a hill, all that survives of the old Kakhetian capital.
fortress

Nekresi
Fourth century, on a forested ridge. Shuttle up from the car park.

Khareba Wine Tunnel
Eight kilometres of Soviet tunnels bored into the mountain. Then back to Telavi.
soviet

Kvareli
The tunnel town.

Bodbe Monastery
Cypress alley, St Nino grave, and the whole Alazani valley below.

Pheasant's Tears
Natural qvevri wine and a long lunch. RESERVE AHEAD - harvest week.

Sighnaghi
550 m and mild - the night to sleep in the car if you want one. NIGHT 28. Walk the ramparts early on the 29th.

Sagarejo
CAR WASH + FUEL. Any samretskhao, 15-25 GEL. Beats the $10 dirty-car charge.

Tbilisi International Airport
Arrive 19:15 with ninety minutes in hand. Drop off 20:45 - get the inspection signed off IN WRITING before you walk away.

Rustavi
2026-09-29 | soviet | optional
Metallurgical company town founded from nothing in 1948. ~25 min south of the airport, ~50 min round trip. Day 6 has the time.

Uplistsikhe
ruin | cut
Explicitly ruled out in the plan: does not fit the Gori variant. Do not try to add it.
ruin

Chronicle of Georgia
soviet | optional
Tsereteli, 1985, never finished. Sixteen bronze pillars above the Tbilisi Sea, ~15 min off the Military Highway on Day 1. Free, usually deserted.

Bank of Georgia HQ
soviet | idea
Former Ministry of Highways, 1975, Chakhava and Jalaghania. 29a Gagarini St. Best seen from the opposite bank.

Nutsubidze skybridges
soviet | idea
1970s hillside blocks joined by suspended walkways. Lift up one side, walk across to the next.

Abandoned Archaeology Museum
soviet | idea
Derelict modernism. POSITION APPROXIMATE - drag to correct.

Expo Georgia
The Georgian answer to VDNKh, purpose-built 1971 for trade fairs. Grounds open to the public.

Tskaltubo
soviet | out-of-range
Abandoned sanatoriums. Imereti, four hours west - belongs to a different trip.

Chiatura
soviet | out-of-range
Industrial cable cars. Imereti, four hours west - belongs to a different trip.

Abano Pass (Tusheti)
banned | banned
BANNED - $500. The whole Tusheti region including this pass. Rental cars here are commonly GPS-tracked.
banned

Omalo (Tusheti)
banned | banned
BANNED - $500. Tusheti region.
banned

Vashlovani Nature Reserve
banned | banned
BANNED - $500 inside the reserve. Dedoplistskaro town and the rest of Kakheti are fine.
banned

Truso Valley turnoff (Okrokana)
BANNED - $500. Turnoff at Kobi on the Military Highway just south of Stepantsminda. You drive past it on Day 3.

Mestia
BANNED seasonally - Mestia-Ushguli-Lentekhi.

Ushguli
BANNED seasonally - Mestia-Ushguli-Lentekhi.

Goderdzi Pass
BANNED seasonally - Batumi-Goderdzi-Akhaltsikhe.

David Gareja
Skip - straddles a disputed section of the Azerbaijani border.

Mother of Georgia
viewpoint | idea
Kartlis Deda, top of the hill above the old town.

Tbilisi Ropeway
viewpoint | idea
Cable car from Rike Park up to Narikala / Mother of Georgia.

Narikala Fortress
fortress | idea
Noted in the ideas file as CLOSED - check before going.

National Botanical Garden
nature | idea
Below Narikala, in the gorge.

Georgian National Museum
museum | idea
Rustaveli Ave.

Holy Trinity Cathedral (Sameba)
church | idea
The huge modern one on the hill.

Mtatsminda Pantheon
viewpoint | idea
Writers and public figures. Funicular up.

Leghvtakhevi Waterfall
nature | idea
In the Abanotubani gorge, behind the sulphur baths.

Tbilisi Great Synagogue
church | idea

Bridge of Peace
The glass footbridge over the Mtkvari.

Didube bus station
logistics | idea
Marshrutkas to Gori, Mtskheta and Kazbegi leave constantly, an hour each way. The cheap answer if you have a spare day before the 24th.

Vardzia
ruin | idea
Cave city in the south near Turkey. NOT in either itinerary - the car leg rules out the west.
ruin

Rabati Castle
fortress | idea
On the way to Vardzia. NOT in either itinerary.

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park
nature | idea
NOT in either itinerary.

Dashbashi Canyon
South of Gori, the glass diamond bridge. NOT in either itinerary.