Across the Southern Caucasus

Tour Itinerary

• Day 1: UK - Baku

  Fly from the UK to Baku and transfer to your hotel.

• Day 2: Baku

  Enjoy an afternoon sightseeing tour of Baku.

• Day 3: Gobustan - Absheron

  Admire Gobustan's 20,000-year-old rock carvings. Enjoy an excursion to Absheron to see the Ateshgah Fire Temple and Yanar Dagh fire.

• Day 4: Shemahka - Kish - Sheki

  Visit the Yeddi Gumbez mausoleum in Shemahka. Continue to Sheki, stopping en route at a sixth-century Albanian church.

• Day 5: Sheki - Telavi, Georgia

  Tour Sheki, scenically set in the Caucasus foothills, including its 18th-century palace. Cross the border into Georgia for a vineyard lunch and wine tasting. Continue to Telavi via the Gremi monastery.

• Day 6: Telavi - Sighnaghi - Tbilisi

  Morning visit to Telavi market. Meet a qvevri master, who will demonstrate how these large earthenware wine-keeping jars are made. Sample local wine and ‘fire-water’ brandy before lunch at Tsinandali wine estate. This afternoon, tour the hilltop town of Sighnaghi before driving to Tbilisi.

• Day 7: Tbilisi

  Tour the Georgian capital, including the Old Town, with its beautiful Orthodox churches, mosque, synagogue and sulphur baths.

• Day 8: Gori - Uplistsikhe - Kazbegi

  Visit the sixth-century Jvari Monastery, followed by Mtskheta, then continue to Gori, birthplace of Joseph Stalin. See the museum, his private train, and the house where he was born. Travel to Kazbegi via the cave city of Uplistsikhe, set on the path of the Silk Road.

• Day 9: Gergeti - Tbilisi

  Enjoy an excursion on foot to the picturesque, 14th-century church of Gergeti Trinity

• Day 10: Yerevan

  Cross the Armenian border and continue to the UNESCO-listed Haghpat monastery, a masterpiece of Armenian architecture.

• Day 11: Ejmiatsin - Zvartnots

  Visit Echmiatsin Cathedral, founded in 303AD and still the official residence of the Catholic Church in Armenia. Continue to the seventh-century Zvartnots temple. Have lunch in the village of Parakar and take part in a cooking lesson, learning how to make arishta (traditional Armenian pasta) and sweet sudzukh.

• Day 12: Yerevan

  Tour Yerevan, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.

• Day 13: Khor Virap - Noravank - Yerevan

  Travel to Khor Virap monastery. Savour views of the Ararat Mountain, then continue to Noravank monastery.

• Day 14: Garni - Geghard - Sevan - Dilijan

  Visit Garni, Armenia’s only surviving Hellenistic temple. Admire the basalt formations of Garni Gorge, before continuing to the mountain-carved monastery of Geghard.

• Day 15: Dilijan - Goshavank - Tbilisi - UK

  Take a stroll in Dilijan followed by a visit to Goshavank Monastery and its green and pleasant surrounds. Then, drive to Tbilisi Airport for your flight home.