Vardzia and Borjomi — the Southern Route

This is the southern direction — the Mtkvari valley, which leads out of Tbilisi through Borjomi and Akhaltsikhe and ends close to the Turkish border at the rock-cut city of Vardzia. All 265 kilometres are asphalt, so an economy car reaches the end comfortably, although the final stretch narrows and winds along the gorge.

Day one is the climb from the plain into the mountains. Borjomi is a nineteenth-century spa town where you drink the famous mineral water straight from the spring in the central park. Then the valley tightens and Akhaltsikhe appears with Rabati Castle, a rebuilt citadel that holds a mosque, a church, a synagogue and the old fortress towers inside a single wall. Day two continues south: Khertvisi Fortress guards the confluence of two rivers, and then comes Vardzia itself — a twelfth-century monastery carved into the cliff under Queen Tamar, thirteen storeys deep, with hundreds of chambers and the frescoed Church of the Dormition at its heart.

The route suits travellers who care about history and architecture: in two days you cover two millennia. Respect the distances, though — you spend over four hours a day behind the wheel, so the overnight in Akhaltsikhe or near Vardzia is not optional. Doing it as a day trip means 530 kilometres in one go. The road stays open in winter, but the Javakheti plateau is genuinely cold.