Susan and I met up in Tbilisi this summer, which is a gorgeous city on its own, but also offers great day trips and accessibility to other regions of Georgia. Here are three trips we took together.

Day Trip 1

Mtskheta

A trip to Jvari Monastery as well as the neighboring cathedral and convent is extremely accessible from Tbilisi. You can take a small, local bus called a marshrutka to Mtskheta from the Didube bus station. Buses leave every 10 to 15 minutes and are very cheap. Once in Mtskheta, you can explore the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and Samtavro Convent. Next, take a taxi up to Jvari Monastery which offers spectacular views of the countryside. Negotiate with the driver to wait for you and take you back to Mtskheta when you’re ready. If you want to continue, you can take another bus to Gori, a village that’s infamous for being the birthplace of Stalin. The trip to Mtskheta will take around 40 minutes to an hour by bus, so it’s great to do this day trip if you don’t want to spend tons of time in transit. When you’re ready to head back, grab another marshrutka to Tbilisi or head on to Gori.

Jvari Monastery of Mtskheta

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

Samtavro Convent

Day Trip 2

Dashbashi Canyons

This trip is a bit out of the way and less popular among international tourists than other day trips in Georgia. When we went, we only spied a few other foreigners: young European backpackers who seemed to be camping. However, there were quite a few Georgian tourists visiting the canyon and waterfall.

For this trip, you must take a marshrutka to Tsalka and then hike 2 km to Dashbashi. Thankfully, a pickup truck with a group of Georgian police officers came roaring up when we were about to hike from the gas station in Tsalka to the canyon and offered us a ride. They dropped us off right at the canyons, and we hiked down toward the falls. The hike is several kilometers and not difficult, however, you can easily extend your stay and hike and camp more of the area which I would recommend if you have the time.

As we walked up, we saw multiple Georgian families having full-out barbecues and parties in the woods along the trail to the canyon. The area was set up with picnic tables and grill pits and everyone seemed to be having a good time. After our hike, we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to catch a marshrutka back, because we were waiting with the European hikers who had all their heavy backpacking equipment. Thankfully, a young Georgian mother who was heading back from Dashbashi with her daughter offered us a ride (even refusing money for gas) and took us the entire two-hour trip back to Tbisili.

She practiced English with us on the way home (she spoke perfectly but like many Georgians downplayed her skills) and ended up convincing us to take our next trip to Martvili Canyon near Kutaisi.

Kutaisi

Day Trip 3

Martvili Canyon and Surroundings

Although you can visit Martvili Canyon from Tbilisi, I would recommend staying in the second largest Georgian city of Kutaisi instead.

We opted to stay at a guesthouse in Martvili run by a wonderful guide and head of the ethnographic museum nearby and had the best time. He helped us organize a local rafting trip with a former Georgian rowing champion. It was basically three guys in a car with some blow-up kayaks, and some of the most fun, hands-on rafting I’ve done. The Georgian champion learned a few words of English. We had a very basic safety lesson, and we were good to go. Susan and I piled on the blow-up raft with Grigori and we spent the better part of a half hour screaming and paddling over the fast-moving rapids.

Afterward, the guys dropped us off at Martvili Canyon’s paid protected area which took less than an hour to explore (not necessary but you can pay for a boat tour as well). Later, we hiked 10 minutes up the road to find a local swimming hole through the canyon which was one of the most magical experiences of the trip. After a somewhat sketchy but definitely sweet encounter with an older Russian man at the gas station who led us in the woods right to the swimming spot, we were able to swim through beautiful grottoes and climb up small waterfalls throughout the canyon’s interior.

In Martvili, we explored more of the small town, hiked up to the Monastery which ended up being my favorite church I saw in all of Georgia, Armenia and Turkey (believe me there are a lot of them) and had a delicious meal at a local restaurant where locals and tourists began dancing and turning up at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon. I loved staying in this small town and there was actually quite a bit to see and do around the area including nearby Okatse Canyons.