Group Tours: Caucasus Revealed

Our group tour to the Caucasus includes time in Georgia. However, as the tour does not depart until October 2009, we hope that the current situation will be back to normal.

Sandwiched between Russia, Turkey and Iran, the Caucasus feels like a continent in miniature, where a multitude of languages and peoples mingle against a formidable skyline of white peaks. Our tour concentrates on Armenia and Georgia, the two most accessible countries in the region.

We start in Georgia, famous throughout the former Soviet Union for its cuisine. There will be multiple opportunities to sample local food – we strongly recommend khatchapuri (flat bread with melted cheese) and any local red wine. Tbilisi, Georgia’s picturesque and inviting capital, has crooked and quaint back streets, a handful of world-class museums and dozens of good restaurants. Further north, past Stalin's home town of Gori, the horizon becomes the serrated white ridge of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. We will travel along the Georgian Military Highway, originally built by the Russian Army in 1799, to Kazbegi, where Tsminda Sameba church, magnificently situated beneath 5047m Mt Kazbek, overlooks the route to southern Russia. After eight days in Georgia, we will head south to Armenia. The world's first Christian country, Armenia abounds in fascinating and first-rate religious monuments, including Noravank, a remote monastery perched high on a ledge, and Echmiadsin - home to the spear that pierced Christ's side.

Accommodation in the main cities and towns is generally of a good standard, particularly in the respective capitals, though elsewhere the region is remote and has correspondingly lower levels of comfort, though we will try to book the best available accommodation wherever possible.

You’ll be accompanied by an experienced tour leader throughout, as well as local guides who will all be on hand to ensure that all the arrangements go as smoothly as possible.

Places Visited

• Tblisi
• The Greater Caucasus Mountains
• Yerevan