Guide's tips

🏨 Arrival & day one

Check-in at Brim Hotel is from 2:00 PM; best to be at the hotel before 6:00 PM — the group transfer leaves from there (four airport pick-ups are arranged separately).

The guide will send a group voucher — carry a printed copy for passport control, where they may ask about the purpose of your trip. Citizens of CIS and Southeast Asian countries occasionally get extra questions.

💰 Money

The currency is the lari (GEL), roughly 2.6 to the US dollar. Private exchange offices are everywhere — just don’t change money at the airport.

Rough conversions (July 2026): 10 lari ≈ $3.80 · £2.80 · A$5.40 · ₽300. Rates drift, but as a rule of thumb a lari is about 40 US cents.

Dinners are included; the 8 lunches are not — budget for those.

🚕 Getting around

Bolt and Yandex Go taxi apps work throughout the country.

🗣 Language

English is widely spoken. Russian is rare in Tbilisi and Kutaisi, occasionally heard in tourist areas.

🍷 At the table

Never toast with beer — in Georgia that is reserved, pointedly, for enemies. Wine or chacha only; the reply that seals every toast is “gaumarjos!”.

Toasts at a Georgian table do not stop — pace yourself from the first glass, and drink “to the bottom” only when the tamada (toastmaster) declares it.

🌤 Weather to expect

Cities around 25–27°, Tbilisi 28–30°, mostly clear. In the mountains 22–25° with possible rain — and 10–15° in the evenings.

🎒 What to pack

Hats, SPF sunscreen, comfortable shoes, lightweight clothes for the cities and hiking clothes for the mountains; a small backpack and a water bottle for hikes.

A sweater or light coat plus a waterproof or windbreaker; hiking shoes if possible. No aqua shoes or winter hiking gear needed.

🛍 Shopping

Best souvenir hunting is in Mtskheta and Tbilisi: cloisonné enamel, katsi clayware, churchkhela, spices (tarragon, Svan salt, adjika), knitted rugs — and of course wine and chacha. The churches sell a variety of interesting candles.