Full Day Private Tour in Mtskheta Gori Uplistsikhe

Absolutely worth doing this tour and visiting all of the 4 sites, but NOT with this tour operator. We decided to pay for a private tour in the hope that it will be extra special and we will be given personal attention and learn much more compared to being on a group tour. We were met by the owner of the company Aka who proudly offered us to get into his Kia. Then he put the music on, loud! And started driving fast down busy Tbilisi roads. We were patiently waiting for some commentary to begin, where we are going, what we are seeing on the way etc. There was nothing. We eventually arrived at the first ruins and expected Aka to guide us through the site. No, that was not what Aka had in mind for the day. His idea of a private tour is to drive us around with loud music blaring for hours and rely on us reading the boards at the monuments. We told him that we paid for a tour to learn beyond what we can read on Google. His answer was - I can't tell you anything more than you can read on Google. But he didn't even try! Talking of zero effort and zero customer care! He didn't even go with us to the caves or checked if we were ok climbing up and down that mountain. We were desperately clinging to other groups with proper tour guides to learn something interesting. And yes we were surrounded by proper tour guides who were enthusiastically sharing their knowledge and passion for the places we visited. Trouble is, it is very easy to set up a tour company in Georgia, advertise on the internet and charge good money (especially for Georgia). Don't bother with Tours2Georgia, spend your money with another company!!!

Before heading to Gori, we visited the beautiful cathedral of Mtskheta; then up the cliff to Jvari Monastry. Both were amazing and makes you feel so humble especially in front of the high old Cross at the Jvari Monastry. In Gori, we toured Stalin Museum and the Rock-Cut town (Uplistsikhe). Touring Stalin Museum without a guide is boring, make sure to wait for the guided tour. The stories behind each corner is what makes it worth the visit. The rock/cave town is stunning, you can easily spend like 2 hours there climbing the rocks and taking tons of photos, because each corner has its different view. I had a hard time letting go of my camera there.

We started in the church overlooking the old capital of Georgua Mtsketa. the wine route was very interesting. We visited tradional wineries as well as modern ones. Georgian red wine is excellent. We had a very good lunch. Traditional dishes with tradional eins. Chashpuri, eggplant with wallnuts.nuts, The weather wav very convenient at the beginning of September.