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Georgia — hero

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Georgia

Where the Caucasus meets the world's oldest wine culture. Georgia is a soft-adventure revelation: ancient monasteries, wild mountain trails, and soulful Georgian hospitality await.

Currency
Lari (GEL)
Language
Georgian
Best time
April – May & July – October
Visa
Visa-free (up to 1 year)

Still current at: 13 November 2026 Updated: 12 November 2026

See which areas are affected
Official FCDO travel advice map for Georgia
FCDO (TA) 018 Edition 4 © Crown Copyright

FCDO's detailed advisory map (PDF) FCDO (TA) 018 Edition 4 © Crown Copyright

Source: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — the definitive source. Check it close to your travel dates.

Flight cancelled or delayed because of this? Your rights under UK261 / EU261 →

Why visit

Why Georgia

Where the Caucasus meets the world's oldest wine culture. Georgia is a soft-adventure revelation: ancient monasteries, wild mountain trails, and soulful Georgian hospitality await.

  • Tbilisi Old Town & sulphur baths
  • Gergeti Trinity Church below Kazbegi
  • Kakheti qvevri wine country
  • Svaneti's medieval tower-houses
Read more

Nestled between the Greater Caucasus and the Black Sea, Georgia is 2026's most compelling dupe destination — delivering the drama of the Alps, the soul of the Mediterranean, and ancient culture that rivals anywhere in Europe, without the crowds or the price tag.

For soft adventurers and families, the rewards are extraordinary: hike to cliff-carved monasteries in Kazbegi, kayak the turquoise rivers of Racha, or ride the cable cars above Tbilisi's terracotta rooftops. The Svaneti towers and glacier trails offer serious mountain magic at an accessible pace.

Tbilisi itself is a bleisure sweet spot — a buzzing creative capital with fast connectivity, thriving co-working culture, and legendary table-laden feasts built around 8,000-year-old winemaking traditions. Georgia doesn't just welcome travellers; it pulls them back, year after year.

A pillar, not a footnote

Eat your way through Georgia

The single reason many travellers come back — the food culture worth reshaping a trip around, and the dishes to seek out region by region.

Georgia

Cheese-boat breads, soup dumplings and 8,000 years of clay-jar wine — a Caucasus table built for the toast-led feast.

Get invited to a Georgian supra and you surrender the evening: a tamada, the toastmaster, leads round after round of toasts while the table disappears under plates. At the centre sits khachapuri, a cheese-filled bread that comes, in the Adjarian version, as an open boat of molten cheese crowned with a raw egg and butter you stir in yourself. Georgia has been cooking like this at the crossroads of Europe and Asia for millennia.

You eat khinkali — fat, twisted soup dumplings — by hand, gripping the topknot, biting a hole and drinking the broth before it runs down your wrist. Walnuts thicken everything from cold satsivi to green pkhali pâtés; strings of churchkhela hang in the markets like candles. And the wine is the oldest story of all: 8,000 years of it, still fermented amber in buried clay qvevri, a method the world now copies.

Dishes to seek out
  • Khachapuri (cheese-filled bread; egg-boat Adjarian)
  • Khinkali (soup dumplings)
  • Mtsvadi (charcoal meat skewers)
  • Pkhali (walnut-herb vegetable pâté)
  • Satsivi (cold poultry in walnut sauce)
  • Churchkhela (nut-and-grape sweet)
  • Qvevri wine (clay-jar wine)
Plan your own trip to Georgia
When to go

Weather & timing in Georgia Right now RIGHT NOW 8°C mostly clear

Best May, Sep–Oct · Shoulder Apr, Jul–Aug

Units

Next 7 days

Forecast · Met Office · Powered by Met Office data

Typical · climate data

Best time to visit

April – May & July – October

Best for
  • Culture
  • Cuisine
  • Landscape
  • History
At a glance
Sunshine 9.1 hr/day
Rainfall 53 mm/mo
Wettest May · 98.5mm
Driest January · 16mm
Part of Caucasus →
By season

Units

Spring (Mar–May)

What to expect — Daytime highs average about 18°C with overnight lows near 8°C — the wettest stretch of the year.

What's best — Cool & crisp, then Mild, then Warm. Apr and May are among the best months here (mild, sun and cloud).

Summer (Jun–Aug)

What to expect — Daytime highs average about 30°C with overnight lows near 20°C.

What's best — Shoulder season, then Warm.

Autumn (Sep–Nov)

What to expect — Daytime highs average about 19°C with overnight lows near 11°C.

What's best — Warm, then Mild, then Cool & crisp. Sep and Oct are among the best months here (warm, sunny).

Winter (Dec–Feb)

What to expect — Daytime highs average about 8°C with overnight lows near 1°C, and it stays largely dry.

What's best — Cold.

Live forecast map · Windy.com · temperature with wind, °C and km/h
A little context

A little history

To read what you're looking at — the empires and eras that shaped Georgia's food, art and streets.

One of the world's oldest wine cultures, with 8,000-year-old evidence of clay-qvevri winemaking, now UNESCO-listed
adopted Christianity in the 4th century, among the first nations to do so, shaping its churches and unique alphabet
a medieval golden age under Queen Tamar
annexed by Russia, Soviet from 1921, independent since 1991, with two Russian-occupied breakaway regions
Before you book

Know before you go

The practical back-matter — safety, drones and the essentials, in one place.

Safety

FCDO advisory in force — see above FCDO advice →

Official UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office guidance is the definitive source — check it close to your travel dates.

Drone rules (sub-250g)

  • Georgia
    Georgia isn't in the EU but mirrors EASA rules under the GCAA. A sub-250g camera drone sits in the lightest class but still needs operator registration, including for visitors; fly below 120m in sight and stay at least 6km from aerodromes. On-arrival guidance is inconsistent, so register via uas.gov.ge before you fly. ⚠ Avoid the airspace near the Russian-occupied breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia entirely — it's militarily sensitive. Central Tbilisi, government areas and airport zones (Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi) are restricted; check the GCAA airspace portal first. Rules checked: Jul 2026

National parks, protected sites and religious/heritage venues often have their own rules and permits — always check the specific site before you fly.

The essentials

Plug & voltage Type C/F · 220V
Daily budget Budget-friendly
Region Western Asia