Mtskheta was the capital of Iberia for more than seven hundred years and remains the spiritual centre of the country: this is where Georgia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, and where kings were crowned and buried for centuries afterwards.
The town is small, and that defines it: everything worth seeing fits into a couple of hours on foot, and Tbilisi is twenty minutes away. So Mtskheta is almost always half a day rather than a trip of its own.
Twenty to thirty minutes by car from Tbilisi. Minibuses run from Didube metro, but Jvari is the catch: it stands on a hill away from the town, and walking there is long and along the verge. A transfer is simpler, or include Mtskheta in a Military Road trip, which is what most people do.
All year. In summer the middle of the day at Jvari is hot and thick with coaches, so go up before eleven. In winter the hill often gives the clearest view of the valley, with far fewer people.
More on the region: Mtskheta-Mtianeti. The route it belongs to: a week in Georgia.
Tell us when you are going and who with, and we will come back with a route and a price. A real person who knows these roads does the working out, not a calculator. No prepayment.
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Mituda
