Tbilisi

Sulphur baths, courtyard wine bars and mountain day trips two hours from the city.

Bolt is the ride app; marshrutkas reach Kazbegi; try khinkali by the dozen.

Tbilisi is where the Caucasus meets a café: carved wooden balconies leaning over cobbled lanes, sulphur baths that have steamed since the 5th century, a wine tradition 8,000 years old and a nightlife that Berlin envies. Prices are gentle, the welcome is famous, and the mountains start an hour away.

Sololaki and the Old Town for the balconies and the baths; Vera and Vake for leafy streets, wine bars and quieter nights; Marjanishvili on the left bank for the best cafés and a walk over the Dry Bridge market. Guesthouses in restored family homes are the local speciality and usually beat hotels on charm and breakfast.

Day 1: Old Town on foot, cable car to Narikala, the baths at Abanotubani in the late afternoon, dinner in Sololaki. Day 2: Day trip to Kazbegi: the Georgian Military Highway, Ananuri fortress, Gergeti Trinity Church under Mount Kazbek (shared minivan or driver, 3 hours each way). Day 3: Dry Bridge flea market, Fabrika courtyard, a natural-wine bar crawl in Vera.

Khachapuri (cheese bread; the Adjarian boat with an egg is the photo, the Imeretian is the everyday one), khinkali dumplings eaten by hand, pkhali walnut pastes, lobio beans in a clay pot and badrijani aubergine rolls. Drink amber wine from a qvevri, and chacha only if you have nowhere to be in the morning. Bakeries sell hot shotis puri bread from clay ovens all day.

TBS is 17 km from the centre; bus 337 runs around the clock to Liberty Square and the metro, and taxis via apps are inexpensive. The two-line metro plus buses cover the city; the old town is walkable but steep. For Kazbegi, Kakheti wine country or Kutaisi, shared minivans (marshrutkas) leave from Didube station and trains from the central station.

Georgia is one of the best-value countries in the region: a feast for two with wine typically costs what a single main course does in Western Europe. Cards are accepted widely; markets and marshrutkas want cash (lari). Public baths are cheap, private rooms cost more and are worth it with friends. Georgians toast at length — accept a glass, and let the tamada lead.