3 Full Days in Kutaisi, Georgia: Itinerary Guide

Kutaisi, Georgia: 3day itinerary

We went to Kutaisi, Georgia in wintertime (February) for our 3 year wedding anniversary. So, here is our 3 day itinerary (not including the day flying out and back), we spent a full 3 days in the city.

Flying out day

We lived in Cyprus at the time of visiting Kutaisi. Which is not far away at all, therefore we flew from Larnaca, Cyprus, with Wizz air. The flights at the time (Winter 2018) cost us 106.36euro return for 2 adults with hand luggage.

Firstly, we arrived in Kutaisi, Georgia at 1740 … we had already booked transfers from the airport to the hotel. However, as we walked towards the exit to find it, we had several men come over in crowds asking us if we needed a ride. After we had managed to try and explain that we already had one, we finally found our guy! But, he stood with a sign spelling my name wrong. Also, his taxi didn’t look like a taxi it was a pimped-up vehicle, but we went with it, the guy seemed nice. Although, he did like to speed…

However, Luckily we made it to The Crown Hotel which is right near David Agmashenebeli square (Colchis Fountain) safe and sound. The hotel was more a guest house with a lovely lady on reception. Although, she spoke no English whatsoever, but she spoke Greek! And well seen as we lived in Cyprus at the time, this was the best way to communicate with her. The lovely lady boiled the kettle for us so we could make a warm cup of peppermint tea. (Lovely!)

So, we arrived at our room and was greeted with a surprise! They had left us cake and fizz for our 3 year wedding anniversary, and it was a HUGE cake! (how thoughtful :)). However, If The Crown Hotel isn’t available for your stay you can find other accommodation here.

Day 1 (Kutaisi, Georgia)

On day one we visited Kutaisi Central Market which was very close walking distance from the hotel. We also visited Bagrati Cathedral, and The National Museum of Military Glory. We also managed to walk to both of these. Lastly, we took a cable car to the Besik Gabashvili Park where we had dinner at Park Restaurant.

Kutaisi Central Market (Green Bazaar)

Kutaisi is home to one of the largest indoor markets in Georgia. The lively market consists of everything from cheeses, nuts, fruit and vegetables to meat, beans, wine and churchkhela. Churchkhela is a traditional Georgian sweet that consists of strings of walnuts coated in grape-juice. But, the locals call it a Snickers, however, its not like the Snickers we know.

Furthermore, on one side of the market you will see beautiful colorful stalls of fresh fruit (we loved this bit)! But, then, you might turn a corner and see a pigs head handing above another stall (we did not like this bit). So that’s your warning if like us, you don’t like to see that sort of thing.

Bagrati cathedral

The 11^th century Bagrati Cathedral was built in 1003 by Bagrat III. However in 1692 a Turkish explosion brought down most of the cathedral leaving it as ruins. But, between 2009 and 2012 it was fully renovated by mixing the old stone with new and adding in some steel sections.

We walked (or should I say hiked) up to the top of Ukimerioni hill to Bagrati Cathedral. At the top of the hill you can see right over the city above all the buildings and houses. Then to top it off, there were a few stray dogs that wanted to be friends with Ad (cute).    

National Museum of Military Glory

Next, we visited the National Museum of Military Glory. Although the museum is quite small, a guide will show you round and explain everything to you. This was interesting to see all the history and hear about what Georgia had been through in quite recent years. If you like history and learning about the country you are visiting, this is worth a visit while in Kutaisi.

Further, we happened to meet an American girl in the museum, who was travelling solo! We instantly started talking when we realized we both spoke English. A not many people did in Kutaisi, in our experience anyway. So, naturally, we decided to spend the rest of the day together.

Besik Gabashvili Park via cable car

Therefore, all three of us headed off to the cable cars, we decided to see where they take you. The cable cars were quite old and rickety, this was a bit scary, especially for me (Lu) as I’m not a fan of heights. To our surprise, we stepped off at Besik Gabashvili Park, a very old, very deserted looking fun fair/amusement park. We honestly thought it was closed down as there were no people around. Furthermore, all the rides looked too old to move!

Besik Gabashvili Park reached via 1960’s cable cars, sits on top of a hill in Kutaisi and consists of many rides, including a ferris wheel.

We wasn’t planning on going on any of these rides. Firstly because we wasn’t actually sure you could! Secondly, because it looked quite daring. However, after seeing some other people appear from nowhere and ride the ferris wheel, we dared each other to give it ago. We must admit, as much as we were all holding on to the middle bar as tight as we possibly could, the views were quite spectacular from the top of the wheel. (worth a ride – if you are brave enough).

Dinner at the park restaurant

Again, to our surprise, we walked through the park and found somewhere lovely to eat! The park restaurant was an outdoor/indoor place where you could eat in the main restaurant or choose a little private hut/cabin to sit in. We choose our place and ordered some wine. The food and wine here were lovely and the atmosphere was relaxing and calm. We stayed for a few hours until it started to get dark. When we quickly realized, we should see when the cable cars stop running, otherwise we might be stuck here for the night… well, as you may have guessed, they had stopped running!

Luckily we found an alternative route down, lots of steps and very dark! Not to mention, when we reached the bottom there was a huge gate, a huge locked gate, that we had to climb to get out. (all fun and games).

We said goodnight to our lovely new friend and headed back to the hotel.

Day 2 (Our Anniversary in Kutaisi, Georgia)

On day two we decided to treat ourselves. Therefore we booked a trip to the caves via bus to celebrate our 3^rd wedding anniversary. Followed by booking a table at a lovely restaurant for dinner. Finishing with a visit to the Palace of Imeretian Kings Okros Chardakhi.

Satsnakheli Winery

On our way to the bus stop we popped into Satsnakheli Winery. We were given many different wines to try, the Georgian wines were lovely. If you are a wine drinker, we would recommend this winery to try before you buy.

The caves – Prometheus Cave

Prometheus Cave was discovered in the early 1980s by Georgian speleologists, united by one underground river is part of a large cave system. The cave was refurnished in more recent years and reopened to visitors in May, 2011.

We went via bus to the caves (well two buses actually) the first bus took us to Tskaltubo Central Bazar where there was a small outdoor market and a few shops, we then had to hop on a smaller bus, well actually it was a mini van, which took us to the caves reception.

We checked in at the reception and then waited outside to wait for our tour to start, outside the reception area, there were tall trees all around and a deserted train that looks like it used to carry passengers around the grounds.

Once it was time to start our tour, one of the guides gathered the group around to introduce herself and tell us about the tour. We headed off down lots of steep steps to get down into the cave. The caves were dark and wet, but lit up by coloured lights, making it look quite funky. The guide talked us through different parts of the cave as we went along and we were able to take pictures and explore.

Towards the end of the cave tour, we hopped into a small boat, not before putting on our red helmets. This was due to the caves being extremely low at some points (Ads helmet was quite small which did make us laugh, haha!). The boat sailed us out of the caves to end our tour along the river, until we reached near to the front of the building where we started. The experience was so fun, we would recommend a visit, while in Kutaisi.

Anniversary meal at Cafe Argio

We booked at meal at Café Argio for our 3^rd wedding anniversary, as it looked nice when we’d passed by the day before. When we arrived for our ‘leather’ anniversary celebrations, we were seated and quickly realized that the walls, chairs and even the menus were made from leather! This wasn’t planned but we found it quite a funny coincidence. Although its not the nicest material to decorate in :(.

On arrival we were very hungry! But as I was vegetarian at the time (we are both plant based now) we found it hard to know what was ok to eat while in Kutaisi and this place was no different, so as for most of the trip we ordered pizza! (who doesn’t like pizza anyway?) and pasta and salad, well I did say we was hungry.

Day 3 (Kutaisi, Georgia)

Kutaisi State Historical Museum

Kutaisi State Historical Museum is considered one of the most important scientific-research institutions in Georgia, due to its extensive research laboratory and library. Furthermore, the museum was founded in 1912 and holds over 200,000 artifacts of Georgian historical and cultural heritage. Thus, making it one of the biggest and most fascinating museums in Georgia.

We visited the museum on day 3 and had a wonder around taking in all of the history and culture, some of the descriptions are difficult to read and therefore a guided tour might be beneficial if you want to know all the details.

The Georgian Parliament Building

After our visit to the museum, we had a walk around Kutaisi and made our way over to see the Parliament building. Which is an interesting piece of architecture. Moreover, the building was constructed from 2011 to 2012, to host the Parliament of Georgia.

Tea House Foe-Foe

Tea House Foe-Foe is a niche tea house, for those who love tea, music, art and books. As a result there is a wide range of teas from all around the world to choose from. As well as Georgian wine and food, making it the perfect place for a relaxed evening in Kutaisi.

To end day 3, we spent our evening with ice-tea, PIZZA (I did say that’s mostly what we ate!) warm tea and deserts at Tea house foe-foe. We had passed this place a few times on the previous days and thought it looked interesting, relaxed and unique – we were right! The place is decorated with art-work and the tea choice is huge, the pizza and dessert was great too! 

Flying back day

Run around Kutaisi and up to Kutaisi St. Archangels Basilica

On our last day we went for a 10km, which Adam planned on the map as a 5km run! Yes, we got slightly lost and doubled the run (Haha). We always take our running gear on trips with us as we like to do a run in the different places we are. Firstly, to keep up with our fitness (and burn off all that pizza!) and secondly because we get to see parts of the city we might not have seen, as its nice to run around new places.

We ran all around the city past places we recognised and parts we didn’t, and then ran up to St. Archangels Basilica, I say up, because it was up many hills! It was a nice finish to the trip before our flight back.

Home time

We popped to a shop before heading to the airport to buy ourselves a Kutaisi, Georgia Magnet (we buy one from every new place we visit!) and churchkhela to try on the way home. Lastly, we Flew back to Larnaca, Cyprus via Wizz air on our return flights. 

Thank you for reading – hope you enjoyed it… if you are planning to visit Kutaisi in Georgia and this has helped, let us know in the comments?

Lu & Ad

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