Kutaisi Airport transfers & tours
Kutaisi to Uplistsikhe — Cave Town Transfer & Tours
Last updated
Kutaisi International Airport (KUT)
↓ 155 km · 2h 30m
Uplistsikhe
Uplistsikhe is about 155 km and 2 hours 30 minutes east of Kutaisi International Airport (KUT), on a rock ridge above the Mtkvari river some 10 km from Gori. It is a town carved out of the stone itself, occupied from the Iron Age until Mongol raids emptied it in the 14th century.
Uplistsikhe is the oldest urban site most visitors to Georgia will see: streets, halls, a theatre-like space and religious rooms hollowed out of soft sandstone rather than built on top of it. It was a caravan stop on the route between Asia and Europe and it survived the arrival of Christianity by converting its own temples.
It sits close enough to the Kutaisi–Tbilisi highway to work as a stop on a capital transfer, and close enough to Gori to pair with the fortress and the Stalin Museum for a full day. We drive you to the car park at the foot of the ridge and wait while you walk the site.
What you'll see in Uplistsikhe
- Tamar's Hall — the largest and most elaborately carved chamber, with a coffered stone ceiling
- Uplistsulis Eklesia, the brick Prince's Church built on the summit around the 10th century
- The escape tunnel cut down through the rock to the Mtkvari river
- Rock-cut wine presses, storage pits and the pagan sanctuaries that predate the churches
How long you need at Uplistsikhe and what the walking is like
Allow about an hour and a half on site, or a little longer with an audio guide. The route climbs from the entrance to the church at the summit over bare, polished rock rather than made paths, with steps cut into the stone, occasional drops and no handrail in places. Shoes with grip matter more here than at any other site on this list.
The rock becomes slippery after rain and there is almost no shade on the ridge, so midsummer afternoons are hard work. The site opens at 10:00 and closes between 17:00 and 19:00 depending on the season, which means a winter visit needs an early start from Kutaisi. Anyone with balance or mobility difficulties should know the upper terraces are not avoidable.
What survives inside the cave town
The clearest single space is Tamar's Hall, a wide chamber whose ceiling is cut to imitate wooden beams — a stone copy of a building type that has otherwise disappeared. Around it are smaller rooms with carved niches, wine presses sunk into the floor, storage pits and post holes that show where timber structures once stood against the bare rock face.
At the top stands Uplistsulis Eklesia, the Prince's Church, a three-nave brick basilica of roughly the 10th century raised over what was probably the settlement's principal pagan temple. It is a working church, so women should carry a headscarf. Behind it, a long tunnel drops through the rock to the Mtkvari, built to fetch water and to leave unseen during a siege.
Pairing Uplistsikhe with Gori, or with a Tbilisi transfer
Gori is about 10 km west and gives the day a second half: the hilltop fortress above the town and the Stalin Museum, which keeps his birth house and armoured railway carriage. Ateni Sioni, a 7th-century church with damaged but important frescoes, lies a further 10 km south up the Tana valley on a smaller road and is usually quiet.
Because the site is only about ten kilometres off the main highway, it also folds neatly into a transfer to Tbilisi: allow roughly two and a half extra hours including the walk. Mtskheta is a further hour east, and the two together make a long but coherent day of pre-Christian and early Christian Georgia. Tell us before pickup so we can plan the daylight.
Routes that pair well with this trip
Frequently asked questions
How far is Uplistsikhe from Kutaisi Airport?
About 155 km and roughly 2 hours 30 minutes, taking the main east–west highway and turning off past Gori. The site is around 10 km east of Gori on the north bank of the Mtkvari.
How long should we spend at Uplistsikhe?
About an hour and a half of walking on site. It opens at 10:00 and closes somewhere between 17:00 and 19:00 depending on the season, so check the closing time before a late-afternoon visit.
Can we get to Uplistsikhe without a car?
Not directly. Trains and minibuses reach Gori, but the last 10 km to the site have no public service, so you would need a taxi from Gori in both directions.
Planning a trip to Uplistsikhe?
Tell us your dates and group size — we'll send a fixed price and a suggested itinerary.
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