Gareja Sunrise Hike Tour from Tbilisi and Rainbow Hills Trail
Description
• Admire from the top sunrise and above the landscape with morning fog • Plenty of time to relax and take photos of the sunrise and incredible scenery • Ideal for adventurous families, couples and photographers Get a certain feeling about being up before everybody else, experiencing the marvels of nature uninterrupted and in all its glory. Sunrise Tour at David Gareja Monastery Complex take you to semi-desert area in the southern part of Georgia which own known for its beautiful colors hills formed by volcanically sandstone and minerals, there are few places on earth where Mother Nature gives such an awesome display of colors. Immersed in the amazing beauty and solitude found in the Udabno semi-desert, hike to sunrise spectacular view point, which also is natural border between of two countries Georgia and Azerbaijan. After sunrise continue explore caves with guided tour to Udabno monastery with monumental paintings dated 10th to 13th century.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your driver and local tour guide will pick-up you from your accommodation place in Tbilisi, and travel into the semi-desert area of Southeast Georgia by Kakheti Hwy, where the main David Gareja monastery complexes (Lavra and Udabno monasteries) awaits. Driving will takes 2 hours
After a short, 70 minutes’ drive from Tbilisi you will see village Udabno, it’s built in the 1980s as a USSR project, was designed for militaries but project wasn't implementation by government. since Georgia get independence here was relocated inhabitants from Svaneti Region they are environmental migrants. it was almost Forgotten village, but after, Polish initiative group decided settle here many things changed. Here is great possibility to get experience of Georgian & Polish hospitality in Semi desert area of Georgia
From left side of main road Rustavei-Jandara 12th km David Gareji monastery you can observe caves Dodorka monastery, which is build in the first half of the 6th century, founded by St. Dodo one of the disciples of David Garejeli
Before arriving to main monastery from right side of mountain slope you will see Chichkhituri tower, which was part of monastery with the same name. in early medieval time it was living place for the head of monastery Lavra.
here will hike to sunrise view and after sunrise walk in monastery and colourful mountains
here we will have breakfast and relaxation time
drive back to Tbilisi
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
At liberty square is monument and next to it your guide and driver will wait you.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(4)
This day trip was so worthwhile. Our guide Zura was ready and waiting for us in the reception of our hotel as promised. He was very personable and spoke excellent English. We were able to ask him anything He was not only very knowledgeable he was also an excellent listener and clearly very intelligent. Our driver Acho made the long trip comfortable. He navigated poor roads and pot holes and other drivers with experienced competence. We enjoyed visiting and learning about the monasteries and Zura’s respect and knowledge of the monks and their lifestyle made our visits so much more meaningful. We enjoyed a hike up and over the rainbow hills. It was great to stretch our legs and experience the vastness of the terrain. By the time we got to the village where they made bread many had finished for the day however Zura found one still baking. We all had a go and made traditional bread.... then we enjoyed eating it!! With the salty cheese the hot bread we’d made was especially good! The last monastery and the city of love were very pretty and we particularly enjoyed the panoramic views of the Caucas mountains which were snow capped at the time. Zura and Acho were a great team and did so much to make the experience enjoyable for us. We can not recommend them highly enough.
One of the best tours ever!! Enjoyed the view of sunrise with no other tourists around so much. Great light, silence, historical view! Our driver, david, drove us safe even on the sometimes bumpy roads and our tour guide, zurab, shared lots of interesting stories.
I really enjoyed my time in the semi-desert. Watching the sunrise was amazing! We had the place on our own so we could just enjoy the nature. It's worth getting up early. Walking through the Rainbow Hills was also great, there are unique views! The guide called Zura is awesome and it's fun to spend time with him. I would always participate the tour again :)
I wanted to do something different so I opted for the sunrise tour...absolutely Amazing! Zurab was an amazing guide! Very knowledgeable and friendly! Our driver Goga was an expert! Highly recommend this tour!
