Wake Up In Wine Country – 2 Day Kakheti Food & Wine Tour (Telavi / Signagi)

Our premium tours are priced higher than budget or mid-range competitors due to our dedication to exclusivity, quality, authenticity, and fair compensation to guides and small family winemakers.

Our philosophy on price is: What is better value for money, a unique boutique dinner with premium wine, or eating a supermarket sandwich on a park bench with a nice view? Either experience could get a 5 star review, if the quality meets the price tag and exceeds your personal expectations.

Although we understand our prices may not suit everyone, we guarantee premium experiences surpassing cheaper alternatives, to which our past guests overwhelmingly give 5 star reviews and agree are genuinely worth the price tag. Learn why, below.

Our tours are priced with the exact cost (with fair pay to vendors) plus a 5% to 25% margin (depending on tour type and the number of guests) to pay our admin staff and be in profit (otherwise the business would close).

No. The tour runs in all weathers but note that if it is heavy rain or snow, a visit to walk the walls in Signagi may not be much fun, so you can opt to spend more time elsewhere.

The only currency accepted by vendors for buying wine/gifts etc. to take home, is the national currency GEL. You can get this from any ATM and your driver will be happy to stop at one.

Purchase of our tours is normally in GEL based on the current exchange rate for the USD pricing of the tours. We’ll advise you of the exchange rate by email shortly before the tour date.

The initial standard price listed on our tour webpages is based on 1 adult traveling in a group of 2 to 4 people on a scheduled tour. Groups of 5 or more adults receive discounts. If you booked at full price and your tour ends up with 5 or more people after you booked, we will refund you any owed savings. This is done on the morning of the tour to ensure we know the exact number of people who actually took the tour, and can account for last minute sign ups and no-shows when calculating the final price.

The final discount will vary depending on the exact number of guests in the vehicle. We always honor discounts and will normally contact you about the expected final price the day before your tour, if it has changed since you initial booking. 

Prices vary for private and custom tours (we’ll give you an exact quote based on what you want to book) as well as any extras you may book in addition to the scheduled tours.

The price you pay is the exact price it costs us to run the service (paying guides and vendors for what they provide etc.) plus a margin of 10% to 30% to cover marketing costs, office staff, and so we run at a profit (otherwise we’ll go out of business!). The margin depends on the amount of people, and type of tour. We actually subsidize tours with only 2 people on, out of our margin, to keep our pricing competitive, and because we’d rather have our guides out and getting paid, than get greedy and penalize small groups.

We always try to price transparently and as fairly as possible and to pay guides and vendors above average in order to retain the best people.

Yes, with advance notice. The standard inclusions contain pork or veal, dairy, walnuts and gluten.

Vegetarian options are available (and popular in Georgia!) at all main meal stops but must be requested at the time of booking, as family hosts prepare food specifically for the group.

Vegan options are possible but a bit more limited as Georgian cuisine can be dairy heavy. Khinkali, on some not all of our tours (check specific inclusions for this tour), has a vegetarian (cheese) or vegan (mushroom) filling option by advanced request.

Vegan + Gluten Free as a combined need of a single individual is essentially impossible to cater for as this would restrict you to essentially eating a few vegetable dishes our small home cooks are not able to cater for something this limited unfortunately.

If you are full celiac (not just gluten intolerant) we do not have the scope to guarantee protection against cross-contamination in small home kitchens. It’s better not to book the tour if you would have severe reactions to gluten if any of your food accidentally had gluten in. Regular gluten-free is absolutely no problem though you will miss out on Khinkali and Khachapuri, Georgia’s two national dishes, we can’t offer gluten-free alternatives to this though we can sometimes substitute Khachapuri with Mchadi which is a west Georgian corn bread

If you have a serious nut allergy that could result in anaphylactic shock or other serious effects please ensure you bring an epi pen with you on the tour please ensure you notify us at time of booking that your walnut allergy is that serious and please advise the guide at the start of your tour where the epipen is and any instructions they may need on using it – or who else accompanying you would be responsible for using it. Walnuts are one of the primary foodstuffs in Georgian cuisine. We absolutely can cater easily for those who cannot eat walnuts. There is plenty other food to eat. But small cross-contamination risk is sometimes possible and cannot be avoided so it is essential that you are prepared for this.

You’ll probably see on all budget sightseeing tour itineraries, and most lists of “things to do in Kakheti”, that Bodbe is normally included. Why is this?

• Entry is free.
• It’s an important religious landmark of Georgia.
• It’s 10 minutes from Signagi, so makes for an easy extra stop to bulk out sightseeing tours.

Why we don’t go?

• It’s very touristy, during the summer the parking area can have multiple big bus tours arrive at once.
• There are religious sites everywhere in Georgia, Bodbe is historically important (not so much as Jvari though), but visually (in terms of landmark photos) not as good as many others.
• Our tours are more focused on grass-roots culture, food, wine, and some very scenic photo stops. We don’t need to bulk out the tour with standard tourist stops unless they are real wow factor places (like Signagi). We’ve never had any guest EVER say “Bodbe was the cultural highlight” of any of our trips – or even that it was anything but the least interesting stop of the whole trip. So, we listened, and we leave more time for meeting winemakers, and learning about the culture first-hand, without the tourists.

Information on cancellation and refund policy is here: https://eatthistours.com/terms-conditions-of-service/

Typically we don’t book under 18’s onto shared wine tours. For 2 reasons:

• We cannot predict the behavior of other adults after a few glasses. We don’t want to have any situation where parents feel upset about the way other guests act. 
• Some adults choose to take wine tours explicitly because they are adult-only type experiences. The ability to let loose a little bit without worrying about offending kids/parents is important.

That said, we typically allow 12+ onto shared tours if all other participants agree, and the accompanying parent understands the situation and consents to not hold us liable. We’ve never had any serious issues at any time in company history, but we also want to keep it that way by always favoring caution.

If your kids are under 12, or if you prefer not to have your kids mingle with guests who may be tipsy, then definitely request a private / on-demand tour.

Typical child prices on a private tour:

12 to 18 (no wine): ~60% discount on adult price. Parental choice if allowing tasting of your wine.

7 to 11: ~80% discount on adult price

0 to 7: If 2 or more adults, typically free. The exception is where we need a larger vehicle to accommodate multiple kids, then we have to charge to cover transport costs.

These prices may vary depending on the route and the number of adults.

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Booster Seats: We can sometimes provide these, but not always. We offer no insurance and take no liability for the quality of our booster seats. We recommend bringing your own. There is no law in Georgia currently (Jan 2024) that enforces the use of booster seats, though we suggest you do.

Private tours guarantee:

• Exclusive transport: Your own private vehicle, entirely unshared.
• Dedicated guide: A private guide focused solely on your group.
• Itinerary flexibility: Freedom to make minor adjustments during the day. However, since wineries and meals are booked for fixed times, last-minute changes may not be accommodated, and you will still be responsible for full payment.
• Personalised hosting: Individual attention at each location from the winemaker or host.
• Private tables: Your own separate space or table for every meal and tasting. (Note: On rare occasions, winery cellar tours may be combined with another group due to winery operational limits beyond our control.)

Private tours do not guarantee:

• Exclusive winery access: The winery remains open to the public. Unless you book a high-cost private event to close the entire facility, other guests may be on-site or in the same room, but your specific tasting and table will remain strictly private.
• The winemaker as host at every stop: We aim for a “meet the winemaker” experience (often including a hosted meal) at a minimum of one winery per day trip, which succeeds on over 90% of our tours. However, we cannot guarantee winemaker availability in every instance due to potential illness or scheduling conflicts.

Both options offer a premium, all-inclusive look at authentic Georgian food and wine culture. To use a simple hospitality analogy: our Superior tours are like booking a beautifully appointed, quality room at a top-tier boutique hotel, while our Signature tours are like upgrading to that hotel’s top-floor suite. (Please note this is just a metaphor for the level of inclusions – overnight accommodation is not included in our day trips!)

Here is how the two package levels break down:

• Superior All-Inclusive Tours: This is our high-grade baseline package. Operating in comfortable, modern, air-conditioned minivans or minibuses with careful drivers, these small-group tours (maximum 15 guests) feature highly curated stops, expert guiding, and a substantial fully inclusive meal (with many routes including lunch and dinner). You get a complete, generous, and uncompromised premium experience. Focused on 1-day and half-day trips.
• Signature All-Inclusive Tours: These are our landmark, deeply indulgent flagship itineraries (spanning 1 to 3 days). They command a higher price because they scale down the group size to a maximum of just 8 guests for a highly intimate atmosphere. They always include both lunch and dinner every day, a more indulgent selection of food and wine tastings, and focus on exclusive, direct hosting from the winemakers themselves.

Premium Authentic vs. “Luxury”
There is a distinct line between our Premium Authentic experiences and artificial luxury. A luxury approach in Georgia typically prioritises styled, highly modernised chateaus designed to project a polished “luxury identity,” paired with cost-prohibitive VIP vehicles that drive up prices without adding genuine substance. Our Premium Authentic approach focuses entirely on the Real Georgia – with occasionally just a taste of the more modern for balance. We pair modern, comfortable, air-conditioned transport, careful drivers, and elevated authentic food and wine. We focus on genuine hospitality rather than venues that just look fancy on the surface. Sitting down with a winemaker at their family table to hear them personally explain their wines feels far more premium authentic than any high-end, modern chateau restaurant meal.

If I book a Superior Tour, am I getting a basic or scaled-back experience?
Never basic! We do not offer low-cost, mass-market commercial tours. Every single itinerary we run is built from the ground up to be a top-tier package. With a Superior tour, you still get well-kept, comfortable transport, a dedicated expert guide, top-quality food, and exceptional authentic wines all day long. If a Signature tour is out of your budget, the Superior tour still delivers a generous, uncompromised premium experience – just a little shorter, less indulgent, and hence less expensive.

Accommodation is not included. We ask guests to book their own overnight stay because the price difference between a basic guesthouse and a five-star hotel is vast, and what suits one guest is completely wrong for another. Rather than force everyone into the same option, we give you a curated list of our favourites – from Bucha’s Guesthouse at the budget end up to the 5-star Tsinandali Estate – and you choose what fits your taste and budget. See the accommodation section on this page for our recommendations.

Not Sighnaghi. Your overnight is in Telavi or Tsinandali – those are the two main towns where the hotels are, and anywhere between them works too. Sighnaghi is visited on Day 1 but the tour moves north into the Telavi area for Day 2. Note that many hotels in this area use the word “Telavi” in their listing even when they are not actually in Telavi town – our included pickup and drop-off covers Telavi itself on the evening of Day 1 and the morning and evening of Day 2. If your hotel is listed as Telavi but is significantly outside the town (Lopota Lake Resort, for example, is over 30 minutes north of Telavi), a taxi connection fee may be added to your booking.

Across two days you can expect to encounter Saperavi, Rkatsiteli, Kisi, Mtsvane and Khikhvi – all indigenous Georgian varieties. On rare occasions we may taste Simonaseuli, an exceptionally rare variety. The exact lineup depends on what is available at the wineries on the day.

On Day 2 you visit a family winery and learn to make khinkali – Georgia’s iconic soup dumplings. The class is around 20 minutes: short, hands-on, and focused on the technique. Afterwards the khinkali you made are cooked and you eat them. A vegetarian or vegan filling option is available but must be pre-ordered at the time of booking.

The plane tree in Telavi is believed to be over 900 years old and sits outside Telavi fortress – the seat of King Erekle II, last king of Georgia. It is a genuine point of interest but not a long stop – how much time the group has here depends on the pace of the morning’s winery visits. As the itinerary notes: “Amount of time available to visit these attractions will depend on how much time you spent enjoying the first 2 wineries!”

Sighnaghi is a hilltop village with cobbled streets, the longest fortification walls in Georgia, and sweeping views across the Alazani valley to the Caucasus mountains. On this tour you walk part of the walls and visit the small handicraft souvenir shops. Bodbe Convent is nearby but is not a standard stop on this tour – on occasions when the group arrives early it may be possible as a bonus visit. See the FAQ above for more detail on why it is not included by default.

Standard tours depart from central Tbilisi. If you are not staying centrally, you may need to make your own way to a central meeting point, or arrange a taxi connection to meet the group – our team can advise the right option when you book. If you are taking a fully private tour and need an alternative pickup location, please contact our team before booking so we can assess whether your pickup location is feasible and any extra fees that may apply.

Yes, with advance notice. The standard inclusions contain pork or veal, dairy, walnuts and gluten. Vegetarian options are available at all main meal stops but must be requested at the time of booking, as family hosts prepare food specifically for the group. Vegan options are possible at most stops – please confirm when you book. The khinkali class on Day 2 also has a vegetarian or vegan filling option by prior request.

20 or more across both days – often more, depending on how generous our hosts are being. The itinerary visits multiple wineries on each day and typically includes chacha (local spirit) tastings too. Wine servings are generous: this is not a sip-and-go tasting, so please pace yourself.