vardzia

Amazing cave city which you should to see! Just walking and exploring this place! It`s amazing! You can go there easily by marshrutka from akhaltiskhe or tbilisi.

It is not easy to climb and go through the caves at Vardzia, but it's worth it- unbelievable sight and quite unique.

I can really only say WOW. Just walking around and seeing the caves, and connections between them is mind blowing.Then you see the chuch and you are speechless. If you decide to go there try to visit when its sunny so u can see the magnificent view

Amazing cave city, built in 12th century by the Queen Tamara and her father, Giorgi III. Although the earthquake destroyed a significant part of the site, yet today the city still big and stunning.Very recommended place to visit!Close to Vardzia situated Vanis Kvabebi monastery - I would recommend to visit both places during the same day.

It takes the whole day, but you will be happy to put Vardzia in your experiences. Just you enter in the valley an old fortress attracts you and till you reach the final site, you will enjoy the landscape. There after a steep beginning ( you can use also the shuttle bus if you are not in good shape ), you can walk inside the cave city, where the chapel and the labyrinthic tunnels are amazing. Nice experience in an unique location. Better to visit it not in a sunny day.

Great place but involves walking up and down by very narrow and low corridors, also up and down by very steep and narrow stairs, deformed with time, sometimes in total darkness. Wear good pair of shoes. Views of the valley are very interesting. Its almost a 3 hr drive from Tbilisi so if you have the time, energy and stamina definitely go for it.

We have being in others monasteries like this one, but for sure this is the biggest and most challenging one to accomplished on that time. The valley where it is located is awesome, you can hardly amagine that for 800 years, all kind of countries fought for this land. The church is quite pretty. If you are a man a want to enter it, you will need long pants. The frescoes outside the church are nice, but need some woork of restauration. It took us almost 3 Hours to visit the whole city. Tip: visit every single room, some of them have hidden corridors to upstairs or downstairs. Take your time to enjoy the place and imagine monks living here. Great spot! #smallfishbigworld

Oh wow! Go early morning It gets very hot and wear comfortable shoes. Very interesting and amazing. The views of the valley are just breath taking. Very peaceful and beautiful. I just simply love the whole area. We spent a week in that area staying at Valiodia's Cottages - What a great family!

Very interesting place! Impressive as it was created by human.When we arrived we thought that it just a museum, but it turned out that it is working monasteries where monks live. If you will have time I advise you to visit this place.

Great place, must see , just an hour or so from Akhaltsikhe (great fortress of Khertvisi is 16 km before)Cave city is great, so just some advise - it involves walking up and down by very narrow and low corridors, also up and down by very steep and narrow stairs, deformed with time, sometimes in total darknessSome of the balconies are not fenced, initial approach path leads steeply uphill for 30-40 m upAbove means that you have to be pretty fit to go there, especially if it's summer and it's hot outsidePls beware, water is a must

Partially destroyed by an earthquake hundreds of years ago, this city had 30000 inhabitants--now just a few monks. It dates to Queen Tamar in the 12th century and all the rooms were dug out by hand. Don't miss the church if you can find a monk nearby to open it for you. Magnificent frescoes from 12th century with remarkable untouched interior. Pictures but no flash. Thousands of steps, some of them in dark tunnels with minimal light. Not for the faint of heart or decrepit, though this old man made it fine.

A 20 minute walk uphill on a paved path, you reach a magnificent cave city of Vardzia. Once up there, a breathtaking view overlooking the river and the whole valley is in front of your eyes. The cave monastery (late 12th century AD) is actively used by priests and pilgrims. The frescoes inside and outside the main church are vivid and beautiful. A must-visit destination if you come to this part of the country.

3 GEL (more or less 1,5 EUR) entrance, best way to get there from Tbilisi is via Akhaltsikhe, might be advisable to negotiate in Akhaltsikhe with a driver, as there are quite a few attractions around, not just Vardzia. Vardzia monastery is simply amazing and breathtaking, watch out if, like me, you are not the biggest fan of heights, but it was very much worth it. Long hike up, short hike down and be ready to be surprised. These Georgian monks dug like ants in the mountain, creating a monastery fortress, however a bit like the Dwarves in Lord of the Rings were punished, because so much diggining weakened the mountain and after an earthquake half the mountain collapsed. They say there are still 900 monk cells uncovered by archeologists. You can easily see how this monastery was also a fortress, and according to locals once soldiers and fortresses stood here and the mountain monastery was ready to be defended. You can also be impressed with the hydraulic system of distributing cold and hot water to the cells, and if during siege or cold winter, could also distribute milk. Imagine that!Moreover once you climb up to the second church on the way, you can witness the only portrait of Georgian medieval queen Tamara which was painted while she was still alive, and of course amazed by the orthodox frescos on the walls, will be difficult to let go of your camera. Why I said about hiring a local driver? Because there is another cave monastery nearby, older than Vardzia and which was not destroyed (though smaller) a number of ruins of fortresses dating to Queen Tamara's times, The majesty of Khertvisi castle, and you can manage by sunset to reach Sapara Monastery. A local driver would cost you between 50 and 100 GEL maximum (25-50 EUR) maximum! and worth it to discover the region and spend the night in Akhaltsikhe, either in Rabati castle or some more budget accommodation in town.

We followed caves with bath in soviet time laboratory swimming pool with 65 degrees Celsius running mineral water from 1200 m depth. Costed 3 GEL per person and the guy was so nice to open it for 3 of us after work hours when it was already dark. Pool is in old shed and he took electricity for light from car battery. This experience was unforgettable.Strongly suggest to stay overnight in Vardzia, there should be no more than 10 houses. We stayed at house of Tamaz Natanadze (+995 599770602) and his wife, nice senior couple. They served us dinner and breakfast with 5 dishes each and he has ~500 liters of home made wine which was amazing. He made us drink it 8.45am as well and it was great! :) He has at least 20 beds there.Some taxi driver and main hotel woman in Vardzia where not honest and tried to mislead us, be careful. Tamaz turned this experience all way around and this was one of the best moments in all our trip. Strongly suggest.

The arrival to this site was not easy from Akhalkalaki direction and Navigator and Google Maps miss-leaded us. ther is no direction signs till the site itself. we used locals help.We visited the site with our little child. The entry fee was 3GEL pp. car entry fee was 4GEL and the local guides "gives a lift" to the beginning spot for 2GEL pp. we entered with our car to all the way up (what appeared to be a mistake). The touring in the site is not possible with a stroller. we used a back carrier. the site is spectacular and includes many caves mined in stone. There is missing directions inside the site itself - by climbing to one cave we discovered a great an adventurous in-mountain path between the caves and the church. we recommend to assist a local guide services (15GEL).In the middle of the way you have a choice to return to beginning spot or to continue by stairs all the way down the cliff. we continued all the way which included very slippery and steep stairs. it was very difficult route with a child.the whole tour took us about 2 hours