Georgia

It depends on what’s already in your passport. If you hold a valid US, UK, Schengen or similar visa, you can enter Georgia visa-free for up to 30 days — a lovely perk many Indians don’t realise they qualify for. If not, there’s a simple online e-Visa. The important new bit: from 1 January 2026, travel insurance with minimum €10,000 medical cover is mandatory to enter, so it’s no longer optional. We arrange a compliant policy as part of your booking so you’re never turned away at immigration over paperwork.

Plainly: yes. Tbilisi and the entire standard tourist route — the wine country, the mountains, the old towns — are safe, calm and genuinely welcoming to visitors. The tension you read about is confined to specific disputed border regions, and any responsible itinerary simply doesn’t go near them, so it never touches your trip. Georgians are famously hospitable and used to tourists. We’d not send families and first-timers somewhere we had doubts about; this is one of those places whose reputation is far edgier than the actual experience on the ground.

The Georgian Military Highway up to Kazbegi is about three hours of winding, genuinely spectacular mountain road — dramatic rather than dangerous in a good vehicle. In heavy winter snow it can close briefly while it’s cleared, so we build a little buffer into the plan and keep an eye on the forecast rather than betting everything on one fixed day. We put you in a comfortable private car with an experienced driver, and if anyone’s prone to motion sickness, a morning start, front seat and light stomach make the bends much kinder.

Very much so, even if you barely drink. Georgia is the birthplace of wine, going back some 8,000 years, and it’s made in buried clay qvevri vessels rather than barrels, which makes a tasting in Kakheti as much a history and culture lesson as a wine one. The valleys are beautiful, the family cellars warm and unhurried, and the food that comes with it is a highlight in itself. Non-drinkers still enjoy the scenery, the hospitality and the story — it’s one of the most characterful days you can add.

Surprisingly, yes — Georgian cooking is a quiet vegetarian delight. Khachapuri, the molten cheese bread, is reason enough to go; then there’s veg khinkali dumplings, badrijani (walnut-stuffed aubergine rolls), lobio bean stews, and a table always laden with fresh salads, herbs and breads. It’s hearty, generous food rather than an afterthought for non-meat-eaters. Do mention Jain restrictions specifically if they apply, but ordinary vegetarians rarely go hungry here — most travellers come back raving about the food as much as the mountains.