Vardzia is still worth the drive, but about half the cave city has been closed since a rockfall

After a rockfall, the accessible route through the cave complex now stops a short way past the Church of the Dormition, and visitors have to come back down the way they went up rather than completing a loop. Roughly half the complex is behind that point and off limits, with no announced date for reopening. Nearby Vanis Kvabebi, another cave site, has been shut for several years for the same reason. None of this makes the trip pointless — the frescoed church and the cliff terraces are the heart of the place — but it does change what a four-hour drive from Tbilisi buys you, and it is worth telling guests before they set out.

Adult entry is 15 lari and under-sixes go free; there are no student or senior discounts and no identity document is needed. The audio guide is a further 15 lari for one device with a speaker, which two people can share. A shuttle from the ticket office up to the cave entrance costs 2 lari a head. Opening hours shift with the season: 10am to 7pm from 1 May to 30 September, 10am to 6pm in March, April and up to mid-November, and 10am to 5pm through the winter. Allow at least two hours inside, or about three with the audio guide, and arrive a good two hours before closing. There is no cash machine on site.

From Tbilisi it is about 225 km and four to five hours each way, which rules out same-day public transport; realistic options are an organised tour, a hired driver or your own car. From Akhaltsikhe it is about 60 km on a sealed road a regular saloon handles, with marshrutka vans running several times a day from the bus station — so staying a night in Akhaltsikhe turns a long day into a comfortable one. One practical warning: there is another village called Vardzia near Zestafoni, and map apps sometimes send drivers there. The one you want is near Aspindza.

Tour groups tend to arrive around half past ten in the morning, which creates bottlenecks in the tunnels and at the church, so an earlier or later start pays off. July and August are hot with little shade, worst between three and five in the afternoon; paths and stairs get slick when wet or icy. The route involves narrow stairs, uneven rock, low tunnels and some exposed sections, and it is not wheelchair accessible — anyone uneasy with heights or enclosed spaces should know that in advance. Khertvisi Fortress on the way charges 10 lari, though the guide's view is that the fortress looks better from outside the walls than in.