Half of Vardzia is closed after a rockfall, and nobody has given a reopening date

Vardzia is a monastery carved into a cliff face in southern Georgia, and the visit is normally a loop through tunnels, stairs and chambers cut into the rock. After a rockfall, the route beyond the Church of the Dormition has been shut, and the guide puts the closed portion at around half the complex. You still see the lower terraces and the church itself, which is the part with the frescoes most people come for, but you exit by walking back the way you came rather than continuing round. The guide notes the information was current as of September and advises checking before travelling, which is sensible advice for a site five hours from Tbilisi.

Entry is 15 lari for adults and free for children under six, with no student or pensioner discount. An audio guide is another 15 lari, and the shuttle bus from the ticket office up to the start of the cave route costs 2 lari a head, which saves an uphill walk. Opening hours move with the season: ten in the morning until six from the first of March to the end of April, until seven from May to the end of September, until six from the first of October to the fourteenth of November, and until five from mid-November to the end of February. The guide advises arriving at least two hours before closing and warns that hours can change on some Orthodox holidays.

Vardzia is about 225 kilometres from Tbilisi and 60 from Akhaltsikhe, and the guide puts the drive at four to five hours from either Tbilisi or Kutaisi. On site, you could rush the open section in around forty-five minutes, should allow at least two hours at a steady pace, and nearer three with the audio guide. Add the two drives and a day trip from Tbilisi is a long one with little slack. The guide is explicit that doing it by public transport in a single day is too tight; the realistic versions are a private driver, an organised tour that pairs Vardzia with Rabati and Borjomi, or a night in Akhaltsikhe.

The guide rates the site moderate: many stairs, tunnels and uneven paths, not a hike but not easy either, and not wheelchair accessible. It flags that people who are claustrophobic or uneasy with heights may find some sections hard going, and that bottlenecks form at the tunnels and the church. On timing, the busy stretch is late June through September, tour groups start arriving around half past ten, and the guide advises against July and August afternoons between three and five because of the heat and the lack of shade. For tour operators selling this as a stop, the closure and the retrace-your-steps exit are the two things a client should be told in advance.