Why renting a car in Georgia is worth it
Georgia packs an astonishing amount into a small country, and almost all of the best of it sits beyond the reach of timetables. Marshrutka minibuses connect the big towns, but the moment you want to follow the Georgian Military Highway up to Stepantsminda for the view of Gergeti Trinity Church, hop between wineries in Kakheti, or detour to the cave city of Uplistsikhe near Gori, you are on someone else's schedule. With your own car you simply go. Tbilisi to Kazbegi is around 150 km of spectacular mountain driving over the Jvari Pass; Tbilisi to Batumi on the Black Sea is roughly 370 km on the S1 motorway, an easy day with stops.
Fuel is cheap by European standards, distances are manageable, and the landscapes change from the semi-desert near Davit Gareja to alpine peaks in a single afternoon. A car turns a list of sights into a genuine road trip — the wine villages of Sighnaghi, the canyons and Prometheus Cave near Kutaisi, and, for the truly adventurous, the medieval stone towers of Svaneti. For a week's holiday, car hire almost always works out cheaper and far more flexible than chaining together tours and shared taxis, and it opens up corners of the Caucasus that buses never reach.
