Georgia small group tour

Planet

On this tour we visit the Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as visiting several centuries-old cathedrals and monasteries. Our visits to these sites help to support local projects to conserve the area's cultural and geographical heritage.

Our guides will brief travellers on appropriate behaviour, both cultural and environmental. When visiting local villages and ornate monasteries and churches, we make a point of ensuring that we leave no permanent traces of our stay behind, taking all rubbish with us to protect these valuable tourist attractions.

Where appropriate and feasible we will always incorporate walking tours of cities rather than being reliant on private transportation - not only reducing our carbon footprint but we believe leading to a more enjoyable and intimate experience for our clients. This is particularly important in places such as Tbilisi and it's old town which showcases the fascinating history of this overlook region. Furthermore, all vehicles used on the tour have low carbon emissions. We work closely with our local suppliers to highlight best practice in terms of environmental issues.

We only employ local staff and unlike many operators we believe that to send a foreign Tour Leader along to accompany your trip is an unnecessary burden on your wallet and our carbon footprint. We believe that locals know best. Our local operators only use locally owned accommodation. This means your money stays in the area to benefit the local community. When possible we use local transport, (i.e. rail or bus) and we always use local restaurants, markets and shops. In doing this your travels are supporting and encouraging the development of local services.

People

This tour has a strong focus on staying in rural communities at family-run guesthouses. We believe that staying small village guesthouses and family homes not only gives travellers an authentic and very special insight into the lives of local people, but brings tangible benefits to small communities that may otherwise be overlooked by the tourism industry. Spending time with local hosts enables far more cultural interaction than travellers would experience when staying in large hotels.

We learn about the Georgian culture when visiting museums and remote villages. This helps the local people continue their traditions and their culture is preserved, as well as encouraging interaction between the locals and tourists.

We believe that tourism is a double edged sword that needs to be wielded very carefully. Our philosophy is to have a limited amount of departures – usually between one and three a year - for each of our itineraries. By limiting our presence in areas where local culture can be quite fragile, we hope to avoid as much as possible the phenomenon whereby an area changes in character due to repeated and prolonged exposure to tourism. We want to visit an area as friends, not intruders and to ensure that what we see will also be there for others to enjoy for many years to come.

Our groups average only six clients, and many tours operate on a private basis with just two travellers. This has much less impact when travelling through rural areas, reducing our environmental and social affects. Finally to emphasis our commitment to Responsible Tourism all clients will receive a copy of our Travellers Code of Conduct with their travel documents.