Tbilisi

Tbilisi is named for the hot sulfur springs it was built on, and Silk Road centuries under Persian, Russian and Ottoman rule stacked its Old Town with fretwork balconies and brick bathhouse domes.

Now it pours the world's oldest wine, an 8,000-year clay-vessel craft from nearby Kakheti, straight from cellar bars you stumble into after dark.

Fly into:

• Tbilisi International TBS

Marshrutka minibuses run from Tbilisi to Telavi and Sighnaghi for a few euros, with shared taxis slightly faster. For Kakheti's wineries a hired driver is about 50 to 80 EUR a day. In the city, walk the Old Town and use the Bolt app for cheap taxis.

Hit the sulfur baths at opening, before the crowds, then breakfast on oven-hot khachapuri. After dark the supra takes over: when a table starts toasting, the tamada runs the room, and Vera's wine bars rarely quit before midnight.

Best in Spring

Spring: pleasant days around 18 to 25C with cool evenings, ideal for the Old Town and vineyard day-trips, with the odd shower.

• broken-in shoes for cobbled Old Town lanes
• layers for cool evenings
• a daypack for Kakheti wine day-trips
• a towel and swimwear for the sulfur baths
• a refillable water bottle