Tsinandali Estate & The Alazani Valley
Things to Do on the Estate & Nearby
From 19th-century palace salons, subterranean wine cellars, and rooftop oenotherapy spas to ancient hilltop monasteries and royal citadels across Kakheti.
Part I · Inside the Estate Gates
On the Tsinandali Estate
We warmly encourage arriving on Saturday, September 18, 2027—a day before Sunday’s Welcome Dinner—so you have plenty of relaxed time to enjoy the eighteen-hectare Tsinandali Estate, from Prince Chavchavadze’s palace and 1830s wine cellars to the rooftop infinity pool, spa, and park tennis courts.
Chavchavadze Palace Museum & Historic Park
Inherited by Prince Alexander Chavchavadze—the founder of Georgian romanticism—from his father Garsevan (Ambassador of King Erekle II), the Tsinandali Palace became the cultural salon of the 19th-century Caucasus. Poets and writers including Alexandre Dumas, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Griboyedov, and Nikoloz Baratashvili gathered on its carved blue wooden balcony, naming Tsinandali “the Literary Heart of Poets and Writers.”
Guided museum tours showcase over 500 restored artifacts, Georgia’s first grand piano, 18th-century manuscripts, and Dmitri Ermakov’s historic photographs. Outside, the 18-hectare park blends European and Asian landscape design—and tradition holds that couples who walk the shaded “Alley of Love” with closed eyes are blessed with lifelong happiness.
The 1830s Oenotheque & Estate Wine Tours
In the 1830s, Prince Chavchavadze constructed Georgia’s first subterranean European-style wine cellar alongside traditional Kakhetian clay qvevri buried beneath stone arches. Today, the Tsinandali Oenotheque preserves over 16,500 rare bottles spanning 70 varieties—including the oldest bottled wine in Georgia, an 1814 Saperavi, alongside 19th-century Château d’Yquem and Romanée-Conti.
Estate sommeliers lead daily cellar walks and tastings of flagship Tsinandali Estate wines—including crisp barrel-aged Tsinandali white, skin-contact amber Rkatsiteli fermented in qvevri, and rich Saperavi reserves—paired with warm bread and Kakhetian cheeses.
Rtveli Harvest & Culinary Masterclasses
Visiting in September means experiencing Kakheti at the height of Rtveli. Guests can step into the estate rows to hand-pick ripe Saperavi and Rkatsiteli clusters and take part in traditional grape-pressing rituals.
In the estate’s open-air kitchens and Prince Alexander Restaurant, Georgian chefs host interactive masterclasses where you can slap crescent-shaped shoti bread onto the glowing walls of a clay tone oven, dip strings of walnuts into simmering grape Tatara to craft churchkhela, fold pleated khinkali dumplings, and grill skewered mtsvadi over dried grapevine embers.
Anne Semonin Spa, Infinity Pool & Zandukeli’s Bathhouse
On the top (5th) floor of the Radisson Collection Hotel, the Anne Semonin Spa features an outdoor heated rooftop infinity pool suspended above the treetops with sweeping views of the snow-capped Greater Caucasus range, alongside a Finnish sauna, steam room, and indoor pool with retractable glass walls.
The spa’s signature Oenotherapy Grape & Wine Collection offers Saperavi grape-seed body scrubs, mulled wine wraps, and rejuvenating wine baths. For groups, Zandukeli’s Bathhouse in the park offers traditional steam and scrub rituals, while clay tennis courts, modern padel courts, and woodland bicycles are open to all hotel guests.
Tennis & Padel Courts in the Historic Park
Tucked beneath the century-old trees of the Tsinandali Park, the estate features full-size outdoor terracotta-red tennis courts alongside modern glass-walled padel courts—offering an inviting setting for a morning match or a friendly doubles tournament with fellow wedding guests in the crisp Kakhetian air.
Tennis and padel rackets, balls, and court lighting for golden-hour play are provided through the hotel concierge. Beyond the courts, complimentary estate bicycles and shaded woodland running and walking trails wind through all eighteen hectares of the botanical garden and adjacent vineyards.
Part II · Beyond the Estate Gates (2 to 50 Minutes)
Nearby in Kakheti & the Alazani Valley
Tsinandali sits at the crossroads of Kakheti’s greatest cultural landmarks. Arriving on Saturday, September 18 gives you Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before the Welcome Dinner (or extra days after Monday’s wedding) to explore these historic sites just minutes from the estate.
Shumi Winery, Vine Museum & Sculpture Park
Directly bordering the Tsinandali National Park—and the setting for our Welcome Dinner—the nine-hectare Shumi Tourist Complex is home to Georgia’s first Wine Museum and the world-renowned Vazi ampelographic collection, preserving over 400 rare indigenous Georgian and international grape varieties in a living vineyard library.
Stroll through Shumi’s decorative garden filled with bronze and stone sculptures by modern Georgian masters, visit the underground Zigu Grotto where fortified grape spirit ages in oak, and see the Vinobiza Pavilion featuring murals painted entirely in Saperavi wine.
Telavi, Batonis Tsikhe Fortress & The 900-Year Plane Tree
Just fifteen minutes from Tsinandali, Telavi has served as the royal capital of Kakheti since the 17th century. Its centerpiece is Batonis Tsikhe (“Fortress of the Master”), the crenellated stone citadel and Persian-influenced royal palace where King Erekle II was born and reigned, alongside an excellent fine-arts museum and royal bathhouse.
Right outside the fortress walls stands Georgia’s oldest living monument—a 900-year-old giant plane tree (Chadari) measuring twelve meters around its trunk. In the morning, head to the Telavi Farmers’ Market (Bazaar) for fragrant mountain marigold spices, artisanal cheeses, local honey, and freshly dipped churchkhela.
Alaverdi Cathedral & Ikalto Medieval Academy
Rising more than 55 meters above the fertile floor of the Alazani River valley against the dramatic backdrop of the Greater Caucasus peaks, Alaverdi Monastery was founded in the 6th century by the Assyrian monk Joseph Alaverdeli and expanded into a monumental white-stone cathedral by King Kvirike the Great in the early 11th century.
Since 1011, the monks of Alaverdi have fermented sacred amber wines inside the monastery’s historic stone marani. Combine your visit with nearby Ikalto Monastery & Academy, where Georgia’s national poet Shota Rustaveli studied in the 12th century amidst ancient open-air stone wine presses.
Gremi Royal Citadel & Cliffside Nekresi Monastery
Crowning a steep rocky hill above the plains of Kvareli, the 16th-century brick Church of the Archangels and three-story royal tower of Gremi are the surviving heart of a once-bustling Silk Road trading capital founded by King Levan of Kakheti. Climb the royal citadel’s stone staircases for commanding 360-degree views across the valley.
Ten minutes further east, electric shuttles wind up a forested mountainside to Nekresi Monastery—a 4th- to 16th-century monastic complex featuring one of Georgia’s oldest Christian basilicas and a medieval wine cellar looking out over the entire Alazani basin.
Sighnaghi & Bodbe Monastery
Perched high on a ridge overlooking the Alazani Valley toward the snow-capped Caucasus range, Sighnaghi—celebrated in Georgia as the “City of Love”—is encircled by four kilometers of intact 18th-century stone fortifications and 23 watchtowers built by King Erekle II.
Walk along the ramparts at sunset, wander cobblestone streets lined with pastel houses and carved wooden balconies, visit the Sighnaghi National Museum (housing original paintings by Niko Pirosmani), and stop at nearby Bodbe Monastery, surrounded by cypress terraces and rose gardens.