Kutaisi to Tbilisi by car: three hours and what to see on the way

Around three hours of driving on good motorway, and the one route where the bus is genuinely competitive — unless you stop, which is the entire argument for the car. The road climbs gently east through Zestaponi and over the Rikoti Pass, which used to be the slow part of this drive and, since the new tunnels and viaducts opened, no longer is. Beyond it the landscape changes from the green of Imereti to the drier hills of Kartli. The stops that justify the car: Ubisa monastery, a short detour with fourteenth-century frescoes and almost no visitors. Gori, with Stalin's museum, which is a strange and worthwhile hour. And Uplistsikhe, a cave town carved into rock above the Mtkvari, which is the best single stop between the two cities and needs about ninety minutes. If you are only driving, leave in the morning and you will be in Tbilisi for lunch. If you are doing all three stops, it becomes a full day and a good one. A note on Tbilisi: driving in the city is more demanding than anywhere else in Georgia — heavier traffic, aggressive lane changes, scarce parking in the old town. Many people leave the car at their accommodation and use the metro, which is cheap and quick. The drive there is easy; the drive around it is not.