Kutaisi with kids: caves, canyons and a dinosaur footprint

Georgia is easy with children in the ways that matter — food arrives quickly, nobody minds noise, and families are welcome almost everywhere. The planning problem is that half the region's sights are churches, and children have a strict limit on those. What works. Sataplia is the clear winner: a cave, a viewing platform with a glass floor, and genuine dinosaur footprints preserved in rock. Prometheus Cave is bigger and more theatrical, with coloured lighting and an optional boat ride at the end — allow ninety minutes and take a jacket, because it is cold inside whatever the weather is doing outside. Martvili Canyon's boat trip through the gorge is twenty minutes of pure delight and the photograph you will keep. What works with limits. Okatse Canyon involves a long walkway high above the gorge; brilliant for confident older children, less so for anyone who dislikes heights or has to be carried. Bagrati Cathedral is a hill climb with a good reward. Gelati is beautiful and, for most children, one monastery is the maximum. What to skip. A second monastery on the same day. The Tskaltubo sanatoriums, which are fascinating for adults and just derelict buildings to a seven-year-old. Practical. Distances are short — nothing above is more than an hour from the city — but almost none of it is on a useful bus route, so a car makes the difference between two sights a day and four. Child seats are €10 a day with us. Our Family Room takes a third guest on a sofa bed, and breakfast is included, which removes the first negotiation of every morning.