Georgia and Armenia vacation

Planet

UK Office:
It all starts at home so we have first worked at reducing our carbon footprint in our UK Offices. Through energy conservation measures and recycling policies, we are proud to be actively reducing the waste produced and our impact on the environment. We support various projects all over the world to try and give something back to the places we visit.

Group Size:
This small group tour has a maximum of 16 participants, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. The small number also allows us to stay in unique, family-run hotels that cannot benefit from coach tours and other mass tourism due to their limited sizes.

People

Local Crafts and Culture:
We are very proud of local crafts and culture in Georgia and Armenia and our local guides are enthusiastic about briefing our clients on opportunities to experience this. In the mountainous regions in front of the churches and fortresses on the itinerary, local people can be found selling handmade goods on stalls such as hats, socks, jars and horns etc. Guides also encourage guests to sample some of the wonderful locally produced food and drink along the way e.g. in the small village of Areni, we stop at a winery where the finest Armenian wine is produced. Here we can try and buy these traditional wares which economically benefits local communities by supporting small businesses. Of course the biggest way we endorse culture with our trip, is to visit so many cultural hotspots and UNESCO sites: Geghard Monastery, the Genocide Memorial at Yerevan, 7th Century ruins of Zvartnots Cathedral, mediaeval monuments at Sanahin or Haghpat, just to name a few.

Accommodation and Meals:
Over the course of the trip, we spend several nights in small, family-run hotels and guesthouses. Through this practice, our business provides employment and additional income to lesser known areas and their inhabitants. All the hotel food is homemade, using locally produced and sourced goods wherever possible. Furthermore, guests often have the exciting opportunity to learn from their hosts how to prepare traditional dishes. This kind of genuine experience is priceless and could not be possible in very large groups in industrial sized hotels. We would recommend trying Georgian specialties like Khachapuri (cheese pies) and Khinkali (meat dumplings); in Armenia be sure to sample Khoravats (barbecues) and Dolma (stuffed vine leaves).