Car rental in Telavi from $35.43/day

Car rental in Telavi at a glance

827 cars can be delivered to Telavi and the Kakheti wine region, from $35.43 a day, or you can pick up in Tbilisi and drive yourself over the Gombori Pass.

Local suppliers list 827 cars that can be delivered to Telavi and the Kakheti wine region, from $35.43 a day for a 7-day rental; SUVs start at $39 and compact cars from $35.43. 79% of offers need no deposit and 827 include delivery to your address. Data updated 26 September 2026.

Renting without a deposit in Telavi

655 of 827 cars can be rented with no deposit at all, starting at $35.43 a day. Nothing is blocked on your card, which is why many travellers choose these offers. Use the “No deposit” button above the search; for offers with a deposit, the amount is shown on each car before you book.

Getting to Telavi and the Kakheti wine region

Telavi is the main town of Kakheti, Georgia's wine region, about 90–100 km east of Tbilisi. The direct route crosses the Gombori Pass, a winding mountain road through forest that takes about 2 hours in normal conditions. It is paved for its whole length, but in winter the pass can turn icy or close briefly after heavy snow, and locals often switch to the longer route via Sagarejo, which stays lower and is generally easier to drive in poor weather.

There is no need for a 4x4 on this trip in spring, summer or autumn — an ordinary compact or mid-size car copes with both routes without difficulty. In winter, 635 cars in the fleet come fitted with winter tyres, and 359 include snow chains, worth asking for if you are travelling between December and March.

Most visitors flying into Georgia land in Tbilisi, so Telavi and the rest of Kakheti are usually visited as a day trip or a short stopover on a wider Georgia itinerary, rather than a place people fly into directly.

The Gombori Pass climbs through pine forest and gives some of the best mountain views on the drive out of Tbilisi; a short stop near the top is common. Fuel is available in Telavi and at a few points along both routes, but stations thin out on the Sagarejo road, so it is worth topping up before crossing either pass.

Pick up in Tbilisi or have the car delivered

Every car listed for Telavi is based with a supplier elsewhere — almost always Tbilisi — and delivered to your hotel or address in town; the delivery fee is shown in the offer before you book. This suits travellers who are flying in, want the car only for the Kakheti leg of a longer trip, or would rather not drive the Gombori Pass themselves straight off a flight.

The option most visitors actually choose is to pick up the car in Tbilisi or at Tbilisi Airport and drive to Telavi themselves. It adds about 2 hours to the start of the trip, but it means you have the car from the moment you land, a wider choice of prices, and no fixed delivery slot to wait for.

Either way, book a few days ahead if you can — the 827 cars listed for Georgia are spread across several suppliers, and availability for a specific delivery date narrows closer to the wine-harvest season in September and October.

If you choose delivery, agree a rough pick-up window with the supplier a day or two ahead — Telavi's centre and its hotels are easy enough to reach, but a specific arrival time helps the driver plan the trip out from Tbilisi. Returning the car usually works the same way in reverse, either back in Tbilisi or via a collection at your address.

Alaverdi, Gremi, Tsinandali and Sighnaghi

Telavi makes a convenient base for the cluster of towns and monasteries that make Kakheti Georgia's best-known wine region. Alaverdi Monastery, with one of the country's tallest cathedrals rising over the vineyards, is about a 30-minute drive west of Telavi. Gremi, the fortified former capital of Kakheti with its hilltop church and citadel, is a similar distance to the northeast.

Tsinandali, just south of Telavi, pairs a 19th-century estate and garden with one of the region's best-known wine cellars, and is an easy stop on the way in or out of town. Sighnaghi, the walled hilltop town overlooking the Alazani valley, is about 60 km southeast of Telavi and usually deserves its own half-day rather than a quick detour.

All of these roads are paved and manageable in an ordinary car; the appeal of having your own vehicle here is being able to string several wineries and villages together in one day instead of relying on a single organised tour.

Wine tastings and driving safely

Kakheti's wineries — from large estates to small family cellars along the road between Telavi, Tsinandali and Gremi — are used to visitors stopping for a tasting, often with several pours alongside a plate of local food. It is easy to end up tasting wine at two or three stops in a single afternoon without planning to.

Georgia has a very low alcohol limit for drivers, so it is worth planning around the tastings rather than after them: nominate a non-drinking driver for the day, book a driver-guide for a winery route, or use a taxi between tastings and collect the car again later. This matters more in Kakheti than almost anywhere else in Georgia, simply because tasting wine is usually the whole point of the trip.

A guided winery day is a good alternative if you would rather not think about limits at all — local operators in Telavi run half- and full-day routes that include tastings, transport and a guide, leaving your rental car parked at the hotel for the day.

Choosing a car and booking notes

For the Gombori Pass and the paved roads around Telavi, a compact or mid-size car is enough for most of the year; compact cars start at $35.43 a day, and SUVs, useful for extra ground clearance in winter or on gravel lanes near smaller wineries, from $39. Toyota Prius C, Subaru Forester, Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius, Ford Escape are among the models most commonly listed for trips out of Tbilisi toward Kakheti, and Toyota Prius C is the single most frequently booked.

79% of offers need no deposit, and 827 do not require a credit card — cash or a debit card at pick-up is usually enough. 95% come with unlimited mileage, worth checking if your plan is to cover Telavi, Sighnaghi and the wineries in between in one loop, and 55% allow free cancellation if your plans change.

827 cars are listed across Georgia's suppliers, updated 26 September 2026. Whether you pick up in Tbilisi or have a car delivered to Telavi, compare a few offers rather than booking the first one — prices and conditions vary more between suppliers than between car models.

100% of the fleet is automatic, useful if you are not used to driving a manual on mountain roads, and most cars come with a spare tyre as standard — worth checking before a wine-region loop that covers plenty of back roads.

Where these numbers come from

Prices, car counts and conditions on this page come from live offers of local rental companies in the Localrent network and are refreshed daily by Autalo (Alto Media Limited). Prices are for a 7-day rental starting 2026-10-10 unless stated otherwise; your final price depends on dates, season and extras and is always shown in the search before you pay. Last checked 26 September 2026. The rating combines reviews from Autalo customers and ratings left on this page.

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