Walls

Sighnaghi


Most of Erekle II’s 4km defensive wall still stands, with 23 towers and each of its six gates named after a local village. Part of the wall runs along Chavchavadze on the hilltop on the northwest side of town, where you can enter the tiny Stepan Tsminda Church inside a tower. The best stretch to explore runs down beside Gorgasali on the northeast side of town. Here you can climb up one tower and walk along the walls down to two more.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Sighnaghi attractions

1. Sighnaghi Museum

0.31 MILES

This well-displayed, modern museum has good exhibits on Kakheti archaeology and history downstairs, and a room of 13 paintings by Kakheti-born artist Niko…

2. Bodbe Convent

1.28 MILES

Bodbe Convent, the revered final resting place of St Nino, is set among tall cypresses 2km south of Sighnaghi, a pleasant walk on country roads. The…

3. Eagles Canyon

12.8 MILES

A few kilometres outside Dedoplis Tskaro, Eagles Canyon is home to enormous griffon, black vultures and black storks. It's an epic place best explored…

4. Khornabuji Fortress

14.51 MILES

This impressive hilltop ruin is an extraordinary site to behold and it's hard to imagine how it was even constructed atop such a steep peak. The truly…

5. Winery Khareba

22.06 MILES

What's special here is the 7.7km of wine tunnels, dug out of a hillside in the early 1960s for storing and ageing wine at constant temperatures. Today the…

6. Nekresi Monastery

25.34 MILES

Nekresi’s early Georgian architecture and the views across the Alazani valley from its hillside-woodland site are marvellous. The monastery is 4km off the…

7. Balakən Mosque

25.84 MILES

This 200-year-old mosque is easily spotted thanks to its tapering octagonal minaret, freestanding with red-brick patterned facets. The mosque itself is a…

8. Chavchavadze Estate

26.36 MILES

Prince Alexander Chavchavadze (1786–1846) was one of the most colourful and influential characters in Georgian history, and the palace and gardens he…