Tour Operator for Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan

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I'm interested in traveling in 2019 to the Caucasus. I prefer using a locally-based tour operator rather than a larger, U.S. based one. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for that area or for any of the three countries individually.

A British friend and I toured Georgia,Armenia and Azerbaijan with Regent Holidays, based in the UK. Their website is: www.regent-holidays.co.uk We put two tours together so we could do all three countries. Group size was small -- 5 in one segment, 8 in another.

These were the local companies that handled the tours:

Armenia: Armenia Travel www.armeniatravel.am
Georgia: Caucasus Travel www.caucasustravel.com
In Azerbaijan - a company called Interopa handled arrangements -- but I don't think they are in business any longer.

On my ten-day visit to Armenia and Georgia in the Caucasus region in July 2017, I used Arara Tours, a local provider based in Yerevan, Armenia. I was extremely satisfied with their excellent guiding services and centrally located hotels. I wrote an article for ITN's Traveler's Intercom, but I have not yet heard from David Tykol about a decision as to whether or not to publish it. Perhaps, if you write to him, he might be willing to send you my full draft of the article. In any event, here is a brief excerpt:
"Arara Tours (www.araratour.com) created a terrific itinerary, Armenia & Georgia Classical Tour, that introduced me to the highlights of Armenia and Georgia over an 8-day span. In Armenia, during five days, besides a comprehensive Yerevan city tour, my guide took me to Zvartnot Temple ruins, Echmiadzin, Khor Virap Monastery, Noravank Monastery, Garni Temple, Geghard Monastery, Lake Sevan, Dilijian, Akhtala Fort, and Haghpat Monastery. The Georgia portion of my tour included three days of sightseeing. Highlights were the Tbilisi Old Town Tour, Jvari Monastery, Mtskheta, Ananuri Fortress, Gudauri Ski Resort, Gergeti Trinity Church with views of Mount Kazbek, the wine-producing region of Kakheti with a wine tasting in the quaint town of Signaghi, and David-Gareja semi-desert area and monastery complex."

I traveled to the Caucasus region with ElderTreks in 2014. I understand that you prefer using local companies and ET tends to be a bit pricy. However, the tour covered most of the places you would want to visit and the company uses local companies for their tours. Even if you don’t want to use a large North American company for your trip, you could look at the tour to give you ideas.