Georgia: Svaneti and Kazbegi on Foot

1. Day 1: Arrive in Tbilisi

   Tbilisi International Airport (TBS) to your hotel in Tbilisi

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Tbilisi
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), about 20 km east of the centre. Many flights from North America connect through Istanbul, the Gulf or a European hub and land in the small hours, so if yours arrives overnight, ask us to add the night before and start rested. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall at any hour for the drive of about 30 minutes to a central hotel within walking distance of the Old Town. The day is yours: walk down to the Mtkvari river, cross the glass Bridge of Peace into Rike Park, or sleep. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on each walking day, the drive times, the kit list and how the easy and active options work. We check boots and rain gear together, then walk to a welcome dinner nearby: khachapuri cheese bread, khinkali dumplings and aubergine rolls with walnut paste.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), at any hour
   • Welcome briefing and kit check with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Optional experiences

   • An extra hotel night in Tbilisi before the trip, booked through us with the airport pick-up, priced at booking

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to reach the briefing; later arrivals are met and briefed at breakfast.

   

2. Day 2: West to Kutaisi and Gelati

   Tbilisi to Gelati Monastery, then Kutaisi

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kutaisi
   Day 2 details

   We leave Tbilisi at 9 am and drive west on the main east to west highway, through the Rikoti pass that divides the dry east of Georgia from the green, wetter west, about 255 km and three and three-quarter hours at the wheel with a coffee stop on the way. Lunch is in Imereti, the province around Kutaisi, known for its own cheese bread and for dishes heavy with walnuts and fresh herbs. In the early afternoon we drive up to Gelati Monastery, founded in 1106 by King David IV, the Builder, and listed by UNESCO for its academy and its 12th-century mosaic of the Virgin in the main church. Your guide keeps the visit to about an hour. Then we check in to a central hotel in Kutaisi. The evening is free: walk to the Green Bazaar before it closes, or up to Bagrati Cathedral for the view over the Rioni river at dusk.

   Included

   • Gelati Monastery with your guide

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Kutaisi

   Activity: About 1 hour on foot at Gelati, on paved paths and a few steps.

3. Day 3: Into Svaneti and the Chalaadi glacier

   Kutaisi to the Enguri dam and Mestia, then the Chalaadi glacier

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Mestia
   Day 3 details

   This is a long day at the wheel, about 250 km and four and three-quarter hours in all, because there is no shorter road into Upper Svaneti; the small plane to Mestia is too weather-dependent to plan a group around. We leave at 8 am and break the drive twice. First at the Enguri dam, a concrete arch about 270 m high, where the road leaves the lowlands and climbs into the Enguri gorge. Then a sit-down lunch on the gorge road. We reach Mestia, at about 1,500 m, after about four and a half hours on the road, drop the bags and take a 15-minute hop up the valley to the bridge below the Chalaadi glacier. The walk follows the river through birch and pine forest to the grey ice of the glacier tongue, about two and a half hours there and back. Dinner is in Mestia, our base for two nights, in a hotel or guesthouse with private bathrooms.

   Included

   • Enguri dam viewpoint
   • Chalaadi glacier walk with your guide and a local mountain guide
   • Svaneti Museum in Mestia before its 6 pm close, only if day 4 falls on a Monday, when the museum is closed

   Easier option: Skip the glacier walk and stroll Mestia's lanes and towers instead.

   Free time: Evening free after dinner

   Activity: Drive: about 4.5 hours Kutaisi to Mestia, then about 15 minutes to the trailhead. Chalaadi: about 6 km there and back from the bridge (trailhead confirmed by ops), 2.5 hours, about 200 m of climb on a rocky forest path with a suspension bridge.

4. Day 4: Koruldi lakes above Mestia

   Mestia to the Koruldi lakes and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Mestia
   Day 4 details

   We start at 8 am, while the clouds are high, and ride 4x4 vehicles up the steep track above Mestia to the cross at about 2,200 m. From there it is about two hours on foot, up through alpine meadow, to the Koruldi lakes at about 2,750 m, small tarns that on a clear morning hold the reflection of Ushba, the twin-horned 4,710 m peak that guards Svaneti. Packed lunch is at the lakes, with Tetnuldi to the east, then we walk back down to the 4x4s. The afternoon is free in Mestia: the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography (closed Mondays; we move the visit to day 3 if needed) keeps gospels and icons from the valley's churches, and several Svan towers can be climbed by ladder. For anyone who wants a full day, the active option is the Transcaucasian Trail stage from Mestia to Zhabeshi through Mulakhi, with the van meeting you at the end. Dinner is in Mestia.

   Included

   • 4x4 to the cross above Mestia and back
   • Koruldi lakes walk with your guide and a local mountain guide
   • Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography in Mestia (Tuesday to Sunday; on a Monday it moves to late afternoon on day 3)

   Easier option: Ride the 4x4 to the cross, walk the first hour up to the ridge viewpoint and back, or walk the flat river path in the valley.

   More active option: Walk the Mestia to Zhabeshi stage of the Transcaucasian Trail, about 14 km and 5 to 6 hours, with a local mountain guide; the van meets you in Zhabeshi.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Mestia

   Activity: Koruldi: about 8 km and 4 hours from the cross, about 550 m of climb to 2,750 m. Zhabeshi option: 5 to 6 hours with long climbs and descents.

   

5. Day 5: Ushguli and the Shkhara glacier

   Mestia to Ushguli, then the Shkhara glacier walk

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ushguli
   Day 5 details

   We leave Mestia at 8 am with the bags for the 47 km road east to Ushguli, about an hour and a half through the villages of the upper Enguri valley. Ushguli, at about 2,100 m, is four hamlets of stone towers at the head of the valley, part of Upper Svaneti, inscribed by UNESCO in 1996. We arrive before the day-trip 4x4s from Mestia, drop the bags at a guesthouse and set off up the Enguri river towards Shkhara, at about 5,200 m Georgia's highest mountain. The trail is mostly gentle, through meadows of wildflowers, for about 8 km to the tongue of the Shkhara glacier; we eat a packed lunch facing the mountain and walk back, five to six hours in all. Late afternoon, your guide walks you up to Lamaria church above Chazhashi. Dinner is home-cooked at the guesthouse: kubdari, the Svan meat-filled bread, and tashmijabi, mashed potato with cheese.

   Included

   • Shkhara glacier walk with your guide and a local mountain guide
   • Ushguli's hamlets and Lamaria church with your guide
   • Home-cooked Svan dinner at the guesthouse

   Optional experiences

   • Horse for part of the Shkhara valley, where available, paid locally

   Easier option: Walk the first 3 to 4 km up the valley to the first full view of Shkhara and turn back, about 2.5 hours, or spend the day in Ushguli's hamlets and the small museum in Chazhashi.

   More active option: Continue past the glacier tongue on the moraine with the local mountain guide, conditions allowing.

   Free time: Evening free in Ushguli

   Activity: Shkhara: about 16 km there and back, 5 to 6 hours, about 400 m of gradual climb, two stream crossings on stones or small bridges.

6. Day 6: Down from the mountains to Kutaisi

   Ushguli to Mestia, Zugdidi and Kutaisi

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kutaisi
   Day 6 details

   Today is the longest transfer, about 280 km and six hours at the wheel (an hour and a half back to Mestia, then four and a half to Kutaisi), because Ushguli sits at the far end of a single mountain road and Kutaisi is the nearest town with good hotels on the way back east. We set off at 8 am and break the drive three times. First a coffee in Mestia, then lunch in Zugdidi, then an hour in the Zugdidi Botanical Garden beside the Dadiani palace, a shaded park of old trees that is a good place to stretch your legs after the gorge road. Our driver keeps to the rule we set for all mountain roads: no overtaking on blind bends. We reach Kutaisi at about 5 pm and check back in to the hotel from day 2. The evening is free; your guide can point you to a restaurant for Imeretian food or a walk by the Colchis fountain.

   Included

   • Zugdidi Botanical Garden by the Dadiani palace

   Free time: Evening free in Kutaisi

   Activity: A rest day for the legs; about 1 hour on foot in the garden.

   

7. Day 7: Over the Jvari pass to Kazbegi

   Kutaisi to Ananuri, then the Georgian Military Highway to Stepantsminda

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stepantsminda
   Day 7 details

   A second long transfer, about 360 km and six and a quarter hours at the wheel before stops, the price of reaching the Kazbegi mountains from Svaneti in one trip; there is no road across the main ridge between them. We leave at 7:30 am with a coffee stop on the way, drive back east through the Rikoti pass and turn north at Mtskheta, before Tbilisi, onto the Georgian Military Highway. Lunch is near Ananuri, the 17th-century fortress and church above the Zhinvali reservoir, where we stop for an hour. Then the road climbs past Gudauri to the Jvari pass at 2,379 m and the Soviet-era Friendship Monument, a mosaic balcony over the Devil's valley, before dropping to Stepantsminda, at about 1,750 m, at about 4:30 to 5 pm. We stay two nights in a hotel with a view of Kazbek where we can get one. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Ananuri fortress
   • The Georgian Military Highway over the Jvari pass and the Friendship Monument

   Free time: Evening free in Stepantsminda

   Activity: Short walks at Ananuri and the Friendship Monument; about 1 hour on foot in all.

8. Day 8: Gergeti glacier trail or the Juta valley

   Stepantsminda to Gergeti Trinity and the glacier viewpoint, or to Juta

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Stepantsminda
   Day 8 details

   Two walks run today, each with a guide, and you choose the evening before. The Gergeti glacier trail starts at 7:30 am, before the day-trip vans from Tbilisi arrive, with a 4x4 ride up to Gergeti Trinity Church at about 2,170 m, the 14th-century church set against Kazbek, 5,047 m. From the church the path climbs open grassland to the Sabertse pass at about 2,950 m and on to a viewpoint over the Gergeti glacier, six to seven hours with a packed lunch. The Juta walk is gentler: a 45-minute drive each way to the village of Juta, at about 2,150 m, then a valley path towards the rock towers of the Chaukhi massif, about three to four hours, with a packed lunch by the river. Juta walkers can ride up to Gergeti Trinity at 7:30 am with everyone else and leave for Juta at 9:30, or go by 4x4 in the late afternoon. Everyone meets for a farewell dinner in Stepantsminda.

   Included

   • 4x4 to Gergeti Trinity Church and back
   • Gergeti glacier trail with a local mountain guide, or the Juta valley walk with your guide
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: The Juta valley walk, about 8 km and 3 to 4 hours with about 300 m of climb, or the church visit alone by 4x4.

   More active option: The Gergeti glacier trail, about 14 km and 6 to 7 hours from the church with about 800 m of climb.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: Driving: about 15 minutes each way by 4x4 to the church, and 45 minutes each way to Juta. Gergeti trail: steady climb to about 2,950 m on grass and scree. Juta: a gentle valley path at 2,150 to 2,450 m.

9. Day 9: Back to Tbilisi

   Stepantsminda to Jvari Monastery, then Tbilisi and Tbilisi International Airport (TBS)

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   After breakfast we leave Stepantsminda at 9 am and drive back down the Military Highway, about three and a quarter hours with stops. The one visit today is Jvari Monastery, the 6th-century church on the hill above Mtskheta, looking down on the meeting of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers and part of the UNESCO-listed historical monuments of Mtskheta. We reach Tbilisi at about 1 pm and drop you at a central hotel or at the airport. Afternoon flights from about 4 pm are easy, and so are the night flights to Europe and the Gulf, because we set your airport transfer by your flight at any hour. Only a morning flight on day 9 is not possible. If your flight leaves after about 7 pm, or you stay on, your guide walks you through Old Tbilisi from 2 pm, about an hour and a half among the balconied houses, the sulphur baths and the river. To stay longer, add a hotel night through us.

   Included

   • Jvari Monastery above Mtskheta
   • A walk through Old Tbilisi with your guide at 2 pm, for anyone with a flight after about 7 pm or staying on
   • Drop-off in central Tbilisi or at Tbilisi International Airport (TBS), at any hour

   Optional experiences

   • An extra hotel night in Tbilisi after the trip, booked through us with the airport transfer, priced at booking

   Free time: Free from early afternoon until your transfer, after the optional Old Town walk

   Activity: Flights from about 4 pm onwards, including night flights, work; a morning flight on day 9 does not. The hotel can store your bags.

   

Wildlife and weather: June brings wildflowers in the Shkhara and Juta valleys and late snow on the high trails, which can shorten the Koruldi and Gergeti walks. July and August are warm in the valleys, with afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains, which is why we start walks at 8 am. September is clear and cool, with cold nights in Ushguli and Stepantsminda.

• Tbilisi1 night
• Kutaisi1 night
• Mestia2 nights
• Ushguli1 night
• Kutaisi1 night
• Stepantsminda2 nights