Georgia in 14 days: Svaneti, Imereti and the Black Sea
Two weeks is the length at which Georgia stops being a city and a wine region and becomes a country. This route runs east to west across the whole of it: Tbilisi and the old capital, the Kakheti vineyards, the Military Highway to Kazbegi, then the long move west into the towers of upper Svaneti, dow
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 6
- Best months
- Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
- From
- $2,520 per person
It is a summer route, because Svaneti is. From June to September it works cleanly. Outside that, we would build you something else and say so.
Who it suits: travellers with two weeks who want the whole shape of the country, and who are happy with two long driving days out of fourteen. There are two optional walks of three to five hours.
Your specialist: a named Georgia specialist here, with our Tbilisi partner team running the ground and a Svan driver for the mountain section.
Day by day
Days 1 to 3: Tbilisi. Arrival, then a guided day through the old town, the sulphur quarter and Narikala, and a second day split between Mtskheta, forty minutes north, and a free afternoon. Mtskheta is Svetitskhoveli cathedral in the town and the sixth-century Jvari monastery on the bluff above the river confluence, and it is the best half day near the capital.
Days 4 and 5: Kakheti. Two hours east. Alaverdi cathedral and its working monastery cellar, Telavi as a base, family qvevri cellars, and a day across the valley to Sighnaghi on its walls with the Caucasus along the northern horizon. In late September this is the harvest and the whole region smells of it.
Days 6 and 7: Kazbegi. North and west and then up the Georgian Military Highway, about five hours from Kakheti, with Ananuri fortress on the reservoir on the way. Over the Jvari Pass at 7,815 feet (2,382 m) to Stepantsminda under Mount Kazbek, which is 16,512 feet (5,033 m) and visible about half the time. Day seven is the walk or the 4×4 up to the Gergeti Trinity Church at about 7,120 feet (2,170 m), and an afternoon in the Juta or Truso valley.
Day 8: The long move west. Kazbegi to Mestia is the hard day of this itinerary: back down the highway, across the country and up into Svaneti, about nine hours in total. We break it with lunch and a stop, and we will not pretend it is anything other than a full day in a car. The alternative is to route via Kutaisi with a night there, which turns fourteen days into fifteen and is the version we recommend if you have the day.
Days 9 to 11: Upper Svaneti. Three nights at Mestia at about 4,900 feet (1,500 m).
Day nine: the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography, which is small and unusually good and explains what the defensive towers in every village are for, then the villages of the Mestia basin on foot.
Day ten: the day out to Ushguli, at about 7,200 feet (2,200 m), which is a cluster of four hamlets under Shkhara, at 17,040 feet (5,193 m) the highest mountain in Georgia. The road is part surfaced and part rough and takes about two hours each way in a 4×4. Walking up the valley towards the glacier from Ushguli is flat, four hours return, and the best thing you will do in Svaneti.
Day eleven: a walking day out of Mestia. Either the Chalaadi glacier, four hours and easy, or the climb to the Koruldi lakes on the ridge, six hours and 3,300 feet (1,000 m) of ascent with Ushba opposite.
Day 12: Svaneti to Kutaisi, via Imereti. Down out of the mountains, about four hours, with the Martvili canyon or the Okatse walkway on the way. Afternoon at the Gelati monastery, which is on the UNESCO list and has the finest medieval interior in the country. Night in Kutaisi.
Days 13 and 14: The coast, and out. Two hours west to the Black Sea. We do not put you in central Batumi. Batumi is a casino and skyscraper city with a pebble beach, interesting for an evening as an oddity, and the good part of Adjara is inland and above it: the Machakhela valley, the arched stone bridges, Mtirala national park, which is genuine temperate rainforest and rains accordingly, and the villages up towards Khulo. One night there, a last morning, and out from Batumi or Kutaisi airport, or the train back to Tbilisi if your flight is from there.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast throughout, private vehicles matched to the road including a Svan 4×4 and driver for the Ushguli day, licensed English-speaking guides on six days, a licensed mountain guide on the two Svaneti walking days, family cellar visits and a marani lunch in Kakheti, the Gergeti 4×4 if you want it, all monastery, museum, canyon and park entries, the Martvili boat, a day-by-day document with honest drive times on real road surfaces, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Tbilisi partner team throughout.
What we would change, and when
- Add Tusheti? It does not fit in fourteen days with Svaneti, because Tusheti is at the opposite end of the country and the road in takes a day each way. Sixteen days makes it possible. Eighteen makes it comfortable. Our mountain route does both.
- Travelling outside June to September? Ushguli becomes unreliable and Svaneti becomes a two-night trip to Mestia only. We would replace the mountain section with Vardzia and the southern cave cities and tell you why.
- Not walking? Cut day eleven, add a night in Kakheti at the start. The route still works.
- Want the whole thing slower? Sixteen days with a night in Kutaisi on the westward move and a second coast night is materially better and we recommend it whenever people have the time.
Honest notes
Day eight is nine hours in a car. There is no flight, no train and no shortcut between the Kazbegi side and Svaneti. It is the price of crossing Georgia from the north-east to the north-west. The small aircraft from Tbilisi to Mestia exists but it does not help from Kazbegi and it cancels in weather.
Svaneti guesthouse standards are simple. Mestia has two or three comfortable small hotels and a great many family guesthouses that are clean, warm and basic. Ushguli has nothing above basic and we do not stay there on this route.
The Ushguli road is rough in its middle section and unpleasant in rain. Two hours each way is realistic. Anyone quoting you an hour has not driven it.
Batumi is not a beach holiday. The sea is warm in July and August, the beaches are pebble, and the city is a building site of casinos and towers. We send people inland and we would rather tell you that than let you book four nights on the sand.
Mtirala means “the crying one” and it is named for the rainfall, which is among the highest in the region. Take waterproofs to the coast even in August.
Built by your named Georgia specialist, checked against notes our founder made in the field.
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