Georgia - Journey to the Land of the Great Caucasus

Arrival at Tbilisi airport and transfer to our guest house. Tbilisi sightseeing tour – walk at the Funicular park with beautiful views of the city. We have the option to go mountain biking close to Tbilisi to the villages of Bevreti and Tsodoreti. Total riding distance is 15 km. Overnight in Tbilisi.

Early morning departure for Svaneti – an area of high mountains, which are comparable to the Swiss Alps. Our first stop is the old capital city of Kutaisi. Next we halt at the Enguri Dam that was one of the largest dams of the Soviet era. We start biking from Enguri Dam to the village of Khaishi located in the midst of high mountains. At Khaishi we are met by our cars and transfer to the village of Mazeri from where we hike a total distance of about 3 km to the Shdugra waterfall. Overnight stay at the Mazeri guest house. Total riding distance is 35-40 km.

This morning we trek from Mazeri to the stunningly beautiful lakes of Koruldi via the Guli pass. The lakes are situated at an altitude of 2850 meters and have an unforgettable view of the high Caucasus mountain ranges. The two peaks of Mount Tetnuldi situated at an altitude of 4858 meters and Mount Ushba at 4710 meters. We then trek onwards to Mestia. Here our car meets us with our luggage. Overnight stay in Mestia guesthouse. The trek will take approximately 6 hours.

In the morning, we head out to the Hatsvali mountains which are amazingly beautiful and then onwards to the Tetnuldi mountain to the village of Adishi – an authentic little mountain village with churches dating back to over 1000 years ago. Situated at 2040 meters above sea level, Adishi is worthwhile in many respects- it is far more untouched and less frequented by tourists than other Swaneti villages with stone houses from the Middle Ages with their fortified towers that overlook the village. Adishi also has four churches with beautiful traditional frescoes. We stay the night here. The trek today takes about 6 hours approximately.

In the morning, we ride from Adishi to Ushguli. This village is one of the highest located and continuously inhabited settlements in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We ride right through beautiful mountains, coming down the Enguri river. After a 40 km ride, we are in Ushguli. After checking into our guesthouse here, we take a leisurely walk around the village. Overnight in Ushguli.

This morning, we are going to hike around the mountains of Shkhara, the highest in all of Georgia, located at an altitude of 5250 meters. It is Europe’s fourth highest after Elbrus (5643m), Dychtau (5204m) and Koshtan (5151 m). We trek across to the glacier and come back to Ushguli after a 4-5 hours hiking trip. In the evening, we have time to walk around the Queen Tamar Summer Castle. Overnight in same guest house in Ushguli.

In the morning, we are going to ride our bikes from Ushguli to village Lentekhi via the beautiful pass of Zagari. This is the highest point of our biking track at an altitude of 2870 meters approximately. We continue the ride onwards to our guest house in Sasashi. We are going to stay here overnight after the nice day of biking. The total riding distance is 50 km in total with 200 meters of accent. This part of riding from Ushguli to village Sasashi has the best views of our biking trip. However, sometimes in the month of May, the Zagari pass is shut for avalanches. In case of this possibility, we will ride back to Mestia (44 km descent) and stay there for the night.
If the Latpali pass is open at that time in May we will trek from Ushguli to the village of Mami where our car will meet us.

Today, we ride from Lentekhi to Tsageri (30km) and then our car will take us back to Tbilisi. On the way to Tbilisi, we have the opportunity to visit the Stalin museum in Gori.
And, in the off chance of the Zagari pass being shut and we stay overnight in Mestia, we will ride from Mestia to the village of Iskari where we meet our car to take us back to Tbilisi.
Overnight in Tbilisi guesthouse.

Today, we drive from Tbilisi to Kazbegi for an ATV tour. We head out to Stepantsminda where our tour begins and drive our ATVs onwards to the Gergeti Trinity Church, which was built in the 5th century AD. The views from the church are amazingly beautiful. The ATV tour takes around 2 hours. In case, we want to ride some more, we can head out from Stepantsminda to the village of Juta. Post the ATV tour we are going to visit the Gveleti waterfall and then to our guesthouse.
Overnight in Stepantsminda.

In the morning, we drive to Pasanauri and today is rafting day! We are going to the river Aragvi, in the midst of beautiful mountains. For those of us who’d prefer not to go rafting, we could arrange to go horse riding instead.
With this, our trip comes to a close. We also have some free time to buy souvenirs/go shopping and in the evening we head to the airport for our respective flights home.