The High Caucasus Mountains: Kazbegi and Svaneti

An almost impenetrable wall of snow and rock stretching across northern Georgia, the High Caucasus Mountains rise to over 5,000m and offer some of the most breathtaking scenery in Europe. Most visitors gain their first view of the Caucasus when travelling along the Georgian Military Highway, a spectacular twisting road that was pushed through the mountains in the 19th century, connecting Tbilisi with Vladikavkaz in Russia via the Jvari Pass (2,379m). Gudauri is the eastern Caucasus’ premier ski centre. Those in quest of spectacular nature usually continue north to the Kazbegi region and the little settlement of Stepantsminda which sits in the shadow of an extinct volcano: Mt Kazbek (5,047m).

One of our favourite parts of the Caucasus, Kazbegi, is the location of the stunningly located Gergeti Trinity Church, which offers some superb hiking and good hotels.

To the west, rustic and remote Svaneti is one of the country’s most culturally fascinating regions. Bucolic flower-filled meadows characterise Svaneti’s virtually pristine mountainscape: clear rushing steams, rural villages bristling with medieval towers (koshki), and a horizon topped by massive monoliths of stone that include Mt Ushba (4,710m) – a stunning craggy peak often referred to as the Matterhorn of the Caucasus. Hiking in Svaneti is an exceptional experience, as is taking the highly scenic yet bone-jarring road from Mestia to Ushguli – one of Europe’s highest mountain settlements. Return visitors to Georgia are often drawn by exploring two of the country’s least changed and most remote mountain provinces (with accommodation to match!).

Khevsureti is an unspoiled highland that is noted for its unique textiles, pagan traditions, and the unworldly village of Shatili, a bastion comprising more than 50 linked defensive towers that date from the 6th to the 12th centuries. At the same time, lovely Tusheti is a cut-off Shangri-La of mountains, medieval tower villages, and deep ravines that can only be accessed via a treacherous snowbound road (open from June to September).