Kazbegi Day Trip – The Georgian Military Highway

Few images say 'Georgia' like Gergeti Trinity Church standing alone at 2170 m against the glaciers of Mount Kazbek. The drive itself, along the Georgian Military Highway, is one of the world's great mountain roads, past fortresses, gorges and the high Gudauri bowl. In Stepantsminda the air is thin and the light changes by the minute, so every visit produces a different photograph. Whether you come for a day or stay the night, this is the Caucasus at its most iconic, and it never disappoints.

The Georgian Military Highway has carried invaders, poets and traders across the Caucasus for two thousand years; today it is one of the world's most scenic drives. Ananuri fortress, its churches huddled inside crenellated walls above the turquoise Zhinvali reservoir, is the road's postcard. Higher up, the Soviet-era Friendship Monument balances on the rim of the Gudauri bowl with a 360-degree mountain panorama. Every kilometre climbs deeper into drama.