Svaneti Trekking

Arrival in Kutaisi in the afternoon. The guide welcomes you at the airport and we transfer to a hotel in the centre. After check-in and a short rest we walk through Kutaisi, the ancient capital of Colchis and Georgia’s second city.

On Ukimerioni hill stands the 11th-century Bagrati Cathedral, a symbol of the unification of Georgia, with a view over the city. We cross the White Bridge over the Rioni, see the Colchis Fountain with over 30 sculptures based on golden jewellery from Colchian excavations, and explore the Green Bazaar with cheeses, spices, churchkhela and Svan salt. Welcome dinner with Imeretian cuisine, a briefing on the programme and an equipment check.

After breakfast (about 8:00) we head north through the lowlands of Samegrelo to Zugdidi and into the Enguri gorge. At the Enguri Dam, one of the highest arch dams in the world (271 m), we stop to photograph the turquoise reservoir among the mountains. From Khaishi the road climbs in hairpins, and the first Svan towers appear on the slopes.

Around 14:00 we reach Mestia (about 1,500 m), the capital of Upper Svaneti. After check-in and lunch at your own expense we walk among the medieval towers and visit the Svaneti Museum, the treasury of icons and manuscripts. Dinner in the guesthouse.

By 4x4 we drive above Zhabeshi towards Tetnuldi, saving the steep and dusty first part of the classic stage. From here we walk across alpine meadows with views of the Tetnuldi and Ushba massifs, then descend into Adishi, one of the most remote villages of Svaneti, with a handful of houses and towers at the end of the road (about 8–9 km).

The main luggage travels separately by jeep track and waits for us at the guesthouse. Dinner of home-cooked Svan dishes in the village.

The king stage of the trek. After a short walk up the valley we ford the glacial Adishischala river on horseback with the help of local horsemen. Then the climb to the Chkhunderi Pass (about 2,650 m), with a breathtaking view of the icefall of the Adishi glacier.

We descend through meadows to the shepherds’ huts above Khalde (about 9–10 km in total), where the 4x4s are waiting, and drive to Ushguli (about 1 hour), skipping the long dirt road. Dinner in a guesthouse among the towers.

From Ushguli we walk up the Enguri valley to the snout of the Shkhara Glacier, beneath the 5,193 m wall of Georgia’s highest peak (about 10 km). The path is gentle, through meadows and along the river, with the glacier growing ahead of us.

In the afternoon we visit the church of Lamaria with its frescoes and tower, walk among the medieval houses of Ushguli and its small ethnographic museum. Then we drive back to Mestia for a farewell supra with kubdari, chacha and Svan songs.

By 4x4 to the cross above Mestia, then on foot to the Koruldi Lakes (about 2,740 m), the highest point of the tour. The small lakes lie on a high shelf directly facing the twin summits of Ushba, the “Matterhorn of the Caucasus” — the finest view in Svaneti (about 9 km).

In the afternoon we transfer down to Kutaisi (about 4.5 hours), close to the airport for early morning flights. Dinner at the hotel.

Transfer to Kutaisi airport according to the flight schedule (packed breakfast for early flights). End of the tour.