Mestia

Mestia is the capital of Upper Svaneti and the place where nearly every trip to the region begins. The small town of about 2,000 people sits at around 1,500 m in the upper Enguri valley, with snowy peaks on all sides and the twin summits of Ushba visible from the ridges above. Its skyline is dominated by Svan towers, slender stone defence towers attached to family houses and scattered through the old neighbourhoods. Around central Seti Square you will find guesthouses, cafes, outdoor shops and drivers offering trips to Ushguli and the trailheads.

Spend at least one full day in town before heading out. Visit the Svaneti Museum, climb inside a family tower at the Margiani House museum, and ride the lift to the Zuruldi ridge for views. Day hikes lead to the Mestia Cross, the Koruldi Lakes and the Chalaadi Glacier. Winter brings skiing at Hatsvali and Tetnuldi and, in midwinter, Lamproba, the Svan festival of torches: before dawn, men and boys carry burning birch torches, one for each male family member and the largest for Saint George, to bonfires outside the village churches.

Svans have lived in these high valleys since antiquity and still speak Svan, an unwritten language related to Georgian, alongside Georgian itself. The stone towers that crowd Mestia were built mainly between the 9th and 12th centuries as family refuges against raiders and blood feuds. In the 19th century part of Upper Svaneti was a principality under the Dadeshkeliani princes, while the eastern communities, known as Free Svaneti, had no prince at all. From 2010 the town was heavily renovated, with new public buildings, an airport and a rebuilt road from Zugdidi.