Kazbegi & Khevsureti Trek

We collect you at the airport, and your mountain guide joins you for a briefing on the route and a look at your boots and gear. Later in the afternoon, loosen up after the flight with a walk around Old Tbilisi: climb to Narikala Fortress, come down past the Abanotubani sulphur baths and wander the lanes of Kala. Dinner is at a restaurant that cooks food from the mountain regions ahead, khinkali among it, and your guide explains the beer and bread traditions of Khevsureti. This is your last chance to pick up snacks or gas canisters in the city.

Head north on the Georgian Military Highway, breaking the drive at Ananuri Fortress beside the Zhinvali Reservoir, then go over the Jvari Pass (2,379 m) and down into the Tergi valley. Lunch is in Stepantsminda, which sits at about 1,750 m. Afterwards, take the old footpath up to the Gergeti church (2,170 m), gaining roughly 400 m through birch woodland and grazing land. Mount Kazbek, 5,054 m high, fills the sky behind the church terrace. Then it is downhill to the village for dinner and a first night in the mountains.

A 4x4 drops you at Gergeti Trinity Church early in the morning. From there the trail heads north-west over alpine meadows and climbs a moraine ridge, rising at a steady gradient to the Sabertse Pass at around 3,000 m. Below you, the tongue of the Gergeti Glacier spills down from Mount Kazbek. The path carries on toward the climbers' huts and the summit route, but today you turn round here and retrace your steps. Allow six to eight hours and about 850 m of ascent, a useful rehearsal for the Chaukhi Pass.

Drive down to Kobi, where a 4x4 takes you to Ketrisi at the mouth of the Truso Valley. On foot, follow the infant Tergi River past fizzing mineral springs, rust-coloured travertine terraces and the towers of deserted Ossetian villages until you reach Zakagori fortress, where the valley ends at the boundary line. The distance is long, but the ground is almost flat. After the walk, the vehicle loops round to Sno and climbs the side valley to Juta, at roughly 2,150 m, under the jagged Chaukhi towers. You sleep in a guesthouse in Juta.

Today is the crux of the trek. From Juta, walk up the valley under the Chaukhi massif, then climb hard up loose scree and broken rock to the Chaukhi Pass, roughly 3,340 m; reaching it takes four to five hours. Snow can still cover parts of the route in July. On the far side the trail drops into Khevsureti and heads for the Abudelauri Lakes: three glacial pools tinted green, blue and white because each has a different source. The support team will already have pitched the tents by the Green Lake. Plan on eight to nine hours with around 1,200 m of climbing.

Start the morning with a climb to the White Lake, set beneath the glaciers of the Chaukhi massif, then follow the meadows down to Roshka, a Khevsur village at around 2,000 m; this takes two to three hours. Your vehicles wait in Roshka. The road runs down to Barisakho, then turns north and climbs a steep dirt track through Pirikiti Khevsureti to the Datvisjvari Pass, about 2,680 m. You reach Shatili late in the afternoon and check in to a guesthouse within or next to the old tower complex.

Spend the morning exploring Shatili, roughly sixty stone towers and dwellings fused together on a rock over the Argun River. Built from the medieval period onward, the village guarded this frontier against raiders from the north. Next, drive up the Andaki valley and make the steep climb to Mutso, a fortress village strung along a ridge, with tower houses and stone burial crypts; it has been partly restored, though its families left long ago. Continue on foot along the Andaki toward Ardoti, then return to Shatili for your final mountain evening.

Cross the Datvisjvari Pass southward and follow the Aragvi valley down until you join the Georgian Military Highway. A stop in Mtskheta, Georgia's former capital, gives you time at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and at Jvari Monastery, which looks over the point where the Aragvi flows into the Mtkvari: a calm way to close the walking part of the trip. You reach Tbilisi late in the afternoon and check in. That evening, ease your legs with a private soak at the Abanotubani sulphur baths, then raise a few glasses to the mountains at a farewell dinner with your guide.

Breakfast is followed by free time in Tbilisi if your flight is later in the day. Near the hotel you could browse the Dry Bridge Market, where stalls sell Soviet badges, old maps and silver jewellery made in the Khevsur style, or linger over coffee on Rustaveli Avenue. When it is time, your driver takes you to Tbilisi airport. Want to stay longer? We can add a day in Kakheti after the trek to taste wine made in qvevri.