Upper Svaneti in three days
Medieval tower houses under 4,000-metre peaks, in a valley that was effectively unreachable for most of the year until recently.
- Starts from
- Kutaisi
- Distance
- 640 km round trip
- Driving
- 15 h
Weather now: 22°C · Rain
About this trip
Svaneti is the most remote place in Georgia that you can reasonably drive to, and the defensive tower houses of Mestia and Ushguli have stood since the ninth century.
Day one is the drive up from Kutaisi through the Enguri gorge — five hours, and genuinely spectacular. Day two goes to Ushguli, one of the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe, on a track that needs a 4x4 and a driver who has done it before. Day three returns.
Your accommodation is booked and paid by you; the price here covers the vehicle, the driver, and their own lodging and meals for the two nights. That overnight cost is shown as a separate line in the quote rather than hidden in a per-kilometre rate.
The route
KutaisiDay 1
Depart mid-morning; the drive up is around five hours.
Mestia210 kmDay 1
Arrive in Mestia. Tower houses and the Svaneti museum.
Mestia110 kmDay 2
Out to Ushguli and back by 4x4 track — a full day.
Kutaisi210 kmDay 3
Return through the Enguri gorge.
What the price covers