Mountains of Svaneti

Start your Journey from Kutaisi International Airport with cheapest flights from Europe! Visit the most distance part of Georgia – Svaneti. Explore unique tower-houses of locals and enjoy the most scenic wilderness of mountains!

Day 1: Kutaisi – Bagrati – Gelati – Motsameta – Kutaisi
Arrive at Kutaisi International Airport. Meet your guide and drive to Kutaisi. Check-in to the hotel. After break – start sightseeing in the second biggest city of Georgia, Kutaisi, which according to the legend was the ultimate destination of the Jason and Argonauts searching for the Golden Fleece. Visit Bagrati Cathedral, one of the best samples of medieval architecture towering over Kutaisi and visible from almost any point in the city. Next stop is Gelati Academy built by King David the Builder in the 12th century. Gelati was the center of spiritual and scientific life of the Middle Ages, the UNESCO tomb of Georgian kings and the cult place for pilgrims.

Day 2: Kutaisi – Prometheus Cave – Mestia
In the morning, drive to Prometheus cave where you will walk in 1.5 km long tunnel to enjoy breath-taking views of stalactites, stalagmites, petrified waterfalls, underground rivers and lakes along the cave. Underground light system filled with LED lights of all rainbow colors marvelously highlights natural beauty of Prometheus cave. On the way to Svaneti we will have another stop, at Zugdidi, the regional center of two united historical areas of Georgia, Samegrelo and Svaneti. We will visit Dadiani Palaces and Architectural Museum, one of the most important palaces in Caucasus. Then head to mysterious Svaneti passing by Inguri gorge. This region is a birthplace of the svans, a unique ethnic group, who distinguish with their amazing old culture and traditions. Svaneti is also famous with its original and authentic architecture and is dubbed “the land of thousand towers”. Those towers used to play an important economic and defensive role in the history of Svaneti. There are still dozens of the towers, Middle Ages stone houses with fire watchtowers, and churches, original svan house “machubi” and “koshki” tower. Overnight at the hotel.

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Day 3: Mestia – Ushguli – Mestia
After a hotel breakfast drive to Ushguli village, the highest standing settlement in Europe. Ushguli complex is a valuable architectural and historical monument listed in the World heritage of UNESCO for its exclusiveness. Visit Lamaria Church complex with impressive 12th century wall frescoes. Enjoy picturesque view of the Mount Shkhara. Return to Mestia. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 4: Mestia – Hatsvali – Mestia

This day we will visit one of the main attractions of Mestia, the ethnographic museum. The museum was founded in 1936 and over the years of existence it has accumulated 4,000 exhibits. This is of course a little, but all the exhibits are of high rarity – these are objects of Svan church life age from the X century. A tour of the museum will be accompanied by a local guide who will tell us a lot of interesting things about each exhibit. Then we will move to another attraction of Svaneti – the Hatsvali ski resort and reach the mountain on the cable car. At an altitude of 2340 m there is a cafe with a veranda. Here you can drink coffee or have a lunch, enjoying the view of Ushba and the entire Caucasus Mountains.

Day 5: Kutaisi
Check-out of the hotel and transfer to Kutaisi Airport.