Photo: shankar s. (CC BY 2.0)
Nature · Georgia
The Georgian Military Road to Kazbegi
From Tbilisi into the heart of the Caucasus, past Ananuri fortress and the Jvari Pass. One of the finest mountain drives in the region.
Kazbegi (Stepantsminda) · Georgia
The experience
The Georgian Military Road is the historic name of the route that crosses the Caucasus north from Tbilisi. Today it is Georgia's finest road journey, taking you past lakes, fortresses and peaks in about three hours.
The first stop is the 17th-century Ananuri fortress, its towers and two churches above the turquoise Zhinvali reservoir. The road then climbs to Gudauri and the Friendship Monument, a curved mosaic wall above a deep gorge, before crossing the Jvari Pass and dropping into the Terek valley.
In Stepantsminda you change to a four-wheel drive for the climb to Gergeti Trinity Church at 2,170 m, with the snow cap of Mount Kazbek behind it and the town and valley below.
We arrange the day with a private car and a driver who knows the road. It can be done as a long day from Tbilisi, but we suggest a night in Kazbegi to see the mountain at sunrise and add the Truso valley the next day.
Georgia
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Old Tbilisi on foot
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Tbilisi's sulphur baths
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The Narikala cable car
A few minutes from the riverbank up to Narikala fortress above the old town.
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