DURATION
7 nights
LOCATION
Georgia
ANNUAL LEAVE
5 days off work
SEASON
May-Sep
GROUP SIZE
Up to 12 people
MEETING POINT
Kutaisi Airport, Georgia
ACCOMMODATION
Classic
Hotel · Guesthouse
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
You won’t need to be super fit, but you should be in good shape and feel comfortable hiking up to 6 hours a day on often unsteady ground.
Take on sections of the pioneering Transcaucasian Trail, all the way to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ushguli
Explore the majestic alpine scenery of ancient Upper Svaneti, one of the wildest, most remote regions of Georgia
Tuck into hearty mountain food and enjoy a never-ending flow of natural wine, Georgian style
Day 1
Kutaisi
Touch down at Kutaisi International Airport where your host will be waiting to take you straight to a nearby hotel. Get settled and then rest up in preparation for the challenge ahead.
Day 2
Into the mountains
Driving
6hrs
Time for a road trip through this little-visited land, stopping for a traditional lunch of Khachapuri (delicious cheese bread) in a local market. The winding mountain road will pass by the second highest arch dam in the world, The Enguri Dam, where you can pause for a leg stretch. Continue on to the small town of Mestia where you’ll have time to explore, be sure to grab a beer in the old town square.
Day 3
Hit the trail to Adishi
Hiking
6-7hrs · 11km · 850m up · 350m down
After a short drive to Jabeshi, trek through the meadows and forests beneath beautiful Mount Tetnuldi (4858m). Make the most of the picturesque backdrop by stopping for a picnic lunch and then continue on to the ancient village of Adishi. You’ll know you’ve arrived when the trail descends offering magnificent views over its medieval monuments and iconic Svan towers.
Day 4
Chkhutnieri crossing to the Adishi Glacier
Hiking
6-7hrs · 15km · 650m up · 800m down
Fuel up on a giant homemade breakfast and trek towards the magnificent Adishi Glacier. From there, you'll cross the spectacular Chkhutnieri pass and stop for a picnic lunch surrounded by idyllic views of the Caucasus. When you reach the village of Iprali (1950m) you’ll realise why it’s famous, thanks to the tiny churches boasting thousand-year-old frescos, including the biggest and most decorated of them all - Nakipari. Arrive at your guesthouse mid-late afternoon for some downtime before dinner.
Day 5
Ushguli
Hiking
5hrs · 12km · 300m up · 300m down
Sit back and relax for a while as you take a scenic drive to the historic UNESCO settlement of Ushguli (2000m). Explore the ancient sites of this once clan-led land and after lunch hike through the valley to the Shkhara Glacier and look down on the green slopes climbing up to a snow-covered peak. Head back to Ushguli and spend another night in a local guesthouse.
Day 6
Ushba Waterfalls
Hiking
6hrs · 14km · 600m up · 600m down
Start the day with another traditional, homemade breakfast (khachapuri, anyone?) and then drive to the little village of Becho and the start of today’s trek. Take a tranquil stroll through the woodland, then, when the trees break open at the foot of Mt. Ushba (4700m), you'll clamber up to the dramatic Ushba waterfalls. From here you can also enjoy stunning views of Laila mountain range Dolra valley, then head back to your guesthouse in Becho for the night.
Day 7
Kutaisi return
Enjoy a more relaxed start to the day before driving back to Kutaisi, arriving at around 1:00 pm. Explore the city at leisure - walk the cobbled streets to the Bagrati Cathedral, get lost in the largest, liveliest and most colourful indoor produce market in Georgia, or just stroll around the city, taking in the culture and architecture. When you're ready, return to your hotel and indulge in a last Georgian meal of dumpings and natural wines to bring your trip to a suitable end.
Day 8
All good things must come to an end.
Time to say your goodbyes - head back to Kutaisi Airport in time for your journey home.
Included
Guides
Local, professional, English-speaking guides
Accommodation
2 nights in a hotel and 5 nights in local guesthouses
Meals
All breakfasts, 6 lunches and 6 dinners included
Transfers
Both airport transfers and travel between locations
Luggage transfer
4x4 vehicle support throughout
Not Included
Flights to and from the meeting point
Personal expenses
Travel insurance
Visas where required
Day 1
Hotel · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 5
Guesthouse · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 6 – Day 7
Hotel · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 8
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Food will be a delicious mix of local Svan and Georgian national cuisine, cooked using produce grown or reared by the guesthouse owners themselves. Georgian cuisine is world-renowned for its mix of eastern and western flavours, aromas and colours and is slightly spicy and usually based on meat, vegetables, cheese and fruit. There are also plenty of traditional dishes without meat, so vegetarians & vegans will be well catered for. Lunches will be picnic style out in the wilderness.
What is the accommodation like?
Kutaisi City
You'll stay at the Four Seasons Riverside in the centre of Kutaisi. This is located in the best part of Kutaisi, with the Colchis Fountain, Bagrati Cathedral and Kutaisi State Historical Museum all within walking distance. There is free WiFi throughout, and continental and buffet breakfast options are available each morning.
The Mountains
You'll stay in well-regarded guesthouses in Mestia, Adishi, Ushguli and the small village of Becho. Accommodation will be in clean and comfortable twin-share rooms, with friendly and welcoming hosts and usually a magnificent breakfast in the morning that you'll want to write home about.
Upgrades
For solo travellers looking for their own space, an optional private room can be booked for an extra charge, see Optional Extras for the price. Please request this at the time of booking (this is subject to availability).
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Kutaisi International Airport
Arrive any time on Day 1
Ends
Kutaisi International Airport
Depart any time on Day 8
Transfers
You can arrive into Kutaisi any time you like on Day 1 and depart at any time on Day 8.
Provided you have supplied your arrival and departure details in advance, your host will provide arrival and departure transfers to coincide with your flights. However, it is also very easy to get a taxi from the airport to your hotel. It costs around £5/$8USD and it takes 25 minutes.
Travel options
There are flights to Kutaisi International Airport (KUT) from all over Europe. Alternatively, you can fly to Tbilisi International Airport instead and your host can arrange a transfer to Kutaisi which takes around 4 hours. Please ask your host for prices.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's available to hire?
- Backpack
- Trekking poles
What do I need to bring?
- Backpack with rain cover
- Day bag
- Down/fleece jacket (especially important during later departures in September)
- Hiking gear
- Waterproof wear inc. boots
- Warm hat and a peaked cap
- Gloves
- Warm socks
- Water bottle
- Headlamp
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
- Quick-dry towel
- Camera
- Trekking poles
- Shorts
- Energy/protein bars
Optional Private Room Upgrade
Payable Before Departure
Optional Private Room Upgrade
… Per Person
Pre/post trip accommodation - single room
Payable Before Departure
Pre/post trip accommodation - single room
… Per Night
Pre/post trip accommodation - twin/double room
Payable Before Departure
Pre/post trip accommodation - twin/double room
… Per Night
Private Transfer Tbilisi Airport to Kutaisi
Payable Before Departure
Private Transfer Tbilisi Airport to Kutaisi
… Per Person
Highly recommend this trip - Georgia is absolutely stunning, the pictures on the itinerary don’t do it justice! The guide was fantastic and the food is delicious!
An amazing trip with beautiful scenery, great food and friendly people! Completely surpassed my expectations. Our guide was incredible and did everything to make sure we fully enjoyed our trip
Really great trip! Excellent local guide… just a beautiful country!
Fantastic trip! Great to explore somewhere a bit different and see some amazing sights. All went very smoothly and Sandro our local host was superb.
What a trip, amazing scenery, particularly with the autumn colours, the hikes took us to remote villages and our guides, Nugzar and Andro, who were exceptional, immersed us in the history, culture and traditions of this friendly country.
The scenery was mind-blowing, and it was great to be in the remote villages. Nugo and Andro the guides were so friendly and took the time to share the Georgian culture with us. It really felt like we were with friends!
Nugo and Andro were fantastic guides. They were kind, caring and considerate, and brilliant fun. The scenery was spectacular. It was fascinating learning about the culture of Georgia, and staying in the different guesthouses along the hike. The trip was a lot of fun, we all got on really well as a group and were like-minded. This was a really special trip, for special people who are willing to embrace a different culture and leave the modern clutter of the Western world being, and instead enjoy having no connectivity or WiFI, and instead, appreciate the beautiful world that we share and appreciate the simple things in life.
The country, the food ( even for a vegetarian - unusual) was great. The hotel in Kusaisi seemed luxury after some guest houses. The organisation by our guide once we were there was excellent.
This was the best tour I've ever been on. Our guide, Sandro, was super knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The hikes were great fun and the views were just rewards... Can't recommend highly enough!
Beautiful scenery, friendly and welcoming guides, tasty local food.
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 389kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
This trek is great for beginners and experienced trekkers alike. It’s classed as moderate, so we'd recommend a good fitness level to make the most of it. Some days are long with steep sections so being used to walking back to back days is essential. You only need to carry a day-pack each day, with the rest of your luggage transferred by vehicle.
The terrain on the trail is mixed and ranges from easy paths to rough, rock-strewn climbs as you get closer to the glaciers. Good trekking boots are recommended.
There will be a short transfer to the start of the hike almost every day to ensure stunning new scenery.
Brief overview of transfers
Day 1: Transfer from the airport to your accommodation in Kutaisi.
Day 2: Your longest transfer day (Kutaisi to Mestia), however, it will be broken down into smaller sections with several interesting stops in-between.
Day 3: A short transfer before hiking to the next guesthouse.
Day 4: You'll trek straight from guesthouse to guesthouse.
Day 5: You'll transfer to Ushguli in the morning as the road in-between is fairly long and not hugely interesting. In the afternoon, the trek is out and back from the guesthouse.
Day 6: You'll transfer from Ushguli to Becho where the day's trek will begin. The return trek also has a short transfer at the end.
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
There will be 4x4 vehicle support throughout, so you can leave your main luggage/rucksack in the vehicle and just carry a daypack while trekking.
We recommend checking out the country specific information here and also talking to a travel nurse.
For current advice about travelling in Georgia, have a read of the UK Foreign Office pages here.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory on all of our adventures. Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure.
Your insurance policy should also include specific Covid-19 cover, including cancellation and curtailment cover if you, your travel companion or a close relative are diagnosed with Covid-19.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
Pay In Installments
You can choose to pay for this trip in as many installments as you like, with no interest or fees.
Full Financial Protection
Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
