Svaneti, July 2026

Eight nights in the Georgian Caucasus with Sarah, walking the Mestia to Ushguli trek and the day hikes at either end.

Sarah walking a ridge path toward a glacier between two peaks, white rhododendron in bloom along the trail.
Map of the Mestia to Ushguli trek with overnight stops at Zhabeshi, Adishi, Iprari and Ushguli, and day hikes marked.

Why Svaneti

Part of the reason we went at all was hearing about Jane’s bikepacking trip through Georgia, which put the country on the list in the first place. What we wanted was high mountains, a route we could walk without a guide, and somewhere we could sleep in villages rather than carry a tent. Svaneti gives you all three. It sits in the northwest corner of Georgia against the Russian border, the peaks run well over 4,000 metres, and the four-day walk from Mestia to Ushguli links a chain of villages where families take in walkers and feed them at their own tables. The medieval Svan defensive towers are still standing in most of those villages, which makes the whole route feel older than a trail.

Mid-July was warm and sunny on the trail and cool at night, with a couple of thunderstorms across the week. We booked two nights in Mestia, three along the trek at Zhabeshi, Adishi and Iprari, and four at the far end in Ushguli, which gave us a fixed base for two day hikes at the finish. In the end we used three of the Ushguli nights and left a day early, for reasons that turn up on the last day. The shape of it worked for us and it is what I would repeat.

Day 1: London to Mestia

Jul 11 to 12: Nadia Guesthouse, Mestia

Mikheil driving out of Tbilisi at dawn, gesturing at the World Cup game playing on the dashboard screen. A large modern service station with self-checkout kiosks, partway along the drive to Svaneti. Eggplant and walnut rolls with pomegranate seeds beside a tomato and cucumber salad at Cafe Laila. A whole round khachapuri and the eggplant rolls on the Cafe Laila patio in Mestia. Sarah drinking from two water bottles at once with the mountains behind her. Selfie by the river near Mestia airport, with the town and a Svan tower across the water. Sarah on a terrace at The Wood with a beer and a bottle of Georgian lemonade, mountains beyond. A plate of khinkali dumplings and a creamy eggplant and carrot salad at Qoruldi Restaurant. A whole khachapuri and a tomato and cucumber salad on the dinner table at Qoruldi.

The Piccadilly line was not running the whole way to Heathrow, so we took it as far as Leicester Square, walked across to Tottenham Court Road, and picked up the Elizabeth line from there. Walking through Leicester Square on a Saturday night in full hiking kit was a strange way to start a trip to the Caucasus.

The 9:25 PM flight to Tbilisi coincided with England against Norway, and most of the cabin was streaming it. Meal service came an hour in and was small, half a sandwich each. Between the football and the food nobody settled until we were two hours from Tbilisi, and I managed about two hours of sleep in total. The pilot announced the England result on approach, which was a good moment. We landed at 5:30 AM feeling like zombies.

From there it is a seven and a half hour drive to Mestia. I had booked a car through GoTrip for $235, and Mikheil turned up with a Ford Escape and drove fast and with total confidence, stopping a few times along the way. One of those stops was an enormous modern service station with self-checkout kiosks, the Buc-ee’s of Georgia. The road is comfortable most of the way and gets rough once it climbs into the mountains. We reached Mestia around 2 PM on Sunday, both wrecked.

Lunch was at Cafe Laila on Seti Square: khachapuri, and eggplant rolls stuffed with walnut paste and scattered with pomegranate, which were excellent and which we ordered again elsewhere on the strength of it. Then up the hill to Nadia Guesthouse, which is a stiff climb in that state, and a nap.

In the evening we walked down along the river by the airstrip. Sarah got very thirsty and needed two cold bottles of water. We had a drink on the terrace at The Wood, then dinner at Qoruldi Restaurant on Betlemi Street, khinkali and an eggplant salad, and were in bed early.

Day 2: Koruldi Lakes

Jul 13: Nadia Guesthouse, Mestia

Actual: 15.56 km, 1,309 m gain, 4h 32m, activity. Planned: 12.61 km, 1,257 m gain, 4h 23m, route.

Breakfast at Qoruldi Restaurant: kubdari, the Svan meat-filled pie, cut into wedges with a cucumber and tomato salad. Sarah standing inside a large wooden heart sculpture at a viewpoint above Mestia. Sarah and Tyler high above Mestia with snow-capped Caucasus peaks behind and wildflowers underfoot. Sarah at a viewpoint with a Georgian flag flying and a hammock in the foreground, snowy peaks behind. A slice of Medovik honey cake with crushed nuts, eaten with blueberries on a patio in Mestia. Khachapuri slices on a board with a herby cucumber and tomato salad and an aubergine and pepper stew at Nadia Guesthouse. Sarah on the guesthouse balcony at dusk with a Svan tower and Mestia rooftops behind.

We walked down into Mestia for breakfast, wandered for a while looking for something open, and ended up back at Qoruldi, the previous night’s dinner spot, which opens at 9 AM. Good kubdari, the Svan meat-filled pie, and a salad, but it meant we did not start walking until 10:45 AM.

Koruldi is the classic day hike out of Mestia and it is relentlessly steep almost the whole way, then flattens out shortly before the lakes. There is a viewpoint partway up with a large wooden heart built as a photo frame, and a Georgian flag higher on the ridge. The scenery at the top is the reason to come.

On the way up we passed a man who had fallen over the side of the path. We stopped, and Sarah ran back down to a guesthouse to get a car sent up while I stayed with him. Another couple arrived shortly after we found him and stopped too. We found his family further along the trail and told them where he was. I think it was heat stroke. It was frightening at the time. We checked on him again on the way down and he was much better.

We had a picnic at the lakes and took our time. Afterwards there was a sweet treat in the town square, a takeaway slice of Medovik, the layered honey cake with cream and crushed nuts, eaten with blueberries. Dinner was at the guesthouse: khachapuri, a tomato and cucumber salad, and a good aubergine and pepper stew. All of it was good, there was simply less of it than the guesthouse dinners on the Albanian Alps trek I did with Brent, where the plates kept arriving.

Day 3: Mestia to Zhabeshi

Jul 14: Gogia Guest House, Zhabeshi

Actual: 19.08 km, 786 m gain, 4h 55m, activity. Planned: 16.19 km, 684 m gain, 4h 11m, route.

Breakfast in Mestia before setting off: a vegetable omelette, small pastries, nut cake, apricot jam, cucumber and tomato. Sarah and Tyler in full packs above Mestia, the village's Svan towers in the valley below. A trailside lunch of tomato, cucumber and herb salad with bread and sliced cheese, village and valley below. A round khachapuri on a wooden board at the lunch stop, stone village houses and mountains behind. A white cow with its nose in a red backpack while a black cow grazes behind, mountains beyond. Feet up in a hammock at Gogia Guest House, with Sarah and another guest on a swing seat on the lawn below. A large guesthouse dinner spread: chicken with peppers, rice, several salads, a red stew, pumpkin seed soup, bread and wine. Dessert of watermelon, cantaloupe and squares of layered biscuit and chocolate cake. Two horses grazing beside a fast glacial river in the valley with cloud pouring off the peaks.

The first trek day. We had breakfast at the guesthouse, then stopped at Panorama Cafe on the way out of town, which was very good, and took some of it away for a picnic.

The walk out of Mestia gives you the towers from above, which is the best angle on the village. The picnic later got interrupted by cows. They were funny for about a minute and then became a problem, since what they wanted was the food, and a cow that has decided to put its head in your backpack is difficult to reason with.

Gogia Guest House in Zhabeshi is a good place to arrive, with a lot of outdoor seating and a big green mountain directly behind the house. We sat outside and read until dinner at 6 PM, which was enormous: chicken with peppers, rice, three or four salads, a rich red stew, a pumpkin seed soup, fresh bread, and local wine. All of it was good. Dessert was melon and squares of a layered biscuit and chocolate cake. Afterwards we walked up the river and found horses grazing on the flats with the cloud coming off the peaks behind them.

Day 4: Zhabeshi to Adishi

Jul 15: Hotel Family Bachi, Adishi

Actual: 11.86 km, 1,034 m gain, 3h 41m moving, activity. Planned: 10.79 km, 926 m gain, 4h 16m, route.

Breakfast at Gogia Guest House: porridge with blueberries, cold cuts, cheese and walnuts, sausages, yoghurt and pancakes. A kada pastry and a paper cup of coffee on a picnic table near the Chkhunderi Pass. Sarah and Tyler on a grassy hillside with a picnic of bread, tomato and cucumber, packs beside them. Trail selfie in full packs, a wildflower meadow underfoot and a cloud-wrapped mountain behind. Tyler lying in a hammock strung between rough timber posts on the edge of the drop, forested mountainside behind. View from a hammock down a valley to a waterfall and a single building far below. A wooden lodge on a cliff edge with hammocks and picnic tables and a dozen hikers milling about. A multi-jet shower cabin with a control panel and chrome doors at the Adishi guesthouse. A long table of family-style dinner shared with other hikers: bean soups, roast chicken, fried bread rolls and khachapuri. A green valley near Adishi in evening light with a small house and stream below. Sarah and Tyler in Adishi at sunset with medieval Svan towers and stone ruins behind and a pink and orange sky.

Breakfast at Gogia was the best of the trek: porridge with blueberries, cold cuts, cheese and walnuts, sausages, yoghurt, cucumber and tomato, and small pancakes under powdered sugar.

The climb goes up to the Chkhunderi Pass. Close to the top there is a stop selling coffee and kada next to some ski lift infrastructure, which we had not expected and were glad of. We had a picnic further along, then walked into the afternoon through meadows with the cloud sitting on the peaks.

Shortly before Adishi there is a lodge built right on the edge of the drop, with picnic tables and hammocks and a long view down the valley to a waterfall. There were a dozen or so other walkers there and the atmosphere was very good. We stopped for a while, and I spent most of it in a hammock.

The guesthouse in Adishi has a shower cabin that looks like a spacecraft. Dinner was the family-style one, everyone at the same table, close quarters and not much privacy, but the company made it: two sets of Canadians, a Kiwi living in London, and a German. We swapped route notes and travel stories, and we kept running into the same faces for the rest of the walk. Afterwards we walked out past the village and caught the towers with the sky going pink behind them.

Day 5: Adishi to Iprari

Jul 16: Guesthouse Mariiko, Iprari

Actual: 19.19 km, 847 m gain, 5h 05m, activity. Planned: 16.98 km, 724 m gain, 4h 55m, route.

Breakfast before setting off from Adishi: khachapuri, cheese, cucumber and tomato, apple slices, honey, an omelette and small pancakes. A hiker on horseback crossing the fast silty Adishi river while others wait on the far bank. Tyler on horseback fording the Adishi river through fast grey water, the glacier and snow peaks upstream. Sarah walking a ridge path toward a glacier tumbling between two peaks, white rhododendron in bloom. Sarah and Tyler at a viewpoint with jagged snow-covered peaks behind and a green valley falling away. Feet up under a red umbrella at Cafe Kala with a ruined Svan tower and stream in the valley below. The A-frame cottage at Iprari with full-height glass gables and fairy lights, packs left by the door. Dinner at the cottage: vegetable soup, fried bread, rice, cabbage salad, tomatoes, cheese and a bean stew.

The best day of the trek, and the one I would go back for.

We were walking by 7:30 AM. About five kilometres in you reach the Adishi river, which is glacial meltwater, fast and grey with silt, and has no bridge. A local man runs a horse across it for 25 GEL a person, cash. A few walkers forded it on foot while we were there and it did not look sensible; the water was moving hard and the bed is loose. Take the horse.

After the crossing the trail climbs onto a ridge and the whole thing opens up. There is a glacier coming down between two peaks directly ahead, white rhododendron in bloom along the path, and wildflowers over everything. The weather held all morning. We had a picnic on the way and stopped at Cafe Kala in a small village a few kilometres short of Iprari, under a red umbrella looking down on a ruined tower.

We reached Guesthouse Mariiko around 3 PM. There are only two units here and both are private A-frame cottages: a mattress in a loft up a ladder, a sitting area and bathroom below, and glass from floor to apex facing the mountains. After the shared table and shared bathroom of the night before, having our own space felt like a luxury. We did run out of toilet paper, which was resolved without much dignity.

The hosts were exceptionally warm. Dinner and breakfast were both brought out to the patio by the cottage, fresh and generous. A small thunderstorm came through in the evening and we ate outside regardless, which was the right call. Afterwards we sat on the swing bench by the river until it got dark. The hospitality we were shown across Svaneti was one of the best things about the trip, and this was the high point of it.

Day 6: Iprari to Ushguli

Jul 17: Nizharadze’s Tower, Ushguli

Actual: 14.14 km, 676 m gain, 3h 31m, activity. Planned: 12.17 km, 603 m gain, 3h 26m, route.

Sarah crouched hugging Tibby the dog on the track at dawn, cloud filling the valley behind. Breakfast outdoors at the Iprari cottage: boiled eggs, cucumber, small cakes, pastries, jam, bread, cheese, tomatoes and ham. A black coffee on a red table under an umbrella at a morning stop, forest and fence behind. Sarah walking a single-track path through a wildflower meadow toward a green ridge in bright sun. Arrival selfie on the road into Ushguli with Svan towers and village houses to the right and a snowy peak ahead. Sarah at a covered terrace table with a brown short-haired dog stretched out full length on the table beside her. A clay bowl of chicken with sliced onion and sumac beside a tomato and cucumber salad at Cafe Murkvam. Two fried cornbread rounds beside the chicken bowl at Cafe Murkvam. A cream-coloured dog asleep flat on the wooden floor of the cafe between benches. A glass of white wine and a Coke Zero on a metal table at Cafe Malat, evening light over Ushguli. A pale dog looking out over Ushguli at dusk with a Svan tower behind in warm light. The guesthouse dinner spread in Ushguli: two soups, bread, cornbread, khachapuri, potato salad, breaded cutlets and salad.

There was a dog at the Iprari cottage, a German Shepherd sort that we started calling Tibby. She came out on a short jog with us before breakfast and ran the whole way alongside, then followed us down the valley for a good stretch after we set off properly. She was friendly, well behaved and very hard not to encourage.

We ate breakfast outside at the cottage, stopped for coffee mid-morning, and then walked a long section through meadows in good sun. The day itself is the least scenic of the four. After the ridge above Iprari you drop toward the valley floor, climb back up, and spend a lot of it under trees. We walked part of it with a British guy called Lewis at an easy pace, which made the dull stretch go faster.

The weather was the best of the trip: bright, sunny, not too hot, no rain at all, which was a sharp contrast with the thunderstorm the night before.

We came into Ushguli just after 1 PM. The picnic had not been enough, so we found Cafe Restaurant Murkvam for a second lunch: cucumber salad, cornbread and chicken, the chicken a bit dry. There were dogs everywhere, one asleep on the floor between the benches and one that climbed onto the table, stretched out beside Sarah, and went to sleep there while we ate.

After checking in at Nizharadze’s Tower we had a glass of wine outside at Cafe Malat in the sun. Dinner was at the guesthouse, shared with a German couple who spoke limited English and were very happy to talk anyway, mostly about the places they like to drive to. The spread was big and good, with aubergine rolls in walnut paste and a very good khachapuri.

We also used the evening to rethink the next few days. The plan had been two day hikes and a rest day, and the rest day was starting to look unnecessary.

Day 7: Shkhara base camp

Jul 18: Nizharadze’s Tower, Ushguli

Actual, the walking section only: 3.65 km, 204 m gain, 1h 02m, activity. The runs out and back are not in that figure. Planned: route, roughly 16 km return including the road.

Breakfast at Cafe Malat: two omelettes, a fried cornbread, cucumber and tomato salad and black coffee, with a dog waiting hopefully behind. Tyler standing among four dogs in a wildflower meadow on the road out to the trailhead, the Shkhara massif behind. Sarah running the gravel track toward the Shkhara massif with a brindle dog trotting alongside. Sarah crouched hugging Tibby on the glacial moraine with the glacier and mountains behind. Sarah smiling over tea and a slice of fruit sponge at a mountainside hut with a green hillside behind. A slice of raspberry sponge cake and a cup of tea on a picnic table, Sarah laughing behind it. A whole khachapuri and a tomato salad at Cafe Svaneti in Ushguli. An aubergine, potato and carrot stew with herbs and a piece of kubdari at Cafe Svaneti. Sarah laughing on the covered terrace at Cafe Shumeri with two glass mugs of flower tea and a green hillside behind. Kubdari cut into quarters with a tomato and cucumber salad and flower tea at Cafe Shumeri. Tyler crouched hugging a large brindle dog on a grassy slope with the Shkhara massif and heavy cloud behind. Dinner in Ushguli: khinkali, a red soup, a clay bowl of pepper and tomato stew, salad, bread and white wine.

Sarah’s idea, and a good one. The trailhead is about eight kilometres of road out of Ushguli, and the trail beyond it is only about two. Walking the whole thing means a long dull approach for a short good bit at the end, so instead we ran the road, walked the trail, and ran the road back.

Breakfast first, back at Cafe Malat, who told us they opened at 8 AM. We arrived at 8 and there was no sign of life until half past. It was worth the wait for cheesy cornbread, an omelette, salad and coffee, all of which went down fast.

We picked up an escort of dogs on the run out and had several of them with us by the time we reached the trailhead. Tibby was among them. She had made it all the way from Iprari to Ushguli, two days behind us.

From the trailhead we walked. The valley leads up to the base of Shkhara, Georgia’s highest peak, and the gradient stays kind the whole way, which makes it the least effort here for the most reward. There were already plenty of people on it by 10 AM. Tibby came in for a cuddle on the moraine with the glacier at her back, and then we ran the road back down.

Lunch was at Cafe Svaneti and was one of the best meals of the trek: kubdari, an aubergine and potato stew, an aubergine salad and a tomato and cucumber salad. I would go back. There was a chilled afternoon after that, then a later stop at Cafe Shumeri for flower tea and kubdari. Shumeri became the default over our Ushguli days and we ate and snacked there more than anywhere else. Dinner that night was khinkali and a stew.

The forecast for the next day was poor, so the plan became to start the Latpari Pass early and see how far the weather allowed.

One other small victory: we found a cafe willing to sell us cucumbers straight out of the kitchen at 2 GEL each. Nobody, including them, seemed to have considered this transaction before. There are no produce stalls in Ushguli and we wanted them for a picnic, so it felt like a considerable win.

Day 8: Latpari Pass

Jul 19: Nizharadze’s Tower, Ushguli

Actual: 8.92 km, 852 m gain, 2h 39m, turned back short of the first pass, activity. Planned: route, roughly 14 km to a pass at about 2,800 m.

An early self-catered breakfast on a tartan cloth: scones, bananas, a kettle, instant coffee, a cafetiere and a backgammon board. Sarah in a red rain jacket on a narrow path beside a rushing stream under heavy overcast, a cream dog following. White rhododendron in the foreground and the whole snowy Shkhara wall under thick cloud beyond green ridges. Lunch at Cafe Svaneti: quartered kubdari, a potato and meat soup, a red soup, salad and tea, with stacked firewood behind. A rolled kada pastry with a crumbly sugar and nut filling on a white plate. Fried chicken with red pepper and onion over chips with a bread basket at an outdoor table. Sarah and Tyler with a large dog under blue sky after the weather cleared. Tyler crouched with his arm around Tibby on the gravel track, pack still on from carrying blankets to lunch. A clay pot of bean and meat stew with pepper and onion beside a bread basket at Shumeri in low golden light. Fried meat with onion and red pepper, a jug of sauce and a single large khinkali at Shumeri. Sarah and Tyler on the valley road at dusk with snow peaks catching the last light and a roof-tent vehicle parked on the grass.

Early start, and breakfast was whatever we had: scones from a shop in the village, bananas, and coffee made in the room.

The Latpari Pass climbs to about 2,800 metres and looks north into Racha and toward Russia. We did not get there. About 100 metres of climbing below the first pass we heard thunder, which above the treeline on an exposed ridge is the end of the discussion, so we turned around. The view from the point where we stopped was still the best of the day, with the whole Shkhara wall under heavy cloud and rhododendron all along the path.

The rain caught us on the way down and we were soaked through by the time we got back. Hot showers and radiators earned their keep. We took blankets with us to a late lunch at Cafe Svaneti, soup and kubdari, and then found another kada at a second stop afterwards, which was good without displacing the one at the pass. Tibby turned up again on the way, which was worth the trip on its own.

By the middle of the afternoon it had cleared completely. We ended up out in the sun with a dog, and by evening it was blue. Dinner was back at Cafe Shumeri, a clay pot of bean and meat stew and more khinkali, and we walked out along the valley road afterwards with the last light on the peaks.

Day 9: Out early

Jul 20: Ushguli to Kutaisi

View through the windscreen on the early drive out of Ushguli, empty mountain road with snowy peaks ahead. A turquoise reservoir between steep forested cliffs, seen from a rocky viewpoint on the drive south.

We had a rest morning and a valley walk planned for today, and neither happened, because the day had already been rewritten the night before. Our driver sent a WhatsApp message on the evening of the 19th to say a landslide had closed the road to Kutaisi, and the guesthouse host confirmed it.

She was excellent about it. That same evening she arranged a taxi for 6 AM the following morning to get us to Mestia, 200 GEL, and a marshrutka onward from there at 45 GEL each. Rather than lose a night to sitting in Ushguli we decided to bring the whole departure forward by a day and spend the time in Tbilisi instead. GetTransfer refunded the transfer we had booked for the 21st once I sent them the screenshots of their own driver telling us the road was shut, which was a better outcome than I expected.

The marshrutka was fine. The café stop halfway lasted forty five minutes and got very hot, which is a shock coming straight down from the mountains. There is a viewpoint over a reservoir on the way that is worth being awake for, an improbable turquoise between steep forested cliffs.

We reached Kutaisi in the afternoon, which is where the second half of this trip picks up. That post is coming soon.

The dogs of Svaneti

There are dogs everywhere in Svaneti, most of them loose, most of them relaxed, and a lot of them interested in walkers. One asleep on the café floor in Ushguli. One that climbed onto the table in the middle of lunch, stretched out beside Sarah and went to sleep. A pack of them that adopted us on the run out to the Shkhara valley and stayed with us to the trailhead.

The most memorable was Tibby, a German Shepherd sort who lived at the cottage in Iprari. She came on a jog with us before breakfast, ran the whole way, then followed us down the valley when we set off for Ushguli. Two days later, on the way back from the glacier, she was there again, in Ushguli, having covered the same ground we had. She came over for a cuddle on the moraine as though we had arranged it.

Best sweet treat

Mountain Kada, at the coffee stop near the Chkhunderi Pass, Jul 15. Kada is a layered pastry with a sugar and butter filling, sometimes semolina or nuts depending on the region, and it sits somewhere between a shortcrust tart and a coffee cake. Finding one, with a coffee, at a picnic table most of the way up the day’s climb was not something we had planned for, and it is the thing I would go back for.

Honourable mentions to the Medovik in Mestia on Jul 13, the raspberry sponge at the mountainside hut above Ushguli on Jul 18, and a second kada in Ushguli on Jul 19 that could not match the one at the pass.

What the walking is like

The scenery is good throughout and Adishi to Iprari is the standout, though it sits in the middle of the trek so you have to walk in to reach it.

It is challenging but very doable. The climbs are real and you are carrying your own kit, but the days are a sensible length, the path is well marked with reliable footing, and there are wet sections without anything that needs scrambling. We had enough left over most days to add a run or a second walk, which is the honest measure of it. Anyone comfortable with a long day on their feet, back to back, will get through this.

The guesthouses will not suit everyone, and that is worth being honest about. Shared bathrooms, shared kitchens, group dinners at one table, no lock on the door in some places, and in most cases you are staying in somebody’s house. We loved it. If you want privacy every night, look specifically for places like the Iprari cottages rather than assuming you will get it.

The transfers at either end are long: seven and a half hours in, most of a day out. That is the argument for staying longer rather than shorter. Once you have spent that much of the trip on the road, a few extra nights in Svaneti cost you almost nothing by comparison, and eight was about right.

Practical notes

When to go. We walked in mid-July. Days on the trail were sunny and around 18°C, dropping to about 10°C overnight, which is close to the July average for the higher villages; Mestia sits lower and is several degrees warmer than that. Take a layer for the evenings and something waterproof for the afternoons. We had two thunderstorms in eight nights, one in the evening at Iprari and one that turned us back below the Latpari Pass, so they are not constant, but the one that matters is the one that catches you high up. Wildflowers and rhododendron were out everywhere, which is a real argument for July. Start early and expect to be off the exposed ground by mid-afternoon.

Getting there. Flights land in Tbilisi and Mestia is seven and a half hours away by road. We used GoTrip, $235 for the car, cancellable up to 24 hours ahead. Vanilla Sky flies Tbilisi to Mestia and would be far quicker, but I never once saw availability, so plan on the drive. Leaving, a taxi from Ushguli to Mestia was 200 GEL and the marshrutka onward to Kutaisi 45 GEL each.

Roads close. A landslide shut the road south to Kutaisi with no notice and cost us a planned rest day. This is not bad luck so much as the normal behaviour of these roads: Svaneti is landslide and rockfall country, the Ushguli to Lentekhi section shuts outright over winter for avalanche risk, and the main Zugdidi to Mestia road has been closed by rockfalls more than once in recent years. Build slack into the end of the itinerary rather than the middle, and ask your host or check georoad.ge before counting on a departure. Ours had an alternative arranged within the hour, a taxi back out to Mestia and a marshrutka onward from there, so being stranded is unlikely. Losing a day to getting out is not.

Cash. Everything is cash. Every guesthouse, every café, the horse across the river. Mestia is the last place to withdraw, and I did not see a single ATM anywhere past it, so work out what the whole route will cost, add a margin, and take it all out there.

Water. Inconsistent by guesthouse. Some told us plainly that the tap is mountain-fed and fine, others said nothing either way. We carried Aquatabs, which take half an hour and remove the question entirely, and I would bring them again just for the peace of mind.

Food and supplies. Guesthouse meals are not included in the room rate, and they are worth paying for anyway. Reckon on 20 to 30 GEL for breakfast and 30 to 45 for dinner, per person, cash. Both are generous and the dinners in particular are a large part of why you would stay in these places at all. Shops in the smaller villages are minimal to non-existent: in Ushguli we found one place selling water, Coke, crisps and packaged cake, and no fresh produce anywhere. Buy any snacks you want in Mestia. Budget these meals in when you work out how much cash to carry, because across eight nights they add up to more than people expect. In Ushguli, Cafe Shumeri is the one to know; we ended up there over and over across three days, for meals and for snacks.

The Adishi river crossing. 25 GEL per person, cash, on horseback, about five kilometres out of Adishi on the Iprari day. People do ford it and it does not look worth it.

Guesthouses. All booked through Booking.com and all family-run. Gogia in Zhabeshi for the food and the outdoor space, Guesthouse Mariiko in Iprari for the private A-frame cottages, which were the best night of the trip. Expect shared facilities elsewhere and no fitted sheets anywhere.

Insurance. We took a policy with mountain rescue cover. Given the man we found off the side of the path on day two, that is not a theoretical concern.