Sport tours in Georgia

The ski season and choosing a resort

The season runs from mid-December to early April, peaking in February. Gudauri is the largest and the busiest, but it is two hours from Tbilisi and has the best terrain for freeriding. Bakuriani is gentler and works better with children.

Tetnuldi and Hatsvali are in Svaneti - getting there costs a day, but there are almost no queues and the views are in another class. Goderdzi in Adjara gets the most snow of any resort, though the infrastructure is more modest. Equipment can be hired at all of them.

Trekking and mountaineering: what preparation is needed

The Mestia-Ushguli trek means 12 to 18 km and 600 to 900 m of ascent a day. It is not technical, but it does ask for regular physical activity. Luggage goes ahead by jeep or horse, so you walk with a day pack only.

Kazbek is a different category: 5,054 m, glacier travel, roped movement and at least two days of acclimatisation. Previous experience is strongly preferred and a mountain guide is compulsory. The full programme normally runs 5 to 8 days, including a weather reserve.

Gudauri: pistes, freeride and the season

Gudauri is two hours from Tbilisi on the Military Highway and that proximity is exactly what makes it the most accessible resort. The base is at 2,200 metres, the highest point at 3,279.

Most of the runs are on open slopes rather than through forest - which means the view is open everywhere, but on a windy day there is little shelter. The lower sector is for beginners, the upper and the side valleys for the experienced.

Gudauri is the main freeride location in Georgia, and that is precisely why avalanche safety is a serious matter here. We arrange going off-piste only with an avalanche-trained guide, and the kit - transceiver, shovel, probe - is strictly compulsory.

Bakuriani: the family resort

Bakuriani is at about 1,700 metres, lower than Gudauri, and that determines its character directly: the slopes are gentler, the forest is close and there is less wind.

All four main zones - Didveli, Kokhta, 25 Metri and Tatra - are of different difficulty and sit close to each other. Which is exactly why Bakuriani is the best choice for a first-timer and for children.

In 2023 the freestyle and snowboard world championships were held here and that renewed the infrastructure considerably. The season runs December to March - shorter than Gudauri's, because the altitude is lower.

The Svaneti resorts: Tetnuldi and Hatsvali

Tetnuldi opened in 2016 and covers 1,600 to 3,165 metres. Its main advantage is the length of the runs - the longest descent is nearly ten kilometres, which is rare in the Caucasus.

Hatsvali is smaller and close to Mestia, five minutes from the town. It suits beginners and anyone with a single day. In summer the cable car runs and gives you the view of Ushba with no climb.

The main constraint is logistics: Mestia is 460 kilometres away. So a ski tour in Svaneti is a minimum of four days, otherwise the driving swallows the whole thing. The alternative is flying into Mestia.

Goderdzi: small and powdery

Goderdzi is in Adjara at about 2,000 metres and differs from the other three in that the snow there is the driest and deepest - the humid air coming off the coast settles on the mountain as powder.

The resort is small and the number of runs limited. In exchange there are almost no people, and skiing beside the piste - which elsewhere is a competition - stays free here.

The approach road from Batumi is two or three hours and in winter depends on the weather. We usually suggest Goderdzi to someone who has already been to Gudauri and is looking for something else, and who avoids crowds.

The Mestia-Ushguli trek: four days

This is Georgia's best-known multi-day trek - about 58 kilometres over four days. The route runs through Zhabeshi, Adishi and Ipari and finishes in Ushguli.

The daily stretch is 12 to 18 kilometres with 700 to 1,000 metres of ascent. That is moderate: no technical skill is needed, but four consecutive days of walking does require physical preparation.

One particular place deserves separate mention: the river crossing at Adishi, which you make on horseback. It is a service provided by locals, included in the price, and dependent on the water level. In July, when the glacier melts hardest, the crossing is done in the morning before the level rises.

The Chaukhi pass and the Abudelauri lakes

The path from Juta to Roshka crosses the Chaukhi pass at 3,338 metres. It works as a single day, but we recommend two - with a night in Juta, so that the climb starts in the morning.

On the Roshka side are the three Abudelauri lakes - green, blue and white. The difference in colour comes from their mineral content and the lakes lie half an hour apart from one another.

The pass is passable from mid-June to the end of September. Before that the snow lies and the path cannot be read. We check those dates every year, because they depend on the severity of the previous winter and shift by weeks from year to year.

Climbing Kazbek: what it demands

Kazbek is 5,054 metres and the ascent is not technically hard, but it requires movement on a glacier. That means crampons, an ice axe, a rope and knowing how to move roped up - without that we do not go.

The standard schedule is five to eight days and most of it is acclimatisation. The base is the Meteo Station at about 3,650 metres, where you spend two or three nights before going for the summit.

This is the one route where we do not confirm every request. We ask about your previous experience and if it is not enough we say so directly and propose a preparatory route instead - Chaukhi, say, or Mestia-Ushguli.

The Transcaucasian Trail

This is a long-distance hiking trail project that crosses the Caucasus. In Georgia its sections in Svaneti and Tusheti have been opening and being marked progressively since 2016.

The practical significance is that paths have appeared which previously only locals knew. That widens the trekking choice sharply, particularly for anyone who has already walked the standard routes.

The whole trail is not yet finished and parts of it are unmarked. So on those sections a guide is compulsory, and we only offer the parts we have actually walked and checked ourselves.

Equipment: what is yours and what is ours

Ski equipment is hired on site at all four resorts - skis, boots, helmet, poles. The quality varies, so we recommend particular outlets and book ahead for you.

On a trek everything is yours except the tent and the cooking kit, if you are sleeping outdoors. Normally, though, we stay in villages and you need no tent at all - that is how the Mestia-Ushguli route works.

For mountaineering the technical equipment - crampons, axe, rope, harness - is in the price and belongs to the guide's team. From you we need personal clothing, gloves and goggles, and the boots are yours, because the fit is critical.

Physical preparation and acclimatisation

There are three levels. Skiing and a one-day trek call for ordinary fitness - if you walk or train twice a week, that is enough.

A multi-day trek is another matter: four consecutive days, with a pack, gaining altitude. Here we advise starting preparation three months ahead - two long walks a week is enough.

In mountaineering the decisive factor is not fitness but acclimatisation. At 5,000 metres there is about half the oxygen there is at sea level and the body needs time to adjust. That is exactly why the schedule holds three or four days purely for gaining height. Cutting those days is the commonest reason an attempt fails.

The season: winter and summer

The ski season runs from December to April, though it differs by resort. At Gudauri and Tetnuldi, because of the altitude, snow holds into April; at Bakuriani it is gone by late March.

The best months are February and the start of March: the snow cover is at its deepest and the day is already long. January is the coldest, December the least predictable.

The hiking season is exactly the opposite - mid-June to the end of September. On the high passes there is still snow in early June. So one visit cannot cover both, and that has to be said plainly.

Safety: avalanche, glacier, communication

Avalanche is the main winter risk. On the piste it is controlled; off it, not. So on freeride three things are compulsory: an avalanche-trained guide, the full kit, and checking the bulletin that same morning.

On a glacier the risks are different - crevasses, which can be covered by snow. That is why on Kazbek you move roped up, and it is not treated as a choice.

Communication is the third factor. On high sections the mobile network does not work, so a satellite phone or a tracker is with the team. We agree the schedule with a dispatcher and fix the check-in points in advance.

Guides and certification in the mountains

On sport routes the guide's qualification differs by activity. On a trek it is a licensed mountain guide; in mountaineering, a mountain guide with the corresponding certificate and glacier experience.

Freeride has a separate requirement: avalanche safety training and knowledge of the local slopes. Those are two different things and we check both.

We tell you directly who we work with - the name, the experience, the certificate. If you want a particular guide, give us the name; if not, we choose according to the route and your level. Either way the name is in the offer and there is no surprise on the day.

Cycling in Georgia

Cycling routes in the country are developing fast and fall into three types. For road cycling the flat stretches of western Georgia and the coast are suitable.

For gravel and bikepacking there are the unpaved mountain roads: Racha, the Javakheti plateau, the Kakheti foothills. These build into multi-day routes and are not technically hard, only long.

For mountain biking, Gudauri and Bakuriani open their lifts in summer. You either bring the bike or we hire one on site - though decent kit needs booking in advance.

Why winter and summer do not fit into one visit

This is the commonest misunderstanding on the sport directions. Skiing and high-mountain trekking fall in opposite seasons and there is practically no overlap between them.

The reason is simple: the snow that makes the pistes is the same snow that closes the passes. In April people are still skiing at Gudauri, while the Chaukhi pass is impassable until mid-June.

If you want both, that is two separate visits - and we say so plainly rather than squeezing into one route what does not physically fit.