Mestia to Ushguli Trek — 7-Day Supported Private Hike

Capital of the western province of Samegrelo and the gateway to Svaneti. Its Dadiani Palaces museum holds about 41,000 items, including relics of European royal families and one of Napoleon Bonaparte's death masks.

Set high in the Caucasus, Mestia is the heart of Svaneti, where stone defensive towers built between the 9th and 13th centuries still rise above the rooftops. The isolation that once protected the fiercely independent Svans also preserved a living culture you can still hear in their polyphonic singing and taste at a hearty feast. Spend your days exploring the Svaneti Museum and Margiani House, walking to the Chalaadi Glacier, or skiing at Hatsvali, with the ancient village of Ushguli 47 km away.

A small Svan hamlet in the Mulakhi community east of Mestia, the usual first overnight stop on the four-day Mestia-Ushguli trek, with family guesthouses.

A remote Svan village with medieval towers below the Adishi glacier, the second overnight stop on the Mestia-Ushguli trek. The next morning the trail fords the Adishi river before climbing to the Chkhutnieri pass, the high point of the trek at about 2,700 m.

A Svan village in the Kala community, where the Mestia-Ushguli trek rejoins the valley road after the Chkhutnieri pass; the third overnight stop before the final stage to Ushguli.

Among the highest permanently inhabited villages in Europe, at about 2,100 meters, UNESCO-listed Ushguli sits deep in the Caucasus, where centuries-old Svan defensive towers still rise above the stone houses. The Svan people keep their own language, customs and polyphonic singing alive here, and the village opens onto walks toward the Shkhara Glacier below Georgia's highest peak (5,193 meters). Reached from Mestia on a sealed road and best in summer, it pairs medieval atmosphere with hearty Svan fare like kubdari.

Once the capital of ancient Colchis, the kingdom Jason crossed the sea to reach for the Golden Fleece, Kutaisi pairs deep history with the limestone country around it. See the 12th-century frescoes and mosaics of UNESCO-listed Gelati Monastery, the 11th-century Bagrati Cathedral above the city, the stalactite chambers of Prometheus Cave, and the preserved dinosaur footprints at Sataplia Nature Reserve. Cap it with Imeretian cooking: sulguni cheese, mchadi cornbread, and a true Georgian supra.