Svaneti by Train: Mestia & Ushguli — 3-Day Private Trip

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.

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.