Trekking in Tusheti

We start your Tusheti adventure at 8 o clock at your guesthouse. On the way, we stop at Alaverdi Monastery. Built-in the 11th century, Alaverdi Cathedral is the second highest church in Georgia and represents a beautiful 11th-century Georgian architecture. Afterward, we continue our adventure and soon you will feel your first adrenaline. We are going to cross Abano Pass, one of the most dangerous roads in the World. After 4 hours of off-roading, we will reach Shenako & Diklo village. Here first we explore Shenako village and then visit old Diklo fortresses. This fortress is believed to be the last stronghold of local villages against Shamili (North Caucasian leader) army. After the old Diklo fortress, we reach Diklo village and overnight there.

In the morning, we start our real hiking. We will hike to Chigo village, which until 2017 was connected to the outer world via a small hiking trail. Now, the small off-road car reaches the village, but almost no one lives in this village today. After Chigo, we continue our journey and start an easy hiking and visit Dartlo. The village is one of the biggest and most beautiful villages of Tusheti. There is a XIX century church in the hamlet while beside it is a site of worship of Yakhsari Icon which is an altar-type structure of the mixed heathen-Christian character. According to the tradition popular in the mountains, women were not admitted either to temple ruins or to the site of worship. For them, there are special women's pathways. Local court proceedings (sabcheo) used to be held in Dartlo. Even today one can see 12 stones placed in the semi-circle where law assessors sat and ‘created' law. In the middle of a circle, there is one stone for a defendant.

We will take a small detour to see the ruins of the village Kvavlo, Parsma, and Baso. We follow the Pirikiti Alazani river gorge and reach to village Parsma by the afternoon. Here we rest and preparing for the next hard day.

This day is the hardest one. We have to cross Pirikiti mountain range and descend into another gorge. We will hike up to 2900 m and cross Nakaicho pass, from where magnificent views over Tusheti gorges are presented. After taking a small brake on the top of the pass, we descend into another gorge and visit Jvarboseli and Verkhovani villages.

In the morning, we will start hiking. This day is easy, our way follows dirty off-road. No significant elevation change, however, we will walk up to 20 km on this day. We will visit Bochorna village, the highest settlement in Georgia and Europe. Afterward, we will hike to Dochu village which is one of the most preserved villages in Tusheti. Afterward, we continue our journey and reach Omalo. After check-in at the guesthouse, we will visit Keselo towers complex which was built in the 13th century. These towers were built for the purpose of defense. Keselo was constructed during the Mongol invasion of Georgia in 1230s. It originally had 13 towers. The inhabitants of old Omalo used the towers to protect themselves from the invading Mongols and later raids by Daghestani tribes.

Leaving Omalo behind us, your last chance to enjoy with picturesque views over Greater Caucasus mountains. We will cross Abano pass and descend into valleys of Kakheti. Before reaching Tbilisi, we will stop at local family-owned winery in this winemaking region where we will have a traditional lunch and wine tasting – the first thing that you should try after hiking in the mountains – delicious food with brilliant Georgian wines.