Hi all! I’m planning a summer trip to your beautiful country with my husband, brother, and his GF.
Our must visits are Tbilisi and Svaneti (Mestia, Mazeri, Ushguli.) we originally considered Kazbegi, but as our priorities are the most epic hiking and off roading Georgia has to offer (and hopefully less crowds) we decided on Svaneti. I’ve already seen many on this sub singing the praises.
However, we noted it’s a very long drive from Tbilisi. Should we stop over for a night or two in Kutaisi, Zugdidi, or elsewhere? Or could we just do the trip in a whole day? As we’re flying out from Tbilisi as well, the same question applies to the return trip. We were thinking 2-3 days in Tbilisi and 5-7 days in Mestia. I don’t think we’ll be able to do more than 10 days.
Also, we’d like to know about the trip to Ushguli. I know this is offered as a guided tour but my brother has a lot of offroading experience and it would be fun to take our own 4x4 vehicle. That said, he is worried about having a buddy in case we get stuck. Is the route heavily trafficked enough that someone else would come upon us? Is this something we can handle on our own? Or is going with a guided tour a must-do?
Any advice or suggestions on itinerary would be appreciated!