🥾 Hiking in Georgia: 10 Walking Routes With Maps and PDFs

The easiest way to get into the Georgian mountains is not through a tour company but on your own. A marshrutka from a metro station, an hour on the road, and you are already on the trail. This collection is built on that principle: ten routes, each starting in a named settlement that public transport reaches, and each ending somewhere you can walk to in one or two days.

There are no rope-and-ice-axe ascents here and no week-long treks across several ridges. There are paths that people of average fitness can walk: city dwellers, families with teenagers, newcomers with a free Saturday and Sunday. Three of the ten can be done in half a day, leaving you back in town for dinner.

Every route comes with an interactive map showing the line of the trail and its waypoints, plus a two-page PDF: the route stage by stage and a reference sheet with coordinates. Download the PDF in advance. This is not fussiness: in Georgian gorges the mobile signal disappears a few kilometres past the last village, and you will not be opening a browser tab up there.

🗺️ Overview Map of All 10 Routes

Below is the overview map: all ten routes on a single map of Georgia. The numbers on the markers match the numbering used in this article, and the legend with the full list sits underneath the map. Tapping a route in the legend zooms the map to it.

🧭 How to Read This Collection

The routes are ordered by geography rather than by beauty: east and central Georgia first, then the west and the coast. That helps if you live in Tbilisi and are choosing where to go for the weekend, or if you are staying in Batumi and want one day away from the beach.

Difficulty is given on three levels. Easy means the path is obvious, the ascent is under 500 metres, and you will finish within daylight without rushing. Moderate means 500 to 1,000 metres of ascent, a path that fades in places, and a need for stiff-soled boots. Above average means a pass or a boulder field, more than 1,000 metres of ascent, and ideally the experience of at least two simpler walks.

Timings throughout are generous, calculated for a group that stops to take photographs and eat lunch. If you walk light and fast, take off roughly a quarter.

📵 What to Download Before You Leave Town

The classic beginner’s mistake in Georgia looks like this. Someone finds a route online, leaves the tab open on their phone and sets off. In Stepantsminda there is still a signal, in Juta it is already poor, and an hour and a half up the climb there is none at all. The tab will not refresh, the map will not load, and you are navigating from memory.

So do three things before you leave. Install an offline navigation app: Organic Maps and OsmAnd both work well, both are free, and both run on OpenStreetMap data, where Georgian trails are mapped in reasonable detail. Download the map of Georgia in full while you are on Wi-Fi, since the file runs to several hundred megabytes. And download the route PDF from this article, or better still print it, because paper does not run out of battery.

🏔️ Route 1. Juta → Chaukhi Pass → Abudelauri → Roshka

Juta sits at around 2,200 metres and is considered one of the highest permanently inhabited villages in Georgia. From the last house the view opens onto the Chaukhi massif: the jagged wall that gives this route its whole reason for existing.

The first day goes on the climb to the pass. The path runs along the river, then turns and gains height in switchbacks up a grassy slope. The last two hundred metres before the saddle usually cross scree, and early in the season compacted snow. Trekking poles earn their place here. From the pass you see both sides of the ridge at once, and it is the finest point on the whole route.

The descent brings you to the three Abudelauri lakes. They lie in one valley and differ in colour: green, blue and white. The shade comes from rock particles suspended in the water, which is why the white lake looks cloudy and the blue one is clear to the bottom. It is only 235 metres from the Green Lake to the Blue, and another 1.4 kilometres to the White. Camping is easiest at the Green Lake, where there are flat pitches and a stream nearby.

The second day is shorter and simpler: a descent down the valley to the village of Roshka, where the gravel road ends and where someone can collect you. A strong group can do the whole route in one long day, but then there is barely any time left for the lakes.

🧊 Route 2. Shovi → Buba Glacier

This is the simplest way to reach a real glacier in Georgia without any mountaineering skills. The path runs along the valley floor beside the Chanchakhi river, the ascent is spread over almost nine kilometres, and there is virtually nothing steep.

The walk starts at the Shovi resort and for the first couple of kilometres feels like a stroll through pine forest. Then the valley widens, the trees thin out, and the shepherds’ summer camps appear. Half an hour further on the moraine begins: the chaos of boulders that the glacier has dragged down over centuries. The path is harder to read across it, so navigate by the stone cairns.

The snout of the Buba glacier is grey with rock dust and looks nothing like the postcard version. There is no need to walk right up to it, still less to step onto the ice: the edge melts and pieces collapse without warning. The viewpoint on the moraine gives you just as good a view without the risk.

One important point about the region. In August 2023 a mudflow came down near Shovi and people died. Before you travel, check the state of the road, whether the resort infrastructure is operating and what restrictions are in force. In a valley with steep sides and glacier-fed rivers the weather decides everything, and after heavy rain it is better to call the walk off.

💧 Route 3. Glola → Udziro Lake

The lake’s name translates roughly as bottomless, and locals are happy to keep alive the legend that it has no floor. In practice it is a small mountain tarn at around 2,500 metres surrounded by meadows, and its appeal lies elsewhere: almost nobody comes up here.

The climb begins at the village of Glola, next door to Shovi. The first four kilometres follow a forest track and bring you out onto an open ridge. From there the path runs along the crest with valleys visible to the left and right the whole way. The wind is constant and there is no shelter, so a windproof matters even in July heat.

The only water source on the way is at the summer pastures, around the seventh kilometre. There is nowhere to refill above that, so plan your supply. Camping is comfortable there at the pastures, or higher up beside the lake if the weather allows.

You can return by the same route or make a loop towards Shovi if you have two full days and a track loaded in your app. The loop is harder, and the path fades into the grass in places.

🌾 Route 4. Bakuriani → Tskhratskaro Pass → Tabatskuri Lake

The route crosses a volcanic plateau, and the landscape here is not Caucasian at all: no forest, no rock walls, only rolling treeless hills to the horizon. Some find it dull, others come back every year for exactly that sense of space.

From Bakuriani the road climbs past the weather station and gradually brings you onto the Tskhratskaro pass. The name means nine springs, and the springs along the way are real enough. Then comes a long gentle descent to the plateau, and towards the end of the second day Tabatskuri appears: a large lake of deep blue water with a village of the same name on its shore.

The defining feature of this route is that you walk exposed all day. There is no shade anywhere, but getting lost is equally difficult: the track is clear and landmarks are visible for kilometres. Sun cream and a hat are not a recommendation here but a necessity, since ultraviolet is noticeably harsher at this altitude.

You can camp by the water or rent a room in Tabatskuri village. Transport runs from the village towards Akhalkalaki and Bakuriani, but the timetable is unreliable, so check locally.

🌧️ Route 5. Korolistavi → Mtirala Waterfall and Lake

Mtirala means weeping, and the name is earned: this is the wettest place in Georgia, with up to 4,500 millimetres of rain a year. Rain can start on any day of the season, including a cloudless August morning. Waterproof boots and a rain jacket are essential, otherwise the walk turns into an ordeal.

In exchange it is the best option for a day out from Batumi. The visitor centre at Korolistavi is under an hour from the city by car via Chakvi. Staff at the centre take a small entry fee and tell you which trails are passable that day.

The main path follows the river through Colchic forest: ferns as tall as a person, lianas, moss on every stone. After a kilometre and a half there is a suspension bridge, after which the climb becomes more noticeable, and another kilometre and a half brings you out at the waterfall. Below it lies a small lake where people swim in summer, though the water stays cold even in the heat.

The whole circuit takes four or five hours including lunch and photographs. If you have time and energy left, the neighbouring Machakhela National Park is worth a look, with longer trails and fewer people.

🏰 Route 6. Batumi → Mount Anaria and the Fort Ruins

This is the only route in the collection that starts straight off a city bus. You take the number 15 to the terminus and walk from there. No transfer, no car hire, no arrangements with a driver.

The first three kilometres pass through the village and its orchards, then the road narrows to a path and enters the forest. The climb is steady, without sharp steps, but the total ascent of around 550 metres feels considerably harder in the heat than the numbers suggest.

At the top stand the ruins of an old fort: walls and fragments of masonry overgrown with scrub. This is not a restored museum piece but genuine ruins, and that is where the charm lies. From the platform beside it Batumi opens out below: city, port, sea and the ridge behind you in a single frame.

You return the same way. The whole route takes about five hours, and by evening you are back on the seafront. A good option for a day when the beach is too hot but sitting in your room holds no appeal.

💧 Route 7. Lagodekhi → Gurgeniani and Ninoskhevi Waterfalls

Lagodekhi reserve was established in 1912 and is reckoned the oldest in Georgia. The formality here is not empty: you will not be allowed onto the trail without registering at the visitor centre, and that is as it should be. Your name and departure time go into the logbook, and staff tell you which sections have washed out and how far the water has risen.

The path starts directly from the visitor centre and follows a wide track through the forest for the first two kilometres. At the junction most walkers head for Gurgeniani, the closer and more accessible of the two waterfalls. Another couple of kilometres of climbing and the gorge narrows, the path crosses the stream several times, and at the end you come up against Ninoskhevi, dropping some forty metres.

The forest here is dense and old, and in places it looks untouched. You come across wild boar tracks along the way, and in spring and early summer there are plenty of ticks in the grass, so it is worth covering your legs and checking yourself afterwards.

Fifteen kilometres there and back takes six or seven hours. If you want two days, you can push further and higher to the Black Rocks Lake, but that is a different level of effort and an overnight stay becomes compulsory.

⛰️ Route 8. Mazeri → Ushba (Shdugra) Waterfall

Ushba, the twin-headed peak of 4,710 metres, is reckoned among the hardest mountains in the Caucasus for climbers. Fortunately, seeing it at close range requires no climbing at all: you simply walk to the Shdugra waterfall, which pours off the wall beneath it.

The start is the village of Mazeri, about twenty-five kilometres from Mestia. The path follows the valley of the Dolra river, first through forest and then across open slope. Roughly halfway there is a cafe where you can have tea and rest, and beyond it there is no service at all.

The final section crosses a boulder field, a scatter of large rocks you have to hop between. Poles and attention to your footing earn their keep here. In return you get the view people come for: the thin ribbon of the waterfall against the glacier and both summits of Ushba.

The route takes a single day, five or six hours there and back. It makes sense to start early: in the afternoon cloud often swallows Ushba, and instead of a panorama you get milk.

🌲 Route 9. Borjomi-Kharagauli: The Footprints Trail

If this is your first walk in the Georgian mountains, start here. Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park is one of the few in the country where trails are waymarked to European standards: paint on the trees, signposts at junctions, a map board at the entrance. You would have to work hard to get lost.

The Footprints Trail is a loop of thirteen kilometres taking around six hours. It starts at the visitor centre in Borjomi, climbs through mixed forest onto a ridge, reaches a viewing platform and returns by the other side. The ascent is moderate, around 450 metres, and evenly distributed.

From the viewpoint you see the valley and the ridges beyond it, and on a clear day the horizon runs a very long way. There is a spring on the descent where you can refill, but it is better to rely on your own supply.

Registration at the visitor centre is compulsory. They also sell simple paper maps of the park there and will tell you whether the shelter on the route is open this season. If you enjoy it, the park has longer trails too: the Virgin Forest Trail, the Romanov Trail, and a very short information trail for those walking with children.

🗿 Route 10. Kojori → Korogli Fortress and Waterfalls

The fastest way into the mountains from Tbilisi. The marshrutka leaves from Vake metro station and takes about forty minutes, dropping you in Kojori at 1,350 metres, where the summer air is noticeably cooler than in the city. That is precisely why people came up here for centuries to escape the Tbilisi heat.

From the stop the path climbs onto a ridge and brings you to Korogli fortress, sometimes also called Azeuli. A tower and part of the walls survive, standing on a rocky spur. The site is open and the view works in both directions: over Tbilisi and over the ridge.

Then comes the descent into the gorge towards the Kojori waterfalls. This is the most pleasant part of the route: shade, a stream and cool air. The waterfalls themselves are small, but in summer local families gather by the water with barbecues, and the atmosphere becomes thoroughly Georgian.

The whole circuit takes four or five hours with little ascent. It works in winter as well, though there is snow in Kojori and your footwear needs to match. This is the sort of walk you can decide on in half an hour in the morning and be home from by evening.

🎒 Kit: The Minimum That Works

The routes in this collection do not call for expensive kit. They call for four things worth spending money on.

Stiff-soled boots with ankle support. Trainers are fine for Kojori and the Footprints Trail, but on scree and boulder fields they are how people turn an ankle. A waterproof or membrane jacket: it rains almost constantly in Mtirala, and in the high mountains the weather changes within half an hour. Trekking poles, which take the load off your knees on descents and help noticeably on rock. And a head torch, because daylight in September is shorter than it seems at breakfast.

Beyond that: high factor sun cream, a hat, a first aid kit with blister plasters, a power bank and enough water. A gas stove only matters if you are camping.

You can buy or hire equipment in Tbilisi and Batumi, where there are plenty of shops and rental places. A detailed guide with addresses is in preparation as a separate article.

⚠️ Season and Safety

High mountain routes open later than anyone would like. Chaukhi Pass holds snow until mid-July, and attempting it in June ends either in turning back or in a dangerous traverse across old snow. The best window for routes 1, 3 and 4 is the second half of July, August and September. Routes 2 and 8 are open from June to October. Routes 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 are walkable from April to November, and Kojori and Anaria work all year.

Three rules worth accepting in advance. Start early: thunderstorms in the Caucasus usually arrive after midday, and an exposed ridge is no place to be at that hour. Leave word: somebody in town should know your route and the time you expect to be back. And turn around without regret if the path disappears, the river rises or the weather closes in.

A separate note on rivers. After rain, glacier-fed rivers rise within hours, and a crossing that was ankle deep in the morning becomes impassable by evening. This applies to routes 2, 7 and 8.

Medical insurance covering active travel costs little and settles the question of evacuation. The single emergency number in Georgia is 112.

Read also

• Askhi Plateau and Zubi — Kulbaki Route: Two-Day Hiking Trek
• Shkmeri — Hikhata — Shua-Skhvava: Two-Day Hiking Route
• Shkmeri to Khikhata and Mravaldzali: 3-Day Hiking Route
• Hiking Route from Ijareti to Zarzma via Lake Triala
• Sairme Pillars in Lechkhumi: Hiking Route and Temple