Svaneti is high country in the north-west where nearly every village has stone family towers. A tower was home, store and stronghold at once: livestock below, family above, narrow slits facing out. They were built not against a foreign enemy but against neighbours — the region lived by its own laws for centuries, blood feuds included.
Hence the look of these villages: a dozen stone verticals out of a slope with no planning at all.
Mestia is four to five hours by mountain road from Kutaisi or Zugdidi. Mestia has a small airport with flights from Tbilisi and Kutaisi, but weather cancels them often and they should not be the only plan.
June to September: the road to Ushguli is open and the trails are clear. In winter the Hatsvali slope runs, but the upper villages become hard to reach.
If none of the options above fit, describe what you want. We will build a route around it and work out the price.
A country you can drive across in a day, where four hours take you from the beach to a glacier. And where a week covers about a quarter of what you planned. A breakdown by region: what to see, how many days it honestly takes, and where people miscalculate.
Mituda
