Gergeti and Mount Kazbek
A fourteenth-century church at 2,170 m facing the glacier. Three hours' drive from Tbilisi, then the climb.
Duration
4 hrs – 7 hrs
Difficulty
●●●●○
Best time
Early departure, in clear weather
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The Gergeti Trinity church was built in the fourteenth century at two thousand one hundred and seventy metres, alone on a spur, facing Mount Kazbek and its glacier. In case of invasion, the relics of Mtskheta were taken there for safety: its isolation was its function.
You climb up from the village of Stepantsminda in an hour and a half to two hours, or go by four-wheel drive. The road from Tbilisi is the Georgian Military Highway, three hours through the Caucasus, over the Jvari pass at two thousand four hundred metres.
Getting there
Three hours by road from Tbilisi on the Georgian Military Highway. Marshrutkas from Didube station, morning departures.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Windbreaker
- 1.5 L of water
Rules on site
Kazbek is in cloud most of the time: without a clear sky the climb gives you nothing. Shoulders and knees covered to enter the church, and a headscarf for women. The road can close in winter for snow.
Other places in Tbilisi
- Old town and the sulphur bathsHouses with carved wooden balconies, and bathhouses under brick domes.
Narikala FortressA fourth-century citadel above the whole city and the Kura valley.
- Dezerter BazaarTbilisi's raw market: cheeses, Svan spices, tkemali and churchkhela hanging in rows.
- Abanotubani sulphur bathsThe sulphur baths under brick domes, at the foot of the old town. A private room by the hour, scrub optional.