How to go on a Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi On a Day Trip from Tbilisi!

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A trip to Kazbegi in the very North of Georgia had been on my Georgia bucket list from the moment I decided to book a trip to Georgia. I did look into travelling from Tbilisi to Kazbegi and staying for one night or two nights in Kazbegi but as I was spending just 1 week in Georgia and didn’t want to be moving from place to place constantly, I decided to base myself in Tbilisi and do Kazbegi tour from Tbilisi which was a great decision.

Here’s what my day trip to Kazbegi from Tbilisi up the Georgian Military Highway looked like so you know that you should do it too!

Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi

Day Tours from Tbilisi to Kazbegi Mountains

Joining a group tour from Tbilisi to Kazbegi will keep costs down for you, especially if you’re travelling solo.

I found that by going into tour offices and travel agencies in Tbilisi they said the tour would only run if there are enough people (which leaves you in a weird not-knowing situation) or you have to pay the whole amount (not ideal).

I would recommend booking a group tour like these online to Kazbegi from Tbilisi so you know you’re guaranteed a place and a set price:

If you wish to have a private tour to Kazbegi from Tbilisi as I did with my Dad, again I’d still recommend booking online to get the best price and so you can read the reviews:

Places to visit on a Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi

After we left the city behind us we soon started to see farmland surrounding both sides of the road and straight away I was happy that we had done the trip as it reminded me that there’s so much more than just the capital city to Countries and it’s good to see more of a Country by car.

We were heading North to Kazbegi through Georgia just a few km from the Russian border and would be travelling up the Georgian Military Road from Tbilisi which if followed would take us all the way to St Petersburg in Northern Russia (and probably even further).

Be sure to read these Kazbegi travel tips so you are prepared for your amazing time there!

Zhinvali Dam and Reservoir

Our first stop on our Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi was the start of the Zhinvali Dam and Reservoir, it was just a quick pull-up-on-the-side-of-the-road stop but it was certainly very pretty.

Although Dad and I were more distracted with the herd of sheep passing us along the road with the shepherds, donkeys and dogs keeping all the sheep together.

Ananuri Fortress Complex

We carried on driving along the edge of the Reservoir until we got to the Ananuri Fortress Complex which is a very iconic place in Georgia now.

We parked up and headed straight to the church and to look out at the surrounding mountains. It was an iconic Georgian scene with the mountains, river, and cross on top of the fortress and after this I knew we were in for a great day on this Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi!

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• More of my must-read Tbilisi blog posts:
• A Full Guide to Tbilisi, Georgia!
• Visiting the Thermal Bath’s in Tbilisi & Which one to choose!

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From here we carried on North getting closer to Kazbegi from Tbilisi and getting higher and higher.

The scenery also got more incredible as we went. After about an hour we reached a really mountainous area in Georgia and started passing some towns that in the winter are bustling Ski towns.

We stopped for lunch at a petrol station with a deli area and of course, I had to a cheese bread type thing as this is one of their local foods!

We jumped back into the car, really keen to reach Kazbegi and the mountains around us started to get more incredible with every corner we turned!

Now and again we’d also see lone houses and churches up on the hill and I couldn’t imagine living so isolated!

Georgian & Soviet Russia Friendship Monument

On the horizon we saw a crescent-shaped concrete thing, I had no idea what it is was and quickly started taking pictures but luckily we had a stop here, so we pulled into the car park and jumped out. The first thing that hit me was how fresh the air was!

We were surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains, there was a person paragliding between the mountains and in front of us we still had what now looked like a crescent-shaped viewing platform which is the Georgian & Soviet Russia Friendship Monument built-in 1983 and is one of the most popular places to visit in Georgia now, this was a highlight for this on our Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi!

The view from up here was possibly even better than the view from where we had parked!

A bit of research later on once I was back in Tbilisi told me that we were now overlooking Devils Valley of the Caucasus Mountains!

Stepantsminda

I was also very excited as this stop seemed like the grand finale of our Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi, however, we were yet to even reach our actual destination of Kazbegi.

We still had about a 40-minute drive from the monument to Stepantsminda which is the town below the Mt Kazbeg but also referred to as Kazbegi in a lot of accommodations location info.

Now, honestly, I wasn’t too sure what was going to happen next. I knew that the church I wanted to see, and that I assumed we were going to see, was high up on a mountain but I didn’t know how high, how far and how steep!

The lady who sold us the tour said it would take 30 minutes to walk to the top or advised that we could get a jeep by ourselves or share with other people who were at the bottom.

So when we pulled into a car park after arriving in Stepantsminda and were ushered straight from the car into a 4×4 with another local driver and waved off by Goram our driver, it left both Dad and I feeling rather confused. Naturally, we tried to put our seat belts on to be told, no they didn’t work..

We started driving along a narrow, windy road through what appeared to be a village and straight away we were on an incline up. We were also driving past a lot of people walking.. why aren’t we walking I wondered??!! My Dad does have a bad knee which Goram must have picked up on and I just assumed that he assumed we wouldn’t do the walk for some reason.

That reason became clearer however as we got further and further away from the car park and higher and higher up and passed more and more people and the road becomes bumpier and bumpier (literally the road was so bumpy!!) because I realised that it is one hell of a walk and that indeed, we were being taken right to the top.. which yes, I was pleased about, as was Dad.

(Note that it seems that most tours do not include this jeep in their packages and it will cost extra)

The journey was bizarre that’s for sure, we were bumping around, I was trying to film and take pictures but quite frankly getting motion sickness looking through the lens, we often had a huge drop down one side of us with nothing but a bit of chicken wire between us and the drop and we were also catching up with some other vans and 4×4’s which were in front of us.

If you drive as we did then you take a slightly different route towards the church than if you walk due to where the road goes and after a 15 minute or so drive we were entering a field with a church perched high on the top of another small hill.

This wasn’t quite what I had been expecting, admittedly I hadn’t researched the church or how to get to Gergeti Trinity Church from Stepantsminda so I didn’t have many prior, accurate expectations but this certainly wasn’t it!

We navigated one of the dirt tracks which led to a car park area before getting out extremely dazed and still quite confused at what had just happened in the last 15 minutes!

Gergeti Trinity Church

We quickly shook this off though and headed up the little hill to the church. This is the Gergeti Trinity Church. Basically, this church is one of Georgia’s icons and one of the best places to see in Georgia.

If you’ve seen a picture of a church in Georgia surrounded by mountains it’s likely to be this Church.

(2020 Update – From what I have heard this road is a little better and not as bumpy as of very recently)

We had a look around and took in the incredible views and from here you can see down to the town of Stepantsminda which is actually bigger than I expected it to be. We didn’t stay for too long as there isn’t that much more to see.

I did keep a lookout for people who were crossing the field on foot and wondered how they’d actually found the walk. It seemed to be pretty intense and wondered if they had known that before starting off or not!

Overall it was such a great trip! There is no public transport that will allow you to go from Tbilisi to Kazbegi and see all of these places in one day, so unless you hire a car, you’ll have to do a Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi.

 This Kazbegi Group Tour from Tbilisi is a great price, a best seller and highly rated. This Private Kazbegi Tour from Tbilisi is also a really good price and will work out very reasonable when split between people and it’s got good reviews.

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• More of my Georgia Posts:
• A Full Guide to Tbilisi, Georgia!
• Visiting the Thermal Bath’s in Tbilisi & Which one to choose!
• Checking into: Fabrika Hostel- Tbilisi, Georgia
  

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To SEE this trip check out my YouTube Vlog Here!