Mestia Homestays and Trekking Routes

I am planning on arriving in Georgia on the early morning of 02 September and staying in Tbilisi for a couple of days to take in the sites and make final plans for trekking.

My first questions is about the length of travel from Tbilisi to Mestia - what is the best way to get there? How long does the trip by car or bus actually take?

We will then be looking for a homestay in the Mestia area or in other towns nearby. Any recommendations? We are planning on staying in that area for approximately a week in conjunction with our treks.

Does anyone have any suggestions for multiple day trekking routes in the Svaneti area? Is a guide recommended, and worth the money? We will have a tent and gear to camp out if necessary. It seems that the only place to get maps is Tbilisi...

Any help is appreciated... Thank you!

Mestia homestay is easy. We arrivede on a marshrukta and went into a little shop off the square, asked if they new anyone, got a couple of phone numbers, called and all sorted in under an hour - a group of 10 of us spread over 3 nearby homes.

I would definitely take a guide if trekking in Svaneti. Its a remote area with vicious sheepdogs, no signposts and little in the way of reliable maps.

Hi

distance Tbilisi - Mestia is 458 km. 6-7 hour by car or marshutka . ( marshutka is 30 GEL )
Plane is every day besides Tuesday and Thursday, 75 GEL from Tbilisi airport. ( but you should reserve now )

Accommodation : 15-20 GEL for Homestay, also there is '' Nest '' hostel ( price is same ) I always prefer hostels )))

You can find some maps in Mestia too but for trekking its better buy in Tbilisi ( geoland.ge )

Guide fees probably should be from 50 USD per day ( depends on the route )

for TREKKING there is many mannnny destinations : Mt. Banguriani . its like mix of trekking and climbing , very interesting trip with beautiful views from top ( just 3838 ) up 5 days , base camp on green

Ushguli trek for a week . ( Ushguli its place with many towers and with good view to Mt. Shkhara , highest place in Georgia )

Mt. Ushba trek leads from Mestia to base camp places and village Becho and then back. waterfalls , mountain lakes .... by my opinion best trek in Svaneti.

Best regards and wish you a good trip
if will need help feel free

Apart from the Tbilisi-Mestia flight, the sleeper train to Zugdidi followed by a marshrutka to Mestia is in my opinion the most comfortable way of travelling to Svaneti. Book train tickets at least a day in advance (seats), or earlier if you want a sleeping compartment. The train leaves Tbilisi around 23:00 and arrives early in Zugdidi around 7:00, where marshrutkas are waiting to take you in 3-4 hours to Mestia (15 GEL). We tried to get onto the flight but the Pegasus airlines office at Tbilisi airport seems to have irregular office hours and were closed when we got there. We also heard that it was fully booked for two weeks in August, but for September it might be okay. Note that the flight is cancelled sometimes when the weather in Mestia is bad.

Considering accommodation, I can really recommend the Grand Hotel Ushba in the Becho valley (but more expensive than homestays), Rosa's Guesthouse in Mestia (Rosa can help you arrange transport and is just a wonderful and helpful lady serving delicious breakfasts) and Riho Guesthouse in Ushguli (wonderful location, great food, great people and comfortable beds). It seems like most people just do a daytrip to Ushguli but I would definitely recommend staying there for one or two nights, it's a wonderful place after all day-trippers are gone.

We did nearly all of the hikes possible in the Svaneti region - there are good descriptions on the website of Svaneti Trekking: http://www.svanetitrekking.ge/eng/index.htm, and everything is perfectly waymarked. There are even signposts in latin script to point you into the right direction. Really no need to take a guide. Possible multi-day hikes would be the trek from Mazeri in the Becho valley to Mestia via the Guli pass (camping on the pass), or the popular three-day Zhabeshi - Ushguli trek (homestays in Adishi and Iprali). You do need to cross a river on the second day after Adishi and in case of heavy rainfall, you might need to arrange a horse in Adishi to cross it.

Other highly recommended hikes: Ushba glacier from the Becho valley, Koruldi lakes and Tsvirmi village from Mestia and the Shkhara glacier from Ushguli. Remarkably, no maps are sold in Svaneti so it's best to get them from the Geoland in Tbilisi if needed. However, we just used our GPS, the route descriptions and the waymarking and never got lost.

Enjoy Svaneti!

hello,

1-can anyone tell me there are some nice trekkings around Mestia for 1 day (approx. 6 hours both ways)
We planned only to stay for 3 days in the area.

2- I guess this is not enough time 2 visit Ushguli??

Tnx

Thank you for all of the info! I will make the final arrangements for Svaneti when I get to Tbilisi early Sunday morning before heading up there sometime later in the week. Flying out tomorrow and am very excited!

Adishi is a very nice place.but be careful to select of guest house. do not stay at the guest house which is located on the top of village! there live two families with brothers and an old parents.unfortunately i stayed to them with my friends:Hotel owner(A tall, thin man with unpleasant views) who took us to the hotel we saw on the way.we went anywhere because we were tired and we had to stay at this hotel. Beds were uncomfortable, old and dirty bed-clothes. Family members are aggressive and impolite. Driven only care about making money.I realized, all the tourists were captured, it is easy to manage to do it, because they live in a village near the tourist route.

Is anyone going to trek around Svaneti in the next few days. I' e just arrived Tbilisi today and plan to head to Mestia on Wed. I'm traveling alone so I'd like to meetup someone to trek together. Or of anyone knows if there's any place easy to meet up other travelers to trek there. I'm currently on Couchsurfing so not a good idea to meet other travelers but a great host has taken me around in Tbilisi. Anyway, please write back if anyone interested or any tips you can provide....eg. How to find a trekking guide or any small trekking group I can join.
Thanks!

How to find a trekking guide or any small trekking group I can join.

I don't know that, but what I certainly know is that in the mountains of Svaneti there's still winter with plenty of snow, so don't expect that you will be able to do any proper trekking.

Is it easy to hike to Chalaadi Glacier as a day trip? Should a guide be hired? Thanks.