Alternative Georgia Travel: Four Reasons to Go in 2018

Georgia (the country, not the state) is officially having a moment.

Major publications around the world (from Vogue to the New York Times)  are screaming Georgia’s praises as an up and coming destination.  I’m seeing third degree connections on Instagram travel there with the same flippancy as if it were an all-inclusive resort in Cabo.  What was once an offbeat destination for intrepid travelers has mainstreamed for the majority of the EU, thus propagating a great number of insipid articles telling you done-to-death reasons to go to there.  Our travels in Georgia haven’t been wine and spirits driven, rather, we’ve found alternative Georgia travel to be just as interesting (if not more so) than what you’ll see most often recommended.

The traditional rags will tell you about Georgia’s wine culture, likely the oldest in the world, and the ample opportunity to sample in charming vineyards a stone’s throw from Tbilisi, the country’s rapidly modernizing capital.  Tour companies will tell you about the ancient monasteries and cave cities, inscribed dutifully into UNESCO world heritage.  And have your backpacker friends mentioned to you how cheap it is?  

Gorgeous Georgia, at the crossroads of homegrown, Middle Eastern, and Slavic civilizations, ticks off all the boxes for the adventurous traveler who has already done Croatia and Southeast Asia and is looking for the next great travel hot spot.  David and I have been twice in the past three years because of its allure – and for us, what called us wasn’t wine, churches, or cheap hostels.  

And so, for the more alternative travelers out there, I’ve put together a new, perhaps SEO-friendly, list of four reasons to travel to Georgia – ones that you won’t have read in Vogue, Huffpost Travel, or Lonely Planet.

1. For the outdoorsy: The Georgian Caucasus put the Alps to shame

Depending on where you place the boundary of Europe, the Caucasus mountains are the highest, and definitely most dramatic in Europe.  The Greater Caucasus mountains run from the Black Sea in the West to the Caspian in the East, and are home to several notable peaks and culturally distinct communities.  In the Georgian region of Svaneti, a region quickly gaining traction among international travelers, tourists can hike from one village (home to fortified watch towers – the Svan people were never successfully conquered by the Soviets, despite living in a region surrounded by them) to the next, enjoying legendary Georgian hospitality in the form of toothy smiles and copious chacha.

In the eastern part of the country lie Tusheti and Khevsureti, home to personal bucket list destination of Shatili, where amazing walking tracks abound for the outdoors-inclined.   Shatili, once the primary defense outpost at the northeastern frontier of the Georgian empire, has managed to keep in good shape over the centuries, despite constant border dispute rabble-rousing with Russian and Chechens to the north.  A reason for this could be its dramatic isolation: Shatili is only accessible by road for three months of the year.  If you want to salivate over some pictures of Shatili, follow this link and you’ll be blacked out, buying plane tickets before you can say “chacha.”  

Currently in works is a trail traversing the north-Caucasian nations of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. While routes within these nations have been used for centuries by the indigenous Khevsurs and Tush people (also, the Svans in the west, and Chechens, Avars, and Kists to the north and east), the goal of the Trans-Caucasian Trail is to connect all three nations by viable hiking trails.  It will no longer be necessary to drive around the Caucasus mountains to get from previously isolated mountain hamlet to isolated mountain hamlet.  Instead, imagine being able to hike from Upper Svaneti to Tusheti via Kazbegi, the current King of Georgian mountains in terms of number of foreign visitors.

2. For the meat-free: Never fear, vegetarians can get fat in Georgia, too

The generally accepted first rule for vegetarians traveling in the developing world is caveat emptor, or “let the buyer beware.”  There are not many global cuisines that cater to those who eat meat-free.  Rather, across the world, animal protein still reigns supreme, much to the chagrin of my free-loving, hippie of a husband.  We typically carry with us boxes of vegan protein bars (so sad, I know) for the times when David can’t eat anything on the menu.  

Vegetarians in Georgia won’t go hungry.  Georgian cuisine may be traditionally meat-heavy, but the nation’s rich agricultural heritage means fresh produce and dairy are never underrepresented on the Georgian table.  

Part of the magic is in the spices pervasive across Georgian cuisine.  Khmeli suneli is a sort of Georgian five spice.  Sold out of garbage cans in Tbilisi’s Dezerter market (or at higher prices at the gift shops along Kote Afkhazi street, connecting Liberty Square to Dzveli Tbilisi), khmeli suneli is a magical combination of saffron, fenugreek, bay leaf, marjoram, parsley, black pepper, celery, thyme, mint…seriously, I’m not even half done with the list.  Some things we don’t need to know – and in this case, all we need to know is that khmeli suneli is the one spice to rule them all.

Produce is incredibly fresh and surprisingly diverse for a nation the size of my home state of Washington.  Warm weather crops like citrus fruits and tea flourish in the balmy western regions of Ajara and Abkhazia, and much of the remaining land is arable for wine grape growth (among other, less sexy crops).  The result of such abundance are dishes like badrijani nigvsit, chilled, roasted eggplant, rolled with walnut sauce, and garnished with parsley and pomegranate, or lobio, beans baked in a ceramic jar flavored with the ubiquitous khmeli suneli and garlic, served in a molten state with cornbread.  

Georgian food, both with or without meat, is so delicious, in fact, that my friends and I spent the week after departing Tbilisi continuing our Georgian binge-fest in Kyiv, Ukraine.

And then there’s khachapuri, but I’ll let you look into that on your own.

3. For history and architecture buffs: Marvel at the remains of Soviet empire – from Tbilisi to Chiatura and everywhere in between

Anyone who knows me knows that it was the modernist architecture and foreign Soviet urban cityscapes that initially captivated me about the Post-Soviet world.  Georgia, better known for its UNESCO listed monasteries of Gelati and Svetiskhoveli, is also host to some of the most pristine examples of Soviet modernism in the world.  Brutal Tours took us on a full day trip of Tbilisi’s best when we were there last May, and it was a highlight of our time in Georgia.  The most recognizable building is likely the Ministry of Highways (now the Bank of Georgia building – below left), but I have a special place in my heart for the Archaeological Museum (now abandoned -top of page).

Soviet Georgia’s industrial heritage can also be outside the capital.  Rustavi is a particularly interesting city, built around the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, the metalworks were soon made obsolete, and the population either left or languished in the nonexistent economy of post-1991 democratic Georgia.  The skeletons of Rustavi’s once prominent past still remain.

Chiatura, a town in Georgia’s mountains near the contested region of South Ossetia, has been on the savvy urban explorer’s rader for years, courtesy of The Atlantic.  At one point in time the world’s largest producer and processor of Manganese, Chiatura today is less globally relevant.  Where it lacks in sophistication, it makes up in personality – to this day residents use a network of death-defying cable cars to go from the top of the city (perched on the ledge of a canyon) to the river valley below where most commere takes place. David and I made a point of visiting it and the nearby Katskhi Pillar (a natural limestone monolith, occupied by a monk and his humble monastery) when in Georgia for the first time in 2015.  Since then, local residents have done their best to build a tourist infrastructure to accommodate travelers interested in their fascinating history.  Brutal Tours, mentioned above, includes the city as part of its Georgia Soviet Vertigo tour, and a couple of guest houses are now available for those who wish to spend the night.

3. For the sun-worshipper: Sun your buns on the Black Sea coast

Did you know – the Georgian coast was once the place to hobnob with the Soviet elite?  Wait, wasn’t everyone supposed to be equal?  Anyway, Georgia’s entire west coast sits on the Black Sea.  Vitamin-D seekers from around the region flock to Georgia’s beaches in the summertime to see and be seen in Russian swimwear styles that leave little to the imagination.  With prices far lower than the Croatian or Italian rivieras, fewer tourists than the Greek Isles, cheap local cuisine and booze, and typical Georgian hospitality, it’s likely to heat up more with EU tourists in the coming years.  Let’s just hope Batumi isn’t the next Sunny Beach.

Abkhazia, the breakaway region in the north west corner of Georgia, is home to the most prized beaches in the entire former USSR.  Russian tourists still flock here in droves.  This said, Abkhazia has a darker history than much of the rest of the country: Georgian and Russian forces fought viciously in 1992-93 and again in 1998 to gain control of the region.  The crisis, much at the expense of the Abkhazian people, continues today – albeit being a cold war.  Russian is the de-facto language in Abkhazia and rubles are used as currency.

I have not personally been to Abkhazia, but more and more people are visiting the region – whether for its epic beaches or its complex history, or maybe a mix of both.  Megan Starr wrote the book on obtaining an Abkhazian visa.  Brutal tours leaders, Helene and Maurice, have traveled the region, and are likely to start offering tours there in the coming months.

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Georgia, thankfully, is relatively easy to get to from the United States. Note, my definition of “relatively” here is a 24 hour or less door to door journey.  Connections-wise, you can find one stop flights from the west coast (SFO and LAX) via Munich on Lufthansa, or via Istanbul on Turkish.  Our first trip we had a lovely few days in Istanbul before flying to Tbilisi, and the two countries are convenient to visit on a single trip.  Bear in mind the new Turkish immigration regulations demand that American tourists have a Turkish visa prior to arrival.  From the east coast you have similar options.

If you’re already in Europe, there are numerous easy connections to Georgia.  Wizzair flies primarily to Kutaisi, and there are quite a few connections flights from Kyiv on Ukraine International.  There are direct flights on Georgian Airways that travel between both London and Amsterdam and Tbilisi, LOT and Warsaw, and Air Baltic and Riga – though each only operates a few times per week.

The resources around Georgia travel are great in the blogosphere.  If you’re looking for information quick from a great number of reliable resources, I can’t recommend the Facebook group “Travel to Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and former USSR.”  It’s run by three amazing travel bloggers (Kami, Zofia, and Megan)who also have exhaustive knowledge about the Caucasus.