Mestia: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Every family in Svaneti built a stone tower next to its house, for blood feuds, raids and avalanches, and Mestia still has dozens of them. This walk goes from the rebuilt centre to the museum that holds the treasures, then into a house where you can see how a family lived under its tower. Three to four hours on foot, mostly on lanes that climb gently. Mestia sits at about 1,500 metres, so bring a layer even in August, and good shoes for the cobbles.
A short history of Mestia
Mestia is the centre of Upper Svaneti, an isolated mountain valley that for centuries was very hard to reach. Families here built stone towers beside their houses for defence against invaders and against blood feuds, and most of the towers were built between the 9th and 12th centuries. Because of the isolation, icons and manuscripts were preserved in the churches of the region, and many of them are displayed in the town's museum. In 1996 Upper Svaneti was declared a World Heritage Site. In 2010 an airport opened in Mestia, and the town, at an altitude of about 1,500 metres, became a centre for trekking and skiing.
The ten best sights in Mestia
1Svaneti Museum of History and EthnographyGo on the first morning — the icons explain every church you will pass
2Margiani HouseA Svan family house you can walk through, and a tower you can climb inside
3Lamaria ChurchThe church on the rise above Ushguli, with Shkhara behind it; cover shoulders and knees
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4Ushguli Ethnographic Museum
Small, in Zhibiani, and the only way to see inside an Ushguli church treasury
5ChazhashiThe Ushguli village kept as it was — walk it, the lanes are too narrow to drive
6Dadiani Palace, ZugdidiAn hour well spent on the drive up — Napoleon's death mask is inside
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7Latali
The first village of towers on the road in, with none of Mestia's traffic
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8Seti Square
The centre: cafés, cash machines, and the place to find a 4x4 driver
9Enguri DamPull over on the way up — 271 metres of concrete arch above the reservoir
10UshguliTwo hours of mountain road from Mestia, and the road is half the reason to go
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Mestia →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Mestia:
Free walking tours in Mestia
The towers of Mestia
Every family in Svaneti built a stone tower next to its house, for blood feuds, raids and avalanches, and Mestia still has dozens of them. This walk goes from the rebuilt centre to the museum that holds the treasures, then into a house where you can see how a family lived under its tower. Three to four hours on foot, mostly on lanes that climb gently. Mestia sits at about 1,500 metres, so bring a layer even in August, and good shoes for the cobbles.
- Seti Square · Start at the square, which looks old and is not: the centre of Mestia was rebuilt around 2010 as part of a national push to turn the town into a resort. The towers you can see from here are the real thing.
- Svaneti Museum · When armies came through lowland Georgia, churches sent their icons and manuscripts up to Svaneti, where nobody could follow. That is why a mountain town holds some of the finest medieval metalwork icons in the country.
- Lanchvali · Mestia was never one town but a cluster of hamlets, each with its own towers, and Lanchvali is one of them. Look at a tower door: it is on the upper floor, because the family climbed in on a ladder and pulled it up after them.
- Margiani House · The ground floor is the machubi, the winter room where the family and the animals lived together. The stalls are built so the cows put their heads through openings into the living room, and their warmth heated the house.
- Laghami · This part of Svaneti called itself Free Svaneti: Mestia and the villages up the valley from it never had a prince and ran themselves through village councils. The towers were not a lord's castle but each family's own.
- Queen Tamar Airport · End at the airport, which is worth seeing even with no flight to catch. It opened in 2010 and was designed by the German architect Jürgen Mayer H., and its tower is a modern answer to the Svan ones.
Ushguli and Shkhara
Ushguli is the end of the road: four villages at the top of the Enguri valley, under the highest mountain in Georgia. The drive from Mestia is about 45 kilometres and takes around two hours, on a road that keeps being improved but still has rough stretches — a normal car manages in summer, but after rain a 4x4 is calmer. Leave by eight, give Ushguli the middle of the day, and be back before dark. It is colder up there than in Mestia; bring a jacket and cash, as there are no cash machines.
- Murqmeli · Ushguli is not one village but four — Murqmeli, Chazhashi, Chvibiani and Zhibiani — strung along the river, and Murqmeli is the first you reach from Mestia. Park here or further up and walk; the villages are a few minutes apart.
- Chazhashi · Of the four villages, Chazhashi is the one that kept its medieval towers and houses intact. Upper Svaneti was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, and this village is its core.
- Ushguli · At about 2,100 metres, Ushguli is counted among the highest permanently inhabited places in Europe. Snow can close the road for long stretches of winter, so the village you see in summer is one that spends months on its own.
- Ushguli Ethnographic Museum · Zhibiani is the highest of the four villages and the museum sits in it. Like the one in Mestia, it keeps icons that the local churches guarded for centuries.
- Lamaria Church · Lamaria was a goddess of the Svans before Christianity — a protector of women and the home — and her name was later joined to the Virgin Mary. The church of the Virgin above Zhibiani still carries it.
- Shkhara Glacier · Shkhara is the highest mountain in Georgia, a little over 5,000 metres, and the Enguri river starts at its glacier. It is the same river you followed up past the dam.
The hikes
Mestia is a walking town, and the walks start from the guesthouse door. The hardest is to the Koruldi Lakes, a long climb to around 2,700 metres; the easiest is the forest path to the Chalaadi Glacier; Hatsvali is somewhere in between. Pick one a day, start early, because cloud builds over the peaks by early afternoon. Boots, water, a rain shell and sun cream every time — the weather turns in an hour.
- Hatsvali · Svaneti has two ski areas, and Hatsvali is the one on Mestia's doorstep; Tetnuldi is the bigger one further east. In summer the slope is a meadow with Ushba straight across from it.
- Mestia Cross · The cross on the ridge above town is where most people stop, and where the 4x4 track ends. Getting a ride this far cuts the walk to the lakes roughly in half.
- Koruldi Lakes · The lakes face Ushba, 4,710 metres, with its two summits — climbers call it the Matterhorn of the Caucasus. On a still morning the double peak sits in the water.
- Chalaadi Glacier · The Mestiachala, the river that runs through the middle of town, comes out from under this ice. You cross it on a suspension bridge and walk up through forest to the moraine.
- Becho · Becho was in Princely Svaneti, the western part that the Dadeshkeliani family ruled — unlike Free Svaneti around Mestia. The valley ends under the south face of Ushba.
- Latali · The first tower village you pass on the drive up from Zugdidi, and the one most people pass without stopping. The towers here are the same as Mestia's, without the guesthouses in between.
Getting to Mestia and getting around
- Queen Tamar Airport · Small planes from Tbilisi, and cloud over the pass cancels them often
- Zugdidi bus station · Marshrutkas up to Mestia take about three hours; the morning ones fill first
- Ushguli van stop · Where the shared vans from Mestia stop and wait to go back down
Cheap eats in Mestia
Svan food is mountain food, and three things are worth ordering. Kubdari is a round bread stuffed with chopped — not minced — beef or pork, onion and Svan salt, and one is lunch for two. Chishdvari is cornbread with sulguni cheese melted into it, and tashmijabi is mashed potato beaten with cheese until it stretches. Svan salt, the grey-green salt on every table, is mixed with garlic, coriander and blue fenugreek.
- Cafe Laila · On Seti Square; kubdari about 20 lari, and it feeds two
- Lushnu Qor · Svan home cooking; kubdari and tashmijabi about 15-20 lari each
- Erti Kava · Coffee about 6-9 lari, and the best place to wait out a shower
- Cafe Koro · In Laghami, away from the square; Svan dishes about 15-20 lari
- Vichnashi · Wine and Svan plates near the square; mains about 20-30 lari
- Panorama · Just south of the square; chishdvari about 12-15 lari
- Lile · On Queen Tamar Street off the square; khachapuri about 12-15 lari
- Tone bakery · Bread from the clay oven, a lari or two a loaf, warm in the morning
Museums in Mestia
- Svaneti Museum · An hour and a half; the icon treasury is the reason to come
- Margiani House · Small entry fee, and the tower ladders are steep — not for small children
- Ushguli Ethnographic Museum · Open in the daytime in season; combine it with Lamaria next door
- Dadiani Palace · In Zugdidi, on the drive up; give it an hour
Nature and day trips near Mestia
- Koruldi Lakes · A full day on foot from town, half a day from the cross by 4x4
- Chalaadi Glacier · About two hours there and back from the bridge, and mostly in forest
- Shkhara Glacier · From Ushguli, a long flat walk or a horse; start before ten
- Hatsvali · The gentlest of the viewpoints, and good for a short afternoon
- Becho valley · A half-day detour, for the closest road view of Ushba
Holy places in Mestia
- Lamaria Church, Ushguli · Above Zhibiani, inside a walled yard with its own tower; modest dress
- Lamaria of Lekhtagi · Mestia's own Lamaria, in the Lekhtagi quarter west of the square
- Taringzel, Lanchvali · Small and often locked; ask at the nearest house for the key
- St George of Seti · A step off Seti Square, in the middle of town
- Monastery of St Elijah · A monastery complex in town, on Beknu Khergiani Street
- St George of Svipi · On the main road west of Mestia, a quick stop on the drive in
Things to do in Mestia with kids
- Margiani House · Children like the room where the cows lived indoors; small fee
- Chalaadi Glacier · A suspension bridge, a forest path and real ice at the end — free
- Hatsvali · Snow and gentle slopes in winter, open grass in summer
- Seti Square · Free, flat, and the cafés around it have space to sit
Frequently asked questions about Mestia
What is there to see in Mestia?
The top sights in Mestia are Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography, Margiani House and Lamaria Church. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Mestia?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Mestia without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Mestia?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Mestia, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The towers of Mestia.
How do you get to Mestia and get around?
The main ways are Queen Tamar Airport, Zugdidi bus station and Ushguli van stop. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Mestia, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Mestia that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Mestia for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.