Kavkaz Mountain Cycling Georgia

Tbilisi · Georgia

Challenging5 daysAsia~£400 est.

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Overview

The Georgian Military Highway has carried armies, traders and now cyclists across the Greater Caucasus for two thousand years. From Tbilisi you climb steadily up the Aragvi valley past the Ananuri fortress on its turquoise reservoir, then grind up the switchbacks to the Jvari Pass at 2,395 metres — often flanked by snow walls into June. The descent into the Tergi valley is the reward: the Dariali Gorge's walls closing in and Mount Kazbek's 5,054-metre cone dead ahead. The finish at Stepantsminda earns the classic side trip: the steep road up to Gergeti Trinity Church, perched at 2,170 metres beneath Kazbek — the most photographed view in Georgia, best in early light before the marshrutka crowds arrive. Watch the traffic: this is the only road link to Russia, and lorry convoys queue through the gorge sections; ride early, use lights, and treat the unlit avalanche galleries near the pass with respect. May to September is the window — snow closes the pass outside it. Georgia is gloriously cheap: guesthouses with khinkali dinners and homemade wine run £15–25 a night, and £400 covers the five-day ride comfortably.