Gudauri & Kazbegi
Kazbegi and Gudauri regions lie directly north of Tbilisi. These are the most visited mountain regions in Georgia due to their easy accessibility and developed tourist infrastructure. Gudauri is home to Georgia’s largest ski resort and numerous ski touring routes and is just beginning to develop as a summer destination with mountain biking and hiking options as well.
Kazbegi region (especially the main town, Stepantsminda, which is more commonly referred to simply as ‘Kazbegi’) is a very popular summer destination but also provides a wealth of ski touring and mountaineering options. Luckily, most tourists stick to the same routes, so even when the towns are crowded, you can always find solitude off the beaten path.
Getting there
Access to this region is very easy by hitchhiking or marshrutka. Marshrutkas leave from Didube station in Tbilisi approximately every hour between 8am and 5pm. The price is 8 GEL to Gudauri or 15 GEL to Kazbegi (Stepantsminda). Though the marshrutka is quite fast and cheap, it’s always bumpy and cramped, and hitchhiking is often faster, much more comfortable, and, obviously, cheaper. Taxis are also available from Didube for about 100 GEL for a private car or 20 GEL per person to join a shared car, depending on your haggling ability.
Note that the road between Gudauri and Kazbegi often closes during snow storms and on hot spring days when wet slides are a danger to traffic, but it rarely stays closed for more than a day. Luckily, there are plenty of ski touring options on both sides of the pass, so being stuck on one side doesn’t mean you can’t ski (though, if the pass is closed, the avalanche danger may be such that you’re not skiing anyways).
Accommodation
There is no shortage of guesthouses along the road, and one can find an especially high concentration of guesthouses in Gudauri and Stepantsminda. Accommodation in Gudauri is significantly more expensive than anywhere else in the region, so it’s only recommended to stay there if you’re going to ski in the resort.