03Cities and regions

The high Caucasus

Svaneti and Mestia

Svaneti lies in Georgia's northwest on the southern slopes of the central Caucasus. It is the highest inhabited area of the Caucasus, ringed by peaks of 3,000 to 5,000 metres, and holds four of the range's ten highest summits, among them Shkhara, Georgia's highest mountain, as well as Tetnuldi and Ushba. Its main town, Mestia, sits at 1,500 metres and keeps medieval churches and forts. Svaneti is famous for its stone towers: defensive houses three to five storeys high, built mostly between the 9th and 12th centuries, of which around 3,500 remain in the region. At the head of the Enguri gorge, Ushguli is a cluster of five villages at 2,100 metres at the foot of Shkhara, among the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe; its village of Chazhashi alone has more than 200 towers. Upper Svaneti was added to the World Heritage List in 1996. Snow covers Ushguli for six months a year, so summer is the time for the road up.

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Elevation of Mestia

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Elevation of Ushguli

About 3,500

Stone towers in Svaneti

1996

Upper Svaneti added to the World Heritage List