Why Mestia
Mestia (1,500 m) is the administrative and practical centre of Upper Svaneti: the airstrip, the banks, the gear shops and most guesthouses are here, and both ski areas hang directly above town. If you are coming to Svaneti — for snow or for trails — this is where you will sleep, eat and start from. Our team is based here year-round.
Getting to Mestia
- From Kutaisi: 4–5 hours by road — the most common route after a Wizz Air arrival. Fixed-price transfer.
- From Tbilisi: 8–9 hours by road, or night train to Zugdidi and 2.5 hours up the valley.
- By air: small Natakhtari–Mestia flights operate in good weather — spectacular, but never plan tight connections around them.
Winter in Mestia
Hatsvali starts 8 km from town: tree runs, sheltered visibility on storm days, and our ski school slopes. Tetnuldi, 15 km away, is the big mountain — 2,265 to 3,165 m, long alpine descents and the gateway to freeride and catski terrain. Rentals — fat skis, splitboards, avalanche kits — are at our shop in town.
Summer in Mestia
Two of Svaneti’s best day hikes start from the town itself: the climb to the Koruldi Lakes (Ushba mirror views) and the walk to the Chalaadi Glacier. Mestia is also day one of the four-day trek to Ushguli, and the launch valley for tandem paragliding.
In town
Leave an afternoon for the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography — icons, manuscripts and treasure the Svans guarded in their towers for a thousand years — and the Margiani House, a preserved tower complex. Evenings are for guesthouse dinners, or a proper supra with storytelling if you want to understand where you actually are.
Our mountain hotel is in town — from €60 per night, winter and summer.
See the hotel