Tbilisi-Kazbegi: 2 Days Up and 2 Days Down

My visa to enter Uzbekistan starts on 6 September, so for now I am staying in Georgia, before setting off to Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea, and through a small corner of Kazakhstan to get there.

To extricate myself from my slumber and lack of sightseeing in Tbilisi I ignored my head and my heart and the protests of my future self and signed myself up for a cycle to a big mountain and back again. My route was to ride north along the military highway connecting Georgia with Russia, and visit the base of the mighty 5000m peak of Kazbegi just before the border. From 400m in Tbilisi to 2400m at the top.

 

It turned out to be one of my favourite trips on a bike. So here is a 20 second video and a series of photos from the trip!

P.s. it takes 90 minutes in a minibus. Well worth the £3.

 

 

Setting off with a mercilessly light load
Start of the military highway starts with an ominous and omni-directional statue of spears
Gradual at first
View to the east of the highway before Ananuri
Looking for a place to camp on the other side of the bank
Good spot
Day two, starting to get more serious
Occassional rain showers worth it for the lack of searing heat and washed out views
View to the east
At the first hairpin at the start of the steeper climb
One of I think at least eight…
Route up
30k to go, about 7pm and starting to get dark
Final 300m ascent left to climb
Impromptu volleyball
Sheep
The Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument. Built in 1983.
The top!
The top v2

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2 thoughts on “Tbilisi-Kazbegi: 2 Days Up and 2 Days Down

  1. Hi David, I have 3 days in Tblisi and thinking of doing this route with a road bike and minimal weight to make it doable in 2-3 days out and back. How was the road in terms of traffic and pavement? I am taking a road bike, not a mountain bike?

    1. Hi Marcos! Sorry I missed this and hope you had a good trip if you have done it already. Road surface was great from memory. There wasn’t that much traffic once I had left maybe 30k outside Tbilisi, but the driving was dangerous at times, lots of overtakes from drivers that just expect you to get out of the way…. All the best!

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