Abano Pass to Tusheti by 4x4

Tusheti, Kakheti · Georgia

Challenging6 daysAsia~£620 est.

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Overview

Seventy kilometres of unsealed shelf road, no barriers, and a pass at 2,826 metres that is shut by snow for most of the year: the Sh44 from Pshaveli to Omalo is the only way into Tusheti, and it takes five or six hours. You climb through beech forest, then out onto a switchbacked traverse with the valley dropping away beneath the wheels. The Keselo towers stand above Zemo Omalo. Walk or ride up the Pirikiti Alazani to Dartlo, Chesho and Parsma, past shrines whose rules are still observed and along tracks shepherds use to bring flocks down to the Kakhetian plains in autumn. Guesthouses serve khinkali and guda, the sheep cheese matured in skin; in late summer the villages fill for Atengenoba. Do not attempt this in a standard hire car: most Georgian rental agreements exclude the road, and it punishes poor clutch control on blind hairpins where uphill traffic has right of way. Hire a Delica and driver in Telavi for roughly £120 a day split between four, and fill up in Alvani because there is no fuel in Tusheti. Build in a spare day: rain brings landslides and closes the pass. Six days all in is about £620.