Towards the north of Georgia lie the Caucasus mountains and on their other side is Russia. Georgia and Russia have an open border – which means, Georgians don’t need a visa to cross over and the same is true for the Russians. While we didn’t have any plans to cross over, our next leg was a Georgian road trip to beautiful mountainous border district of Kazbegi.

If you haven’t yet read the previous part, you can find the links at the bottom of this blog. Let’s get started!

Day 4

We woke up at 6 AM (it was easier than we thought as our body was definitely used to 7:30 AM in India) and packed our bags. It was time to leave our apartment in Tbilisi. Ashwin and I went to a nearby bakery and picked up some sandwiches and croissants for breakfast. Meanwhile the kids had poha and upma (we had carried MTR’s ready-to-eat packs which only needed hot water to prepare). 

We had rented a car from a local website called Local Rent. It was a Subaru Forester and a guy from the company came over to drop the car at 9 AM. We left our fridge magnet from India (a gift for our hosts) on the table and said goodbye to the cat who lived on the chair just outside our front door. The guy who had brought the car spoke mostly in Russian and we somehow managed to communicate and took the car.

Rental car checklist for Georgia (or anywhere in the world)

Here’s a quick checklist for you whenever you rent a car.

• Take a video of the car and focus on all the scratches and dents. Send this to the person who you’ve rented the car from at the time of collecting the car.
• Take a photo of the fuel indicator – not just the digital one which shows the approx kilometres the car can run but also the one which shows the fuel level itself. We made this mistake by only considering the kilometres indicator and had a small confusion at the end. The number displayed is approximate at best and can vary up or down based on a number of factors (not just the fuel level).
• Check the lights, turning indicators, tyres. Make sure there is a spare tyre and tools so that you don’t end up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. Also, if you’re unfamiliar with how tyres are changed, download and keep a video of “how to change a tyre” handy – your brain may not work best in crisis situations.
• Make sure you know the name of the fuel which needs to go in. In India, we are good with just knowing whether the car is petrol or diesel (in most cases). Here, our Russian friend told us to put “95 octane premium” and that’s what we kept saying at the petrol pumps.
• Check if the parking fee for the spot where the car is standing at the time of handover has been paid by the person you are collecting the car from. Otherwise, it will remain unaddressed and soon a parking fine will make its way to your account.
• Last but not the least, keep a list of emergency numbers handy in a couple of mobile phones at least (in our case, we put it in our common whatsapp group).

It would take some time to get used to the left-hand drive. I had neither driven a left-hand drive car nor an SUV before. There was always a first time – it reminded me of the first time I rode a bullet and took it straight to Leh. That trip has given me more confidence in myself than any other single event in my life. We first took it to a petrol pump and filled it up to full tank. 

This was the route map to kick-start our Georgian road trip.

Knowing the borders and geo-political situation

As you can see, our destination Stepantsminda was very close to the Russian border. You would also notice a disputed border (dashed line) along the highway. This is the border to South Ossetia – an autonomous region caught in the crossfires between Georgia and Russia. The region is primarily influenced/controlled by Russia. You can read more about the region here. There is one more similar disputed territory within Georgia called Abkhazia which lies to the north west, but we won’t be going in that direction.

Georgian Road trip begins!

For the first hour of the drive, we had four pairs of eyes driving the car. We didn’t want to break any rules. The best thing about driving in Georgia is that the rules aren’t as rigid as the rest of Europe. It lies in a sweet spot between India and Europe in terms of driving rules. Vehicles slow down and stop at zebra crossings. But they won’t stop at roundabouts for a crazy amount of time just because they see another car coming from really far away. Lane changes are more flexible.

Once we got onto the highway, everyone relaxed and it was down to one person driving the car.

One feature of the car that really surprised me was the warning system. If the car drifted ever so slightly into the next lane, without having the indicator on, it would start beeping with the words “Lane departure” on the dashboard. If a vehicle suddenly slowed down in front of us, it would beep with a different sound and say “Obstacle detected”. It was extremely handy and helped a lot in making sure that we were driving safe! What was more surprising to me was that the car was a 2015 model (9 years old!) and yet, had all these features.

We drove north along the Georgian Military Highway – the road goes from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz in Russia. Our first stop was in Mtskheta, one of the oldest cities in Georgia and also the world. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia which existed around 300 BC. “Iberia” is not to be confused with the Iberian peninsula of Spain. Same name, different place.

Mtskheta

We didn’t enter the city and went straight to the Jvari monastery. The monastery sits on top of a hill and offers a beautiful view of the city and the rivers flowing next to it.

We could spot the monastery inside the Mtskheta town as it stood tall among the buildings there. The most beautiful sight from here was the confluence of the two rivers – Mtkvari and Aragvi. Both rivers had different colours and they came and merged here. It reminded me of the confluence of Indus and Zanskar in Ladakh (check out the Leh blog after this one – the trip that changed the traveller in me).

Zhinvali reservoir and Ananuri

Our Georgian road trip was off to a good start. Next stop was the water reservoir at Zhinvali, a 40-min drive away. We took a bathroom break here, ate strawberries and churchkhela – a traditional Georgian candy made with grapes, nuts and flour. 

Along the reservoir about 5 mins away was the Ananuri fortress complex – a beautiful structure overlooking the reservoir.

We continued driving for another 30 mins and reached out lunch place – a nice little family home called Korbuda. As soon as we reached here, I got a call from our Russian car friend that there was a parking fine of 150 lari! We hadn’t stopped anywhere in Tbilisi and failed to understand what he was talking about. Outside Tbilisi (except for the cities of Batumi and Kutaisi), there was no concept of a centralised parking fee. He forwarded me the message and we couldn’t find any details on the website it mentioned. Finally, he said we’d sort it out once we were back in Tbilisi.

For lunch, we had khinkhali, salads and Shkmeruli (chicken in garlic milk sauce). The food was really good. But it took a really long time as there were a lot of guests (thanks to Google reviews) but only the old man and his wife to cook all the food.

Gudauri and snowy mountains

We continued driving along the river. The road started curving and gaining altitude. Soon, we could see snowy peaks all around. We crossed the ski-city of Gudauri which was quite empty now that most of the snow had melted. This place had at least 6 Indian restaurants – mostly Dhabas! Probably, this place was the Mt. Titlis (of Switzerland) equivalent in Georgia.

Most of the traffic on this road was trucks. I love spotting the registration plates on vehicles whenever we travel. The trucks were mostly Georgian and travelling to Russia for trade. I could also see many Russian trucks, some from Armenia and quite a lot from Turkey as well!

And also, all those sensationalized stories about rash drivers in Georgia and the highway being dangerous – as long as you drive at a reasonable speed and stick to your side of the road, you have nothing to worry about. If you are used to driving in India, these roads are super easy to navigate.

Our next stop was the Georgia-Russia Friendship monument or Panorama as it was called locally. It was a really interesting circular structure covered with paintings. Surrounding the monument on all sides were snowy mountains. It was an amazing view! 

As we walked back to our car, we saw some old ladies selling berries and fruits. We picked up a bunch of strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, apricots and cherries. Both the kids really loved it (and so did the parents!). We even decided to stop here on the way back to buy more of these!

The drive became even more beautiful with green valleys on both sides. We stopped a couple of times to watch sheep grazing. Another interesting aspect was that there were tunnels built along the mountainside right next to the road. It was completely dark and no vehicle entered them, preferring instead to drive on the road outside. It felt like those tunnels would actually swallow anything that dared to enter.

We assumed that these were the stretches of road that would be completely inaccessible during the winters due to landslides and avalanches and that’s when the tunnels would come into play. We were glad we didn’t have to enter those tiny dark tunnels!

After about an hour of driving, we reached our destination Stepantsminda. We had completed a 3 hour drive in around 8 hours – the most leisurely drive through the Georgian mountains. We’ll continue the story in the next blog. Hope you enjoyed reading this one!

The best way for you to support our content journey is to subscribe to our blog by leaving your email ID below, comment your thoughts and share the link of this blog with your travel loving friends and family. We would love to inspire as many people as possible to travel!

Check out all the Georgia blogs here:

• The Georgia Itinerary – your guide to planning the perfect Georgia trip
• A Rainy 2 AM arrival in Georgia – avoiding scams and a rainy adventure
• Celebrating Independence Day in Tbilisi – a unique experience in Georgia
• Tbilisi Travel – Hidden Gems and Local Experiences
• The Georgian Military Highway – A Georgian road trip
• Discovering Kazbegi – A Travel Guide to Georgia’s northern mountain escape
• The Romantic Towns of Sighnaghi and Telavi – exploring the Kakheti region
• A deep-dive into the Wine Culture of Georgia – Saperavis, Rkatsitelis and Chacha
• An Exciting End – Dirt road, petrol scare and upcoming floods