Hello,
I write this hoping it will help people having similar thoughts/questions that I had before my trip to Georgia, wishing to reach both Svaneti and Tusheti on their own.
I had some offroad experience prior to this trip, maybe more than the average driver, but by no means what proper offroad experience means. Overall road experience do help to some extent: if you have a lot of kms and drove narrow asphalt roads, and in countries where not all laws are respected, you already have some car feel and reflexes. The period I went in was end of June '26, Abano opened 5 days prior. I rented a Toyota Fortuner and drove myself.
Svaneti:
- Almost the whole Svaneti loop (Lukhi - Mestia - Ushguli - Zagaro - Tsageri) is paved on the main road, including Zagaro - with some short areas that (maybe a couple of km in total), if you are in a small, normal car, it will require a bit of caution so you don't bottom out, otherwise, ANYTHING with wheels will do the trip.
- For some the trailheads - I did the Shkhara Glacier, for example. A SUV/crossover is desirable, as it is a rock/gravel trail, with some maybe rougher sections - again, easy to do in any car with some ground clearance.
- The Cross over Mestia trail - you can do most of the trail to Koruldi Lakes by car, BUT you need a proper 4x4, ideally with low-range. The track is car-width narrow and pretty steep in a lot of sections. If it rained recently, it will be muddy.
Tusheti/Abano:
- Proper 4x4 with good ground clearance is mandatory and I would add that low-range is mandatory for offroad newbies. Before attempting, I suggest you get used to the car with some trails.
- Abano is in a pretty good condition for what it is - there are improvements done continously to it and widening - so take into consideration time-wise that you might have to wait for machinery to take a break in order to allow car passing. The road takes ~3-3.5hrs of cautious driving, but roadworks stops added another ~1.5hrs at least.
- The road is not very technical - the first few kms in the forest seemed more difficult, as the track is pretty narrow and it was also a bit muddy - but the rest is very doable by most people given you drive with caution and get over the psychological factor of a high shelf road.
- There are no rock climbing sections or other highly technical sections - it's a gravel road, that is narrow in places and has steep climb and exposed drop.
- Closer to Omalo, on the not-so-dangerous parts, there were deeper mud sections, but nothing special.
- The roads around Omalo are pretty good, but I haven't been further than a few kms away, so I cannot tell you how's the road to the really isolated villages.
My 2 cents:
- You need to be careful and watch for incoming traffic and try to see where runoff areas are - because there are plenty in my opinion. In case you need to back off, do so slowly and cautiously.
- In decent weather, you will encounter enough cars, so you are not really far away in a no-man's land, and people will help you if you need something.
- Check and know beforehand how your spare tyre system works.
- Be careful with the weather - look for thunderstorms and ask locals beforehand (guesthouses will answer you pretty quickly on booking) - some little rain is expected at any time in the mountains, but be wary to the clouds. Fog descends very quickly. Driving in sub 25m visibility in the summit switchbacks was not pretty and required extreme focus, and I wouldn't recommend to anyone, but weather seemed to become worse if I waited more.
- Weather apps are reliable only 24-48h before, and even then, assess before going up. I used windy.
- Try to take a look at YT videos and on maps to see how the road looks - this helped me a lot, knowing it a bit beforehand.
- Take into consideration that if you stay longer, the road can degrade or even close for a little bit due to landslides, rockfalls etc - so plan with some buffer days.
Safe travels!
