Ushguli

Ushguli is a group of small villages at the head of the Enguri valley, about 45 km southeast of Mestia, at around 2,100 m. With the snowy wall of Shkhara (about 5,200 m), Georgia's highest mountain, rising behind it, it is the image most people have of Svaneti. The hamlets, including Murkmeli, Chazhashi, Chvibiani and Zhibiani, are packed with medieval stone tower houses, and Chazhashi is protected as a museum-reserve. Around 200 people live here year-round, making Ushguli one of the highest permanently inhabited communities in Europe.

Most visitors arrive on a day trip from Mestia, now an easy drive of about 1.5 hours on a road paved in recent years, or at the end of the four-day trek. Staying overnight is far better: the light on the towers at dusk and dawn is the best of the day, and you have time to walk up to Lamaria Church, explore Chazhashi or hike towards the Shkhara Glacier. Snow covers the villages for about six months of the year, and in winter the road can close after heavy snowfall.

Like other Svan tower houses, most of Ushguli's towers date from the 9th to 12th centuries, built as fortified family homes against raiders and feuding neighbours, and the remoteness of the valley helped preserve them. Tradition links the ruined tower complex on the hill above the villages to Queen Tamar, who is said to have spent summers here. In 1996 Chazhashi became the core of the Upper Svaneti UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognised for its well-preserved medieval landscape of tower houses, churches and mountain farms.