Quick answer
Stepantsminda is 152 km and about 2 hours 45 minutes from Tbilisi on a paved road over the 2,379 m Jvari Pass. Go by the 20 GEL van from Didube if you are alone, by a GoTrip driver from 210 GEL per car if you are two or more and want to stop, or in a rental from $24 a day. Stop at Ananuri and the Gudauri viewpoint, eat khinkali at Pasanauri, sleep in Stepantsminda and walk up to Gergeti before the day tours arrive. In winter check the Roads Department's restrictions feed at georoad.gov.ge: the Gudauri to Kobi section closes for avalanche danger.
- Tbilisi to Kazbegi
- 152 km
- Jvari Pass
- 2,379 m
- Van fare
- 20 GEL
- Driver, per car
- from 210 GEL
The road
The Georgian Military Road runs 212 km from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz in Russia through the Dariali gorge, and the Georgian part, Tbilisi to the border above Stepantsminda, is the best day's drive in the country. It follows the Aragvi up past the Jinvali reservoir and Ananuri, climbs through Pasanauri and Gudauri to the Jvari Pass at 2,379 m, then drops into the Tergi valley under Mount Kazbek, a dormant volcano of 5,054 m. The Russian military built the present road between 1799 and 1863, which is where the name comes from; today it carries trucks queuing for the Verkhny Lars crossing, tour vans, marshrutkas and, if you plan it right, you.
Two things to know before the details. The road is paved end to end and any car handles it in summer. And the end of the road, Stepantsminda, deserves a night: the light on Kazbek is at dawn and dusk, and the day tours are there at noon.
The road in numbers
| Point | Distance and height |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi to the Mtskheta turn | About 20 km; the highway leaves the E60 just north of the old capital |
| Ananuri | 67 km, about an hour, on the Jinvali reservoir |
| Gudauri | 122 km by GoTrip's route measure; the resort sits at about 2,200 m |
| Jvari Pass | 2,379 m, the highest point of the road |
| Stepantsminda | 152 km from central Tbilisi, about 2 h 45 min of driving; 168 km from Tbilisi Airport |
| Gergeti Trinity | 2,170 m, on the ridge above Stepantsminda, a paved side road |
| Whole road, Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz | 212 km, of which the Dariali gorge above Stepantsminda is the last Georgian stretch |
A short history
The pass has carried traffic since antiquity: Strabo and Pliny the Elder both describe it as the gate through the Caucasus. Russian troops first came through in 1769, and by October 1783, the year of the Treaty of Georgievsk that made Georgia a Russian protectorate, enough had been done for a carriage to reach Tiflis. The present road was begun by the Russian military in 1799; General Yermolov declared it finished in 1817, when it was hailed as the "Russian Simplon", though work went on until 1863. The concrete Friendship Monument above Gudauri, with its mosaic viewpoint, was built in 1983 for the treaty's bicentennial. Baedeker's 1914 guide to Russia called it one of the most beautiful mountain roads in the world and noted that motor omnibuses already ran the route between mid-April and mid-October in ten hours. Today the through traffic is mostly trucks waiting for the Verkhny Lars crossing; the drive itself has not lost anything.
Van, driver, tour or car
| Option | Cost and what you get |
|---|---|
| Marshrutka | 20 GEL (about $8) a seat from Didube, cash to the driver, about 11 departures a day in summer and fewer out of season, 3 to 3.5 hours. No stops: it is transport, not a road trip. See the bus stations guide. |
| GoTrip driver | 210 to 235 GEL (about $81 to 90) per car each way, fixed on the site before you book, unlimited stops, about 2 h 45 min driving. For two or more people this is what we use; four people pay about 53 GEL a head. |
| Group day tour | 7 to 26 USD a person from Tbilisi on the GetYourGuide listings we read in October 2026, 10 to 12 hours, with Ananuri, the Gudauri viewpoint and about 30 minutes at Gergeti; the 4x4 up to the church is usually a 20 GEL cash extra. |
| Rental car | From $24 a day on Localrent with no deposit. Stop where you like, sleep where you like, and keep it for Truso and Juta only if you hire a local 4x4 there, because the rental terms exclude both valleys. |
If Stepantsminda in a single day is the plan, our Kazbegi day trip page puts the tour, the driver and the van side by side with a timetable for each. Self-driving is the way to do the highway properly. Georgian driving is assertive: expect overtaking on bends, cows in the road and truck convoys crawling up the pass. Keep your distance, do not overtake blind, and it is an easy day. The car rental guide has the road rules and the May 2026 fines.
Stop by stop
South to north. With all of these, leave Tbilisi by 08:00 and you reach Stepantsminda mid-afternoon.
Mtskheta, 20 km
The old capital sits just off the highway where the Aragvi meets the Mtkvari, and its monuments have been a World Heritage Site since 1994. Jvari, on the hill above the confluence, was built between 590 and 605 and is the template for the Georgian cross-dome church; drive up first, the view over the rivers is the best panorama near Tbilisi. Svetitskhoveli, the principal cathedral, was completed between 1010 and 1029 down in the town. Allow an hour to an hour and a half; the Mtskheta guide has the rest. If you are on the van, skip it and do it another day for 2 GEL from Didube.
Ananuri, 67 km
The fortress of the Aragvi dukes stands on the edge of the Jinvali reservoir, about an hour from Tbilisi, and every van, tour and driver stops here. Inside the walls are two churches, the larger with unusually rich carving on its facade and the smaller brick one, from the first half of the 17th century, holding the dukes' graves, and a tower you can climb. Entry is free; parking in the main car park is 3 GEL and the street below the gate is free. Allow 45 minutes to an hour and cover shoulders, knees and, for women, hair for the churches. The Ananuri guide has the history and the reservoir viewpoints.
Pasanauri, the khinkali stop
Khinkali belong to the mountain districts north of Tbilisi, and the road corridor around Pasanauri is the part of that heartland the highway passes through, so this is the lunch stop. Every roadside restaurant in the village serves them; order by the piece, hold them by the topknot, and read the khinkali guide if you have never eaten one. The stalls along the road from here up sell homemade cheese, churchkhela and honey, and they are worth stopping for.
Gudauri, 122 km
The climb to the pass runs through Georgia's biggest ski resort, development strung along the highway at about 2,200 m with 17 lifts between 1,993 and 3,279 m; the 2025-26 season ran from 27 December to 19 April with a day pass at 70 GEL. In summer it is a paragliding launch and a viewpoint. The stop is the Soviet-era mosaic viewpoint at the Friendship Monument just above the resort, where the ridges of the Caucasus stack up into the distance; fifteen minutes is enough. The Gudauri guide covers the lifts, passes and where to sleep.
The Jvari Pass, 2,379 m
The top of the road, and in summer you barely notice it. What you notice is the other side: the forested Aragvi valleys give way to bare rock, wide gravel riverbeds and snow on the peaks, and the Greater Caucasus starts. In winter this is the section that closes, from Gudauri down to Kobi, whenever avalanche danger is high; see the winter section below.
Stepantsminda and Gergeti, 152 km
The town at the end of the road is a main street, a square where the vans and taxis wait, guesthouses on every lane and Kazbek filling the view. The reason to come is Gergeti Trinity, the 14th-century church at 2,170 m on the ridge above the village of Gergeti across the river. Walk up, about 7 km return and an hour and a quarter of climbing, or ride: the road to the church is paved, sedans reach it, the tours charge 20 GEL a seat for the 4x4 and private drivers quote per car. Kazbek hides for whole days at a time and mornings are clearer than afternoons, so sleep in town and look out of the window at dawn. The Kazbegi guide has the walk step by step.
Side valleys
Most people drive up, walk to Gergeti and drive back, which is a third of what the valley offers. The rest starts from a taxi at the square or, from June, the Mountain Travel Agency's shared minibuses to Juta, Truso, Dariali and Gergeti at 45 GEL return, booked by WhatsApp because seats are limited. Taxi fares here are higher than elsewhere in Georgia and Bolt is thin, so fix the price first.
| Valley | What and how |
|---|---|
| Truso | Travertine terraces, mineral springs and abandoned villages along the Tergi from the Kobi turn-off to the Zakagori fortress. Taxi to the trailhead 60 to 70 GEL one way, 120 to 140 GEL return; rental cars may not enter. The Truso guide has the walk. |
| Juta and Chaukhi | A village at the end of the Sno valley under the Chaukhi spires, the trailhead for the pass to Roshka. Taxi from 60 GEL one way or 100 to 120 GEL return; the road opened only in June in 2026 after late snow. The Juta guide has the trek. |
| Sno and Sioni | Sno, on the Juta road, has the giant carved stone heads on the hillside at its entrance; Sioni, the next valley south, has a 9th-century basilica, a 15-minute drive and about 35 to 40 GEL by taxi. |
| Gveleti and Dariali | North towards the border: the two Gveleti waterfalls are 30 minutes' walk from the highway (taxi 50 to 60 GEL), and the Dariali monastery complex, built in 2005 at the mouth of the gorge, has a cafe with the monks' own cheese and wine. The summer shuttle does both. The Verkhny Lars crossing beyond is open, but the wait can run to hours and you cannot walk across; see the border guide. |
Where to stay
Guesthouse rooms in Stepantsminda run 70 to 150 GEL a night with a family breakfast, and the town is small enough that any of them works; rooms facing the mountain cost more and are worth it. Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, on the slope above town with Kazbek filling its terrace, is the splurge, and we have stayed there and rate it. Hotel Memoir and 1740 Boutique in the centre are the alternatives at that level. Our where to stay in Kazbegi page prices about forty rooms for an October Saturday and a January comparison, and the Gudauri guide covers the resort apartments for a ski night on the way.
Winter
How to check whether the road is open
The Roads Department of Georgia posts every closure and reopening, with the time, on its restrictions page at georoad.gov.ge/en/restriction (the English version carries the titles). On 5 October 2026 the newest entry for this road was from 25 September: traffic through the Dariali gorge above Stepantsminda was stopped for safety at 08:40 and restored at 11:30 the same day. Nothing on the Military Highway had been posted since, while the Tusheti road had a restriction at kilometres 39 to 45 from 3 October. Closures between Gudauri and Kobi appear on the same list in winter, usually with a reopening entry a few hours or days later, and the page prints the department's hotline, 032 2 31 30 76. Our road and pass status board re-reads the list every Wednesday in winter and counts the closures: the department shut Gudauri to Kobi to all traffic 13 times in the 2025-26 winter, the longest from 09:00 on 10 April to 20:05 on 14 April 2026.
When to go
| Season | What to expect |
|---|---|
| May and June | Green valleys and wildflowers, snow still on the peaks, some rain. Juta's road may not open until June; Truso is walkable. |
| July and August | Warmest and driest, every valley open, hazy afternoons and the busiest weeks at Gergeti. Book the guesthouse. |
| September and October | The clearest skies of the year, colour in the valleys from mid-October, cooler nights. The best time for the drive. |
| November to April | Snow on the pass, Gudauri skiing from late December, and the Gudauri to Kobi closures. Beautiful when it is open, and it is not always open. |
The Kazbegi and Svaneti seasons guide goes month by month.
What it costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Marshrutka, Tbilisi to Stepantsminda, each way | 20 GEL |
| GoTrip driver, each way, per car | from 210 GEL |
| Group day tour from Tbilisi, per person | 7 to 26 USD |
| Rental car, per day, no deposit | from $24 |
| 4x4 up to Gergeti, per seat on a tour | 20 GEL |
| Ananuri parking | 3 GEL |
| Truso or Juta taxi, one way | 60 to 70 GEL |
| Summer shuttle to a valley, return | 45 GEL |
| Guesthouse double in Stepantsminda | 70 to 150 GEL |
| Gudauri day pass, 2025-26 | 70 GEL |
Prices checked October 2026 on the linked guides, gotrip.ge and localrent.com; the trip planner builds a Kazbegi leg into a longer route with the same figures.
Itineraries
- One day. Leave Tbilisi at 08:00, Ananuri, the Gudauri viewpoint, Stepantsminda by noon, up to Gergeti, a late lunch, back by evening. You will wish you had stayed.
- Two days. Day one the full drive with every stop and a sunset walk in town. Day two Gergeti at dawn, then Truso or Juta by taxi or shuttle, and the drive back with the stops you missed.
- Three days. Add the Juta to Roshka trek over the Chaukhi pass, or base in Juta for day walks. Our 7-day itinerary puts two Kazbegi nights into a week with Sighnaghi.
- Winter. Base in Gudauri for the skiing and go down to Stepantsminda on a day the pass is open.
Mistakes
- Doing it as a day trip. The light, the empty church and the valleys are all on day two.
- Leaving Tbilisi late. The tour vans reach Gergeti by late morning and the cloud builds by afternoon.
- Skipping Mtskheta because it is close. Twenty minutes out and a World Heritage Site.
- Driving into Truso in a rental. The contract excludes it, and no insurance applies there.
- Not checking the pass in winter. It closes without much warning; the Roads Department's restrictions page and your hotel know first.
- Riding the 4x4 up to Gergeti, taking the photo and leaving. The walk is the point.
- Setting off without cash. Vans, taxis, valley shuttles and guesthouses take cash; withdraw in Tbilisi rather than counting on a machine in town.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a 4x4 for the Georgian Military Highway?
How far is Tbilisi to Kazbegi and how long does it take?
Is the Military Highway safe to drive?
Is the road open in winter?
Marshrutka or driver?
Keep planning
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