Quick answer
With five or six days and a car from Kutaisi, drive the Svaneti loop: Mestia, Ushguli and out over the 2,620 m Zagari pass, sealed since 2024 and open roughly June to mid October. With one or two days from Tbilisi, the Georgian Military Highway to Stepantsminda, 152 km of paved road over the Jvari Pass, with a night in town and the walk up to Gergeti. With three or four days and a taste for wine, the Kakheti loop, where every road is paved and the only hazard is the 0.03 percent drink-driving limit. Any compact handles six of the eight; Racha past Oni wants clearance, and Tusheti is the one you do not drive yourself, because the rental contract forbids it and a local 4x4 seat costs 100 to 120 GEL.
- Drives
- 8
- Longest
- about 450 km
- Highest pass
- 2,826 m
- Pass season
- Jun to Oct
The eight at a glance
| Drive | Days, road, car and season |
|---|---|
| 1. The Svaneti loop from Kutaisi | About 450 km over 4 to 6 days. Sealed or concreted with short gravel patches; any car with a little clearance. Zagari pass open about June to mid October; rental authorization needed from 1 May to 30 September only. |
| 2. Georgian Military Highway | 152 km each way, 1 to 2 days. Paved end to end over the 2,379 m Jvari Pass; any car in summer. Open all year, with winter closures in avalanche weather. |
| 3. Kakheti wine loop | About 350 km over 3 to 4 days. Paved, including the Gombori pass; a compact automatic. Best in September and October. |
| 4. Samtskhe-Javakheti and Vardzia | 267 km to Vardzia, 3 days for the core loop, 5 with the plateau. Paved main roads, unpaved tracks to the Javakheti lakes. Any car; the plateau tracks June to September. |
| 5. Racha from Kutaisi | 2 to 3 nights. Paved over the 1,500 m Nakerala Pass to Ambrolauri and Oni; rougher beyond. Clearance and ideally all-wheel drive past Oni. June to mid October. |
| 6. Tbilisi to Batumi over three days | 372 km, 5 h 40 min direct, 3 days with the stops. Paved throughout on the finished Rikoti expressway; any car. All year, best May to June and September to early October. |
| 7. Chiatura and the Katskhi Pillar | 72 km from Kutaisi or 186 km from Tbilisi, one day. Paved; any car. All year, at its best in October. |
| 8. The Abano Pass to Tusheti | Tbilisi to Omalo 5.5 to 6 hours, 2 nights minimum. Unpaved over the 2,826 m pass; a local 4x4 with a local driver, never a rental. Open from about 20 June to late October. |
1. The Svaneti loop from Kutaisi
The drive that justifies the whole idea of renting a car in Georgia. Since the Zagari pass road was sealed in 2024, Upper Svaneti can be driven as a circuit from Kutaisi with no backtracking: the highway to Zugdidi, 140 km of sealed mountain road up the Enguri gorge to Mestia, the 47 km to Ushguli in 60 to 90 minutes, then 73 km over the 2,620 m pass to Lentekhi and about four hours in all back to Kutaisi. Give it four to six days with a first night in Mazeri under Ushba and two in Mestia. Every leg is sealed or concreted; the gravel patches in the landslide zones near Lentekhi are 100 to 200 m long and compacted, so you do not need four-wheel drive, just a car that is not scraping its sump on a saloon's clearance. The pass opens between late May and early June and closes in mid October. The catch is the contract: Localrent's Georgia terms allow the Mestia to Ushguli to Lentekhi road only for cars booked with the travel authorization option, and only from 1 May to 30 September, so in October you drive to Mestia and take the van to Ushguli. Kutaisi listings started from $30 a day with no deposit when our loop guide read them on 30 September 2026. Leg by leg, with fuel, museums and rooms, in our Svaneti loop guide.
2. The Georgian Military Highway
The drive most people picture when they think of Georgia, and the easiest of the big ones: 152 km and about 2 hours 45 minutes from Tbilisi to Stepantsminda on a paved road over the 2,379 m Jvari Pass, with Ananuri's fortress on the reservoir, the Gudauri viewpoint and khinkali at Pasanauri on the way. The road is paved end to end, including the spur up to Gergeti Trinity Church at 2,170 m, so a sedan does it in summer. A 4x4 would matter only for the Truso and Juta side valleys, and Localrent's terms exclude both anyway: take a taxi from Stepantsminda or the 45 GEL summer shuttle. Do it as two days, not a day tour, so you walk up to Gergeti before the coaches arrive. In winter check georoad.ge before you leave; the Roads Department closes the Gudauri to Kobi section whenever avalanche danger is high, sometimes for days, as it did in February 2026, and winter tyres are compulsory from December. If you would rather not drive it, the van from Didube is 20 GEL and a GoTrip driver from 209 GEL per car. Stop by stop in our Military Highway guide.
3. The Kakheti wine loop
The easiest road trip in the country: short paved distances, a clockwise loop that never backtracks, a monastery on every ridge and a family cellar in every village. Sighnaghi and Bodbe on day one (110 km, about 1 hour 50 minutes), the valley floor and Tsinandali to Telavi on day two, Alaverdi, Ikalto, Gremi and Nekresi from Telavi on day three, Kvareli's big cellars on the way home, about 350 km in all. The whole route is paved, including the Gombori pass, so a compact automatic is the right car; an SUV would only matter for Tusheti or Vashlovani, which are not on the loop and which Localrent excludes. The rule that shapes the plan is the drink-driving limit, 0.03 percent by law and zero in practice: one of you stays dry each day, or you sleep where you taste, or you hire a driver, from 141 GEL per car for Tbilisi to Telavi on GoTrip. Monasteries are free and the big tastings cost 10 to 55 GEL a head. September and October are the months, for the harvest, the colour and the Gurjaani Wine Festival on 10 October 2026. The stops, fees and cellars are in our Kakheti wine road trip.
4. Samtskhe-Javakheti and Vardzia
The southern loop almost nobody drives: Tbilisi to Borjomi (161 km) for the park and the spring, on to Akhaltsikhe for Rabati fortress (upper fortress 20 GEL) and a guesthouse night, then Khertvisi castle and the cave city of Vardzia (15 GEL) the next morning, 267 km from the capital. Three days covers that; a fourth adds Abastumani's observatory or the twelve churches of Sapara, 12 km from Akhaltsikhe on a sealed road, and a fifth takes you home over the Javakheti plateau past Paravani lake. Every road on the core loop is paved and a compact handles it; the tracks to the plateau lakes are unpaved in parts and run June to September. Two things to know before you plan the exits. Half of Vardzia has been closed since a rockfall in May 2026, so the visitor route turns back shortly after the Church of the Dormition. And two roads out of the region are banned outright in Localrent's rental terms: Sairme to Abastumani over the Zekari Pass, and Akhaltsikhe to Batumi over the Goderdzi Pass, so a coast exit is not an option in a rental and you return the way you came. Our Samtskhe-Javakheti road trip has the days, the fees and the fares.
5. Racha from Kutaisi
Georgia's quietest region and the drive for people who have done Svaneti. From Kutaisi the road climbs through Tkibuli and over the 1,500 m Nakerala Pass, past Shaori Lake in its bowl of pine and beech, to Ambrolauri and the Khvanchkara wine villages, with Nikortsminda, built in 1010 to 1014 and the architectural highlight of the region, 12 km south of town. From Ambrolauri a paved valley road runs an hour up the Rioni to Oni; from Tbilisi it is about five hours via Kutaisi. Beyond Oni the surface deteriorates: Ghebi is reachable with care in a saloon in dry weather, but for Gona, Chiora and anything off the valley floor you want clearance and, ideally, all-wheel drive, which is why we would book a Subaru for this one. Shovi, the old spa resort, has been abandoned since the 2023 landslide; skip it. Upper Racha is a June to mid October region, the road beyond Oni closes with the first heavy snow, usually by the end of October, and the beech forest around Shaori turns orange and red in the first half of that month. Two or three nights. The villages, the wine and the vans for the car-less are in our Racha guide.
6. Tbilisi to Batumi over three days
Capital to coast: 372 km and about 5 hours 40 minutes of driving on the E60 now that the Rikoti expressway is complete, with its 51 tunnels and 97 bridges opened in full in December 2025. Driven straight it is a transfer; driven over three days it is a road trip. Day one is Mtskheta, Gori and the cave town of Uplistsikhe with a night in Kutaisi, day two the Kutaisi monasteries, Prometheus Cave and the canyons, day three the coast. The whole route is paved, including the roads to Gelati, Prometheus Cave and the canyons, so a compact handles it; fuel for the whole route is roughly 100 GEL and the main tickets add up to about 150 GEL per person. Ask the agency about a one-way drop in Batumi when you book. The southern alternative over the 2,027 m Goderdzi Pass is a summer-only mountain road that Localrent's contract forbids in a rental car, so do not plan it. May, June, September and early October are the months: the canyons are open, the coast is not at its August peak and the traffic is lighter. If you only want to reach Batumi, the train does it in four hours for 36 GEL. Our Tbilisi to Batumi driving guide has the fees, the fuel and the rules.
7. Chiatura and the Katskhi Pillar
The one-day drive on this list, and the easiest of Georgia's strange places to reach: 72 km from Kutaisi, or 186 km and about 2 hours 36 minutes from Tbilisi on paved road via the Rikoti highway and Zestaponi. Katskhi Pillar first, a monastery on top of a 40 m limestone column seen from a marked viewpoint at the end of a sealed side road, then Chiatura, the manganese town in the Qvirila gorge whose new cable cars cost 50 tetri a ride and run from 08:00 to 22:00 since the four Poma lines opened in September 2021, with the rusting platforms of the old network above them and the cave church of Mgvimevi convent a walk from the centre. Leaving Tbilisi at 08:00 puts you at Katskhi by 11:00 and home by 20:00. No 4x4, no driver needed, though a GoTrip driver does the loop from Kutaisi from 115 GEL per car each way. If you have a car and are heading for Racha, a newer sealed road climbs from Sachkhere over the mountains to Oni, which makes Chiatura the natural first day of that trip. Timings, the vans and the cable-car map are in our Chiatura and Katskhi Pillar guide.
8. The Abano Pass to Tusheti
The best road in Georgia and the worst idea in a rental car. One unpaved road connects Tusheti to the rest of the country, over the 2,826 m Abano Pass, and it is open about four months a year: it opened on 20 June in 2026 and normally closes for winter in the second half of October or early November, earlier if snow or landslides come; in 2026 the Roads Department closed it on 4 October. The surface is dirt for most of its length, with an exposed shelf between 2,100 m and the pass, sheer drops, waterfalls over the road and rockfall, and the last 23 km climb at gradients up to 13 percent. Localrent and most other rental firms ban their cars from Tusheti outright. So the drive is done the Tushetian way: a marshrutka or a fixed-price driver from Tbilisi to Kvemo Alvani in 2 to 2.5 hours, then a seat in a local 4x4 over the pass to Omalo, 100 to 120 GEL a person for 3.5 to 4 hours, booked through your guesthouse, or a whole jeep for 500 to 650 GEL one way. Stay at least two nights. It is on this page because it is the drive people remember, and because the honest advice is to be a passenger. The seat, the pass and the season are in our Abano Pass road guide.
The car for these drives
Six of the eight drives are paved the whole way and a compact does them. The Svaneti loop wants a little clearance for the gravel patches, Racha past Oni wants clearance and ideally all-wheel drive, and Tusheti wants a local driver. We book through Localrent, which lists local agencies with the deposit and the insurance excess shown before you pay and most cars with no deposit at all. For a Tbilisi pickup the all-wheel-drive Subaru Crosstrek was the cheapest car on the list on the day we read it, which settles the question for anyone adding Racha or Svaneti; for Kakheti, the Military Highway or the coast road, the Prius is cheaper to fuel. Full-coverage insurance adds $5 to $12 a day and is worth it on the mountain roads. The terms, the fines and the no-deposit trick are in our car rental guide.
When to drive
| Months | What is open |
|---|---|
| April and May | Kakheti, the coast road, Chiatura, Samtskhe's core loop and the Military Highway. The Zagari pass is still under snow; Racha's upper valley and the Javakheti tracks are not yet dry; Tusheti is closed. |
| June | The Svaneti loop opens as the pass clears, Racha past Oni and the Javakheti lakes become drivable, and the Abano Pass to Tusheti opened on 20 June in 2026. |
| July and August | Everything. The busiest weeks in Svaneti and Kazbegi, the coast at its peak, afternoon storms in the high valleys. |
| September | The best month on every route: dry roads, lighter traffic, the Kakheti harvest. The Svaneti rental authorization runs to 30 September. |
| October | Kakheti's festival month and Racha's colour. The Zagari pass closes in mid October, the road beyond Oni by the end of it, Tusheti in the second half or early November. |
| November to March | Kakheti, the coast road, Chiatura and Samtskhe's main roads on dry days; the Military Highway with winter tyres and the Roads Department's list checked that morning (our road and pass status board has every pass). The passes are for skiers; see our skiing guide. |
Mistakes
| Mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Booking a Svaneti car without the authorization option | Filter for it on Localrent before you compare prices, and plan the Ushguli leg inside 1 May to 30 September. |
| Planning the Goderdzi Pass as the way to the coast | It is banned in the contract. Return from Samtskhe the way you came, or hire a driver for that leg. |
| Renting a 4x4 for Tusheti | Tusheti is excluded by every big rental firm. Take the 100 to 120 GEL seat from Kvemo Alvani. |
| Tasting in Kakheti with one driver | The limit is 0.03 percent. One of you stays dry, or you sleep where you taste, or you hire a driver from 141 GEL. |
| Day-tripping the Military Highway from Tbilisi | Sleep in Stepantsminda and walk up to Gergeti in the morning before the coaches. |
| Driving a mountain pass in winter on summer tyres | Winter tyres are compulsory on the designated sections from December, and georoad.ge says which passes are shut. |
Frequently asked questions
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