Best of Georgia · Across the country
How to read this ranking
Each place below is scored for character, welcome, access across seasons, and the feeling it leaves — never for inventory. Use the traveller-type notes when two names pull equally.
Georgia's small size means a single drive can cross more scenery than a much larger country manages in a week. The Georgian Military Highway to Kazbegi is the most scenic drive overall, climbing from a river valley to a glacier-lined pass in a couple of hours; the road to Ushguli in Upper Svaneti delivers the most sustained high-altitude drama; and the Abano Pass into Tusheti is the single most extraordinary — and most demanding — mountain crossing in the country.
Best for a Single Day of Changing Scenery
No Georgian road changes character as fast as this one. Leaving the Tbilisi basin, the highway follows the Aragvi River past Ananuri Fortress, its stone towers rising directly over the jade-green Zhinvali Reservoir — one of the clearest reflections in the country when the light is right. The road climbs steadily from there, forest giving way to bare alpine slopes, until it crosses Gudauri Pass at 2,379 metres, a viewpoint that doubles as a ski resort in winter and a paragliding launch in summer. The final descent toward Stepantsminda opens onto Mount Kazbek's glaciated summit filling the windscreen, with Dariali Gorge's sheer granite walls closing in just before the border. Few roads anywhere pack reservoir, high pass and glacier into one continuous drive, and it stays open and paved for its full length nearly year-round, which is exactly why it earns the top spot rather than a more dramatic but less reliable route.
Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Best for High-Altitude Drama
This is the drive that convinces people Georgia belongs among Europe's great mountain destinations. From Mestia, the Svan capital ringed by stone defensive towers, the road threads the Enguri valley with Mount Ushba's twin granite horns appearing and vanishing behind ridgelines. Past Zhamushi, a short detour reaches the toe of Chalaadi Glacier, extending unusually low at 1,800 metres. The final stretch to Ushguli turns to rough, high-clearance track — 40 kilometres, two and a half to three hours, impassable November to April — climbing in full view of Shkhara's glacier, at 5,193 metres the highest point in Georgia. Ushguli itself, a cluster of four hamlets with Svan towers standing since the 9th to 12th centuries, sits among Europe's highest permanently inhabited settlements. This is scenery on a scale nothing else in the Caucasus quite matches, but it demands a full day and a driver who knows the track.
Svaneti
Best for a Genuine Mountain-Crossing Thrill
This is the road Georgians themselves point to when asked which drive actually frightens them. Climbing from the Alvani lowlands in Kakheti, the unpaved track switches back for roughly 70 kilometres and three to four hours, gaining altitude in stages through beech forest before breaking above the treeline entirely. Abano Pass tops out close to 2,900 metres, a bare, wind-scoured saddle with no guardrail and views running for what feels like the whole eastern Caucasus. The descent into Tusheti delivers Omalo, the region's only year-round village, followed by Dartlo's slate-roofed towers climbing a terraced hillside. The pass is passable only from late June to early October; outside that window Tusheti is cut off entirely. A 4WD and an experienced local driver are not optional here — this is the one drive on this list where the scenery and the risk are genuinely the same experience.
Tusheti
Best for Valley Panoramas
Kakheti's roads sit low against the Caucasus foothills, which is exactly what makes the driving here so rewarding: for long stretches the entire Alazani Valley floor unrolls below, vineyard rows running to the horizon with the Caucasus wall rising behind. From Telavi, the road climbs to Nekresi Monastery's ridge, a 4th-century basilica overlooking orchards in bloom each spring, then continues past Gremi's hilltop citadel-church, the last capital of independent Kakheti before it burned in 1615. The road's finest single stretch is the approach to Sighnaghi, where an 18th-century circuit of city walls appears suddenly on a hilltop with the entire valley spread beneath it. Because these roads are paved, gently graded and open every month of the year, this is the easiest of Georgia's great scenic drives — no altitude, no rough track, just a valley that looks better the higher the road climbs above it.
Kakheti
Best for Dramatic River-Canyon Scenery
This road follows the Mtkvari River as it narrows into a canyon of bare volcanic rock, and it builds its scenery in stages rather than all at once. From Akhaltsikhe, where the restored Rabati Castle sits inside the town itself, the route runs south with the canyon walls closing in until Khertvisi Fortress appears on a crag exactly where the Mtkvari bends — a defensive position held since at least the 10th century. The final approach to Vardzia is where the road earns its place on this list: the cliff face ahead reveals hundreds of cave openings, the remains of a 12th-century cave city of some 6,000 dwellings commissioned under Queen Tamar. Few roads anywhere end with a cliff that turns out to be a city. The drive is fully paved and manageable May through October, with the last unpaved kilometre to Khertvisi's summit best done on foot.
Samtskhe-Javakheti
Best for a Climate-Shift in One Drive
No other Georgian road changes climate this fast. Leaving Batumi's humid, subtropical coastline, the road runs inland along the Adjaristskali River, passing Makhuntseti's 50-metre basalt waterfall and the arched Queen Tamar Bridge, a 13th-century span still carrying foot traffic. Past Keda the valley narrows and the road begins climbing in earnest toward Khulo, Georgia's highest municipal centre at 1,000 metres, where a cable car crosses the gorge to villages of wooden balconied houses that look nothing like the coast an hour behind. The final 35 kilometres continue to Goderdzi Pass itself, a 2,027-metre gateway where Adjara's humid greenery gives way abruptly to the bare steppe of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Open year-round, though winter snow can require chains, this is the drive for anyone who wants to feel Georgia's geography change under the wheels rather than just look at it from a viewpoint.
Adjara
Best for Quiet, Uncrowded Scenery
Racha carries a fraction of the traffic of Kazbegi or Svaneti, and the driving here rewards exactly that lack of company. From Kutaisi, forested valleys climb steadily toward Ambrolauri, the low-key centre of the Khvanchkara wine region, its semi-sweet reds made from grapes that grow nowhere else. A short detour reaches Nikortsminda Cathedral, an 11th-century hexagonal church with some of Georgia's finest stone carving, standing quietly against green hillsides most visitors never see. East of Ambrolauri, the road runs to Shaori Lake, a reservoir that flooded a valley of villages in 1957 and now lies mirror-still between forested slopes for most of the summer. There is no dramatic pass here and no glacier at the end of it — just steady, unhurried mountain scenery that builds cumulatively rather than in a single reveal, best driven slowly with your own vehicle rather than rushed.
Racha
Best for Families and Easy Access
This is the gentlest drive on the list, and that is precisely its value: paved roads throughout, no altitude to manage and no rough track at the end of it. From Kutaisi, the road runs first to Martvili Canyon, where the Abasha River has carved a 700-metre limestone gorge with turquoise water calm enough for a short boat ride between the walls. A short drive on brings Okatse Canyon, where a 780-metre walkway bolted to the cliff face cantilevers 140 metres above the gorge floor — a viewpoint that needs no hiking fitness to reach. Neither site involves the elevation gain, unpaved surface or seasonal closure that complicate most of Georgia's mountain drives, which makes this the loop to choose with children, in a standard rental car, or as a half-day addition either side of a longer trip through Imereti.
Imereti
Best for Forested Mountain Air
This road trades bare rock and glaciers for something quieter: a river gorge cloaked almost entirely in forest. From Khashuri, the highway follows the Mtkvari as it narrows and the surrounding hills fold into Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, at 85,000 hectares the largest protected forest in the country, its slopes thick with mixed beech and pine that turn gold in October. Borjomi itself sits in the gorge's widest point, its mineral springs and 19th-century park giving the drive a natural rest stop before the road climbs again toward Bakuriani, a ski town built in 1932 that trades the gorge's tree cover for open alpine meadow at altitude. This is not a drive of single dramatic reveals but of sustained, shaded green scenery that feels distinct from anywhere else on this list, and it stays comfortably drivable in an ordinary car for most of the year.
Samtskhe-Javakheti
Match the drive to the vehicle you actually have and the season you are travelling in, not to the photographs alone. The Military Highway, the Alazani Valley road, the Vardzia canyon road, the Martvili–Okatse loop and the Borjomi gorge road are paved and manageable in an ordinary car for most of the year. The stretch beyond Mestia to Ushguli and the Racha road past Ambrolauri need higher clearance and local knowledge of the surface. The Abano Pass and Goderdzi Pass are seasonal or weather-dependent and should never be attempted in an ordinary rental car outside their open months. With one day available, the Military Highway gives the broadest range of scenery for the least logistical risk; with two or three, pair it with either the Alazani Valley for an easy contrast or the Mestia–Ushguli road for the most dramatic one.
This ranking judges the drive itself, not just the places it connects: the experience of the road as scenery changes through the windscreen; how unique the view is compared with anywhere else in Georgia; real-world access (surface, season, whether an ordinary rental car manages it or a 4WD and local driver are required); value against the time and effort involved; the sustained quality of the scenery across the whole route rather than one good viewpoint; the cultural weight of what the road passes through; and sustainability — whether the road and the villages along it can absorb the traffic a ranking like this sends their way. Routes that are only scenic in short bursts, or that duplicate a better-known drive nearby, were left off.
Know before you go
Georgia's main highways are signed in both Georgian and Latin script and fuel stations are frequent outside the high mountains, so self-driving on the paved routes is straightforward with an EU, UK or US licence. Hiring a local driver rather than self-driving is the sensible choice for the Ushguli stretch beyond Mestia, the Racha road past Ambrolauri, and the Abano Pass into Tusheti, all of which combine unpaved surface with sharp drops and no phone signal. Peak driving season runs May to October; Tusheti's Abano Pass is typically open only from late June to early October, the Ushguli track is usually impassable from November through April, and even the Military Highway can face short winter closures after heavy snow, so checking current conditions before setting out costs a few minutes and avoids a wasted day.
The Georgian Military Highway from Tbilisi to Stepantsminda is the most consistently rewarding choice: fully paved, open nearly year-round, and covering a reservoir, a 2,379-metre pass and a glacier-framed church in one continuous route.
For the Military Highway, the Alazani Valley road and the Martvili–Okatse loop, no — an ordinary car is fine. For the final stretch to Ushguli, the Racha road beyond Ambrolauri, and especially the Abano Pass into Tusheti, a 4x4 and an experienced local driver are strongly advised or essential.
Only from roughly late June to early October. Snow closes the pass completely outside this window, cutting Tusheti off from the rest of Georgia until the following summer.
Yes. The Martvili–Okatse Canyon Road from Kutaisi is fully paved with no altitude to manage, and the Alazani Valley Road through Kakheti is similarly gentle while still delivering wide valley views.
Spring and early autumn generally offer the clearest Caucasus views and the fewest crowds. Autumn additionally brings forest colour to the Borjomi and Racha routes, while the high mountain roads are only accessible from June through September or October.
We re-check: Abano Pass and Ushguli track opening/closing dates; seasonal road conditions and chain requirements; cable car and boat-ride operating hours; fuel and driver-hire prices.