GeorgiaOfficial tourism
Abano Pass

The gateway to Georgia's wildest frontier

Abano Pass

Why go

Abano Pass is the only thread connecting Tusheti to the rest of Georgia—a 2,926-meter gateway that demands respect and rewards with revelation. The road, unpaved and nerve-testing, climbs through beech forests into a realm of scree slopes and silence where shepherds have crossed with their flocks for millennia. This is not scenery made for comfort; it is landscape as obstacle and offering. To traverse it is to understand why Tusheti remained isolated until the 1980s, why its villages preserved medieval towers and pre-Christian rituals, why few visitors make the journey—and why those who do carry it for life. The pass itself is stark and wind-scoured, a place of temporary pause before descent into a world that time forgot.

On the ground See

  • The Abano Pass viewpoint (2,926 m) where the entire Greater Caucasus range unfolds southward toward Dagestan
  • The seasonal shepherd encampments (July-September) where Tushetian families still practice transhumance with sheep, horses, and dogs
  • The descent into Tusheti proper, revealing the first stone towers of Dartlo and the Pirikiti Valley's suspended villages

Practical Know before you go

The pass is only passable from late June to early October; outside these months, Tusheti is completely cut off by snow—plan for a 4WD vehicle, full fuel tank, and no phone signal.

Last reviewed 25 August 2026 · reviewed quarterly