Monument · Kazbegi Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument
Monument of Friendship · Treaty of Georgievsk Monument · Gudauri Panorama
A circular stone-and-concrete monument of 1983 on the Georgian Military Highway between Gudauri and the Jvari Pass, lined inside with a tiled mural of Georgian and Russian history above a deep valley.
Where it is
42.4923, 44.4530
Why go
It was put up for the bicentenary of the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk. The reason most travellers pull over today is the outlook: the platform beside the monument, which locals call the panoramic belvedere, looks down into the valley of the Tetri Aragvi. In summer and early autumn tandem paragliders launch here at 2,245 metres and land by the river after flights of twenty to twenty-five minutes. The mural runs the whole way round the inside of the structure and is worth a close look. Standing directly on the highway, it is a roadside stop on the way to or from Stepantsminda.
Near Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument
Church
Gergeti Trinity Church
A walled 14th-century church on the hill above Stepantsminda, standing in front of Mount Kazbek, which rises to 5,054 metres behind it.
23 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Waterfall
Gveleti Waterfall
The larger of two waterfalls above Gveleti village near the Dariali gorge, a thirty-metre fall reached on foot after a short drive north from Stepantsminda.
27 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mountain
Chaukhi Pass
A high walking pass below the rock towers of the Chaukhi massif, climbed from Juta village near Stepantsminda and looking down on the Abudelauri lakes on the Khevsureti side.
31 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Lake
Abudelauri Lakes
Three small glacial lakes — white, blue and green — in the Abudelauri valley of Khevsureti beneath the Chaukhi massif, reached on foot from Roshka where the paved road ends.
32 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ