The Caucasus with a backpack: what it costs, where you sleep, how you travel and in what order

If there is a place made for travelling with a backpack it is the Caucasus: three small, different countries, with 5,000-metre mountains three hours from the capital, monasteries in every valley, food that fills you for little, transport that is uncomfortable but goes everywhere and a hospitality that turns any stop into an invitation. And cheap, to the point that a whole day, with bed, meals and transport, costs less than a dinner at home. What you need to know is how to organise it, because there are borders you cannot cross and distances that deceive.

What it costs

In Georgia, with a bed in a hostel dorm or a family house, market food and cheap restaurants, marshrutkas and entry fees, between 30 and 40 euros a day; with your own room, the odd better restaurant and an excursion with a driver, between 50 and 70. Armenia is similar or a little cheaper for food; Azerbaijan, and above all Baku, somewhat dearer for lodging. Two weeks in Georgia, without flights, come to 450 to 600 euros on a tight budget and 800 to 1,000 with comforts. You pay cash in the villages and by card in the cities; cash machines are everywhere.

Where you sleep

The three capitals have good hostels, with dorms and atmosphere: in Tbilisi, Fabrika, a Soviet sewing factory turned into a hostel in 2016, with a courtyard of bars and workshops, is the meeting point, and there are a dozen more in the old town and in Vera; Yerevan has several in the centre, around Abovyan street, and Baku in the old city. Outside the capitals, the bed is the family house: a room, dinner and breakfast per person for a few lari or drams, in Mestia, Kazbegi, Ushguli, the villages of Kakheti, Dilijan, Goris, Sheki. You book on the platforms or by phone, and in July and August in Mestia and Kazbegi it is wise to do so before arriving; the rest of the year you find a place as you get off the marshrutka.

How you travel

By marshrutka, the minibus that leaves each city's station when it fills, to any village in the country, for little; by the slow, cheap trains, which at night save you a bed: Tbilisi to Zugdidi for Svaneti, Tbilisi to Batumi, Yerevan to Tbilisi; and by shared taxis between cities, which are the middle ground. Between countries: Georgia and Armenia have an open road border, with daily six-hour marshrutkas Tbilisi to Yerevan and the night train; Georgia and Azerbaijan shared an open land border until 2020, when Azerbaijan closed it, and since then you enter only by air, with cheap flights from Tbilisi; Armenia and Azerbaijan have no open border with each other, and anyone with Karabakh stamps does not get into Azerbaijan. Check the state of the borders before drawing the route.

The route

The classic one, three or four weeks: start in Tbilisi, two or three days, and go up to Kazbegi, two days; come back and head west, Kutaisi and its caves, Mestia and Svaneti, four or five days, and down to Batumi; back to Tbilisi by night train, cross into Armenia by road, Yerevan, Garni and Geghard, Sevan, Dilijan, Tatev and Goris, a week, and return to Tbilisi; and from there, a flight to Baku, Sheki, Lahij or Quba, four or five days, and the flight out. With two weeks and one country, Georgia: Tbilisi, Kazbegi, Kakheti, Kutaisi, Svaneti, and Batumi if there are days left. With four days, Tbilisi and Kazbegi, on the direct marshrutka, is the circuit everyone does and it does not disappoint. What to see in each place is in the complete guide to the Caucasus.

What you eat

Bakery khachapuri, khinkali by the piece, lobio in a clay pot, oven bread, cheese and tomatoes from the market: on that you eat for almost nothing. The markets, the Dezerter by the station in Tbilisi, the GUM in Yerevan, the Green Bazaar in Kutaisi, give fruit, walnuts, churchkhela and cheese for the road; and in the family houses, dinner is the highlight of the trip. Tap water is drinkable in Tbilisi and in the mountains; home-made wine, in moderation.

Frequently asked questions