The waterfalls of the Caucasus you can see without being a mountaineer: where they are, how far you walk and when they carry water

The mountains of the Caucasus stop the clouds coming off the Black Sea and hold the snow until June, and all of that has to come down: that is why every valley has its waterfall, and they come in every size, from the one dropping off a ledge two steps from the road to the 70-metre ones at the bottom of a canyon. Few have signs and none have crowds; this list gathers those you can see with a walk, in the three countries and in the north, with how long it really takes and in which month they fall hardest.

Georgia

Gveleti, at Kazbegi

Seven km from Stepantsminda, in the Dariali gorge: a track to a car park and twenty or thirty minutes up a bare ravine to a 25-metre drop over a concave wall of dark rock, with a smaller fall on a fifteen-minute side branch. The best effort-to-reward ratio in the country, with three times the water in June that it has in September.

Ninoskhevi, at Lagodekhi

In the national park at the eastern tip of Kakheti, the marked trail climbs through beech forest to a 40-metre waterfall on a mossy rock wall: ten kilometres return, three or four hours, with a ford. The Lagodekhi guide has the rest of the park, including the long route to the Black Lake.

Kinchkha, beside Okatse

In Imereti, 50 km from Kutaisi, the Okatse river drops in two falls of more than 70 metres through forest, with walkways and stairs down to the pool; it is Georgia's accessible high waterfall and pairs with the Okatse canyon and its hanging walkway in the same morning. Best in May and June.

Makhuntseti, in Adjara

Thirty km from Batumi, up the Adjaristskali valley: 30 metres of water beside the road, with a medieval stone arch bridge next to it, wine stalls and Batumi families on Sundays. It is the half-day trip from the beach, and in the heat you get under it.

Armenia

Jermuk

At the spa town of Jermuk, Armenia's highest waterfall, 68 metres fanning over the Arpa gorge, seen from a viewpoint in the town and from below by a half-hour path. Called the Mermaid's Hair, for its shape and its legend.

Shaki, at Sisian

Six km from Sisian, in Syunik, 18 metres of water in a wide curtain over a basalt wall, in a setting of rock and grass: the oddity is that the water is regulated by a hydroelectric plant upstream and released at certain hours, so ask in Sisian before going, so as not to find the wall dry. It combines with the stones of Zorats Karer, 10 minutes away.

Azerbaijan and the north

Afurja, at Quba

In the Quba district in the north, the country's highest fall, 75 metres in a landscape of forest and red hills, an hour and a half of track from the town with a local driver; best in spring, when the hills are green.

Tobot, in Dagestan

On the other side of the range, in the Russian Caucasus, the Tobot waterfall by Khunzakh drops some 70 metres into the Tsolotl canyon and is among the most photographed in the north; it is on the list as a reference, because travelling to Russia today is complicated by visas and everything else.

Advice

May and June, with the thaw, are the months of most water at all of them; in summer there is less flow and better weather, and in autumn, at Kinchkha and Lagodekhi, the colours. Shoes with a sole, because the rock by the water is polished and wet; a layer for the spray at Gveleti and Kinchkha. For photos, a polarising filter if you carry a camera and, with a phone, brace it and avoid midday. Swim where local people swim, Makhuntseti, Arzakan, the lower pools of Gveleti, and not in the national parks, where it is prohibited.

Frequently asked questions