Lake Paravani and Lake Tabatskuri

The Javakheti plateau is the least touristic landscape in Georgia: a treeless volcanic tableland at around 2,000 metres where nothing interrupts the horizon. Two of the country's most significant high lakes sit on it.

Paravani is the largest lake in Georgia by surface area, roughly 37 square kilometres, yet remarkably shallow — barely three metres at its deepest. It freezes solid in winter. Tabatskuri is the opposite: over forty metres deep, known for its trout, with a wilder and harder-to-reach shoreline.

Both lakes are important stopovers on a migration corridor. In spring and autumn cranes, geese, ducks and even pelicans rest here, and the Javakheti Protected Areas were established largely to safeguard these wetlands.

What to expect:

• vast open views, near-total silence and constant wind
• villages of Armenian and Greek origin along the shores, often built from stone and dung brick
• essentially no infrastructure — no cafe, toilet or shop at the water

This is a destination for travellers who want empty space rather than a checklist of monuments. Photographers come for the light, which on a clear day across an unbroken plateau is unlike anywhere else in the country.