Ushguli

Ushguli is the collective name for four closely spaced villages — Chazhashi, Chvibiani, Zhibiani and Murqmeli — standing at the head of the Enguri valley at roughly 2,100 metres. It is regularly described as one of the highest permanently inhabited places in Europe. Since 1996 it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Upper Svaneti site; what is protected is not a single monument but the whole historic pattern of settlement, with its towers, houses and hay meadows.

The view is the main event. Shkhara, Georgia's highest summit at 5,193 metres, rises directly behind the villages and closes the valley. On a low hill above Zhibiani stands Lamaria church, a small twelfth-century building with surviving frescoes and its own defensive tower. In Chazhashi an ethnographic museum displays icons, weapons and household objects.

Things worth knowing in advance:

• In winter the village is often cut off — snow can close the road for weeks at a time
• The final stretch from Mestia is unpaved and genuinely needs a high-clearance vehicle
• Services are minimal — a handful of guesthouses, small cafes, no ATM

Ushguli is not a packaged attraction, and that is exactly its value. It remains a working village: people still keep cattle and cut hay on the same slopes their families worked more than a century ago, while visitors walk between the towers.