By Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD · 15/09/2026
Kazbegi in a day is one thing — the church, the view, the drive back. Kazbegi with a night in the mountains is another, and the difference is Juta.
Where it is
From Stepantsminda a road turns east up the Sno valley, past the village of Sno with its tower, and climbs for twenty kilometres of gravel to Juta, at 2,200 metres — the highest village in the Khevi region and one of the highest in Georgia. A dozen households live here year-round; in winter they are cut off for weeks. Beyond the village there is no road at all, only a footpath into the Chaukhi valley, where the trail ends at the foot of the Chaukhi massif: seven granite pinnacles, the “Georgian Dolomites”, rising a thousand metres straight out of the meadow.
Why dawn
Juta faces east. The first light hits the Chaukhi towers before it reaches anything else, and for twenty minutes they turn from grey to gold to rose while the valley floor is still in shadow. By nine the light is ordinary. By eleven the first groups from Tbilisi arrive. The people who see Juta at its best are the ones who slept in Stepantsminda and left at seven.
The walk
From the last house, a path follows the stream up the valley. It is gentle — an hour to the Fifth Season hut, where there is coffee and a view of the whole massif, and another hour to a small lake below the rock wall. Nothing technical, no altitude problems for most people, and the option to turn back at any point. In June the meadows are full of rhododendron and gentian; in September the grass is yellow and the air has an edge. Bring a layer: 2,200 metres is cold before the sun clears the ridge, even in August.
Above the lake the serious trails begin — over the Chaukhi pass to Roshka and the Abudelauri lakes, a full day for fit walkers. That is a different trip.
Practical
The road is fine for a 4×4 and doubtful for anything else after rain; GTour uses a 4×4 from Stepantsminda. Juta is open from late May to October; earlier and later the road is snowed in. There are two or three simple guesthouses in the village if you want to sleep even higher. No shops — bring water. Phone signal is intermittent, which most guests report as a benefit.
See it with GTour
Juta is the second morning of the Kazbegi 2-day mountain journey, and the third day of Georgia in 7 days.
ქართულად: ჯუთა გამთენიისას — ბოლო ხეობა, სანამ მთები დაიხურება
