Gudauri Ski Resort: slopes, season and how to get there

Gudauri is Georgia’s biggest and highest ski resort: wide, treeless slopes on the southern plateau of the Greater Caucasus, running from about 2,000 metres up to 3,276 metres. Last season the lifts turned from 27 December to 19 April, and an adult day pass cost 70 GEL. Skiing is the main draw, but the resort earns a stop even outside winter, for the views along the Georgian Military Road and a Soviet-era monument that has become a landmark in its own right.

Why the resort is famous

Gudauri lies along the Georgian Military Road near the Cross Pass, about 120 km north of Tbilisi, and it’s the country’s largest ski centre by a wide margin. The resort dates back to the late 1980s, though most of today’s lifts and hotels arrived only in the 2010s. The village itself sits around 2,200 metres, and the ski area climbs from about 1,989 metres to 3,276 metres at the top station (Georgia’s tourism board gives the lower base figure; an independent ski database rounds it up to 1,993 m), served by gondolas and chairlifts (the operator publishes no lift count; the ski database lists about 17). Piste length is measured just as loosely: the same tourism board counts 37 km, the ski database counts 34.8 km for the same slopes. Either way, the point of Gudauri isn’t the length of the trail map. It’s the terrain: open, treeless slopes that work equally well for a groomed blue run and for freeriding straight past the piste markers, which is why the resort has a strong off-piste reputation. Heliskiing is on offer, and paragliders launch from the same slopes on clear days, though the flights are weather-dependent and get cancelled when snowfall or poor visibility sets in during peak weeks.

The ski season and slopes

As of 12 September 2026, Gudauri hasn’t announced its 2026/2027 dates, and that’s not a delay, just how Mountain Trails Agency (MTA), the state operator, works: it gives little notice. The 2025/26 season was announced on 17 December 2025 and ran from 27 December to 19 April; a year earlier the notice came on 18 December for a 21 December opening, three days’ warning. Lifts run 10:00 to 17:00 daily, and on Fridays and Saturdays floodlit runs stay open for night skiing from 20:00 to 22:00, sold as a separate ticket rather than folded into the day pass.

Snow depth on the mountain averages 1 to 2 metres through the season, and Georgia’s tourism board rates January and February as the best months for conditions; late March and early April bring thinner cover but noticeably lower prices, while the resort is busiest around New Year, from late December through the first half of January. Freestylers get a zone of their own too: the Snow Park, built for jumps and rails, sits higher up the mountain between roughly 2,720 and 2,845 metres.

What really defines Gudauri is who it suits. Most runs are gentle and wide, which makes it one of the better places in the Caucasus to click into skis for the first time, while the same open slopes give strong skiers a huge amount of room to go off-piste the moment they want to. It’s a rare resort that works for a total beginner and someone chasing fresh powder in the same week. Weighing it against the country’s other big resort: Bakuriani sits lower, among trees, and leans family, while our side-by-side of the two breaks down the prices and dates in full.

Ski passes and how to buy one

Every ski pass at Gudauri, single day or full season, rides on the same reusable plastic Multicard, 5 GEL and topped up rather than replaced each time - there’s no e-ticket or QR code that works at the turnstile, and MTA’s own FAQ says so outright. Last season’s Gudauri-only ladder ran 70 GEL for one adult day, 140 for two, 200 for three, 260 for four, 300 for five and 340 for six (child tickets, ages 6 to 12, are exactly half at every tier); a two-day pass costs precisely twice the daily rate, so the multi-day discount only starts from three days up - though MTA runs promotions on top: in 2025/26 it took 30% off 1-6 day adult passes bought online with a TBC Concept Visa card from 11 March (two passes per card), 30% off 7- and 10-day MULTISKI passes from 20 January, and 30% off seasonal MULTISKI passes in December. Six days is as far as the Gudauri-only ladder goes. Ask for a seventh day and you step into MULTISKI territory instead: a 7-day pass at 370 GEL, valid not just at Gudauri but at Bakuriani, Goderdzi and Mestia too, with a 10-day pass at 460 GEL and a full season at 650 GEL (325 for a child). Juniors aged 13 to 18 get their own season rate at 375 GEL (a physical ID card or birth certificate is checked at purchase), and a 300 GEL student season pass exists but is issued only to Georgian citizens, with student status checked against the education ministry’s database at the ticket office - so it’s not an option for visitors. None of it is refundable, at the ticket office or online, and a day lost to bad weather isn’t compensated either.

You can buy in person at the resort ticket offices (open until 30 minutes before the lifts close), at the Marco Polo Gudauri Hotel or Smart supermarkets in Tbilisi, Gudauri, Borjomi and Zhinvali, or online through SKIPASS.GE and other resellers, though buying online means handing over a passport or personal ID number, and the physical card only gets delivered within Tbilisi. Rental gear runs about 50 GEL a day for a ski set and about 70 GEL for a snowboard, and it’s genuinely worth checking your travel insurance before you fly: Georgia’s own tourism board warns that standard policies often don’t cover skiing at all.

What to see and do

Skiing aside, the drive itself is a reason to stop. The Georgian Military Road opens onto panoramas of snow-covered ridges, and a few minutes from the lifts stands the Friendship of Peoples Monument: a round stone platform built in 1983 for the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk, its interior wrapped in a tile mural of Georgian and Russian history. It overlooks a gorge locals call Devil’s Valley, and the view is worth the short stop even if the history behind it doesn’t interest you.

If you would rather see the mountains without clipping into skis, the Kobi gondola sells sightseeing rides separately from any ski pass: a single ride is 20 GEL, three rides come to 55 GEL, and a return “Kobi View” combo runs 45 GEL for an adult and 35 for a child - useful for a non-skiing partner. Those are winter-season prices from the 2025/26 list; the lifts stop when the season closes, and in 2026 the summer season began on 18 July with the Gudauri and Kobi lifts running 11:00-17:00, so check MTA’s summer notice and prices before a green-season trip.

What to keep in mind when visiting

Winter tyres are a legal requirement across Georgia’s designated mountain zones from 1 December to 1 March, and the high pass above Gudauri is exactly the kind of stretch where that gets enforced, so don’t try the road on summer tyres out of season. If you landed in Kutaisi, the road is different: the direct winter bus, the transfer and the chain via Tbilisi are covered in Kutaisi Airport to Gudauri. Heavy snow or avalanche risk can also close the road outright for a few hours at a time; check conditions before you set off, not once you’re already on the way. Where you sleep matters more than it sounds: New Gudauri sits closer to most of the lifts, while Old Gudauri tends to have cheaper food but usually means a short transfer to reach the slopes each morning. Restaurants on the mountain run pricier than elsewhere in Georgia and mostly open for the winter season only; Old Gudauri’s options cost less, if not exactly cheap. On the safety side, trained ski patrols and rescue teams have covered the slopes since 2016, backed by a fully equipped medical station on site. The altitude makes itself felt even outside ski season, so pack a warm layer whatever month you’re visiting.

Nearby

Gudauri sits on the Tbilisi to Kazbegi route, about 33 km and roughly half an hour short of Stepantsminda itself. South along the same road lies Ananuri fortress, and to the north, Gergeti Trinity Church. The most dramatic run of switchbacks up toward the Jvari Pass starts right at Gudauri, and the full route stop by stop is in the Georgian Military Road guide. Driving is the easiest way to see it all; for how to rent a car, see the car hire section, and for more places nearby, the things to see section. No car? A marshrutka from Didube runs several times a day in high season, and a shared taxi or a booked transfer both work too; the prices, timing and winter tyre rules are broken down in the Tbilisi to Gudauri guide.