Journal
The Altimera Journal
Writing about New Gudauri by the Altimera Collection team who live and work there: the seasons, the drive from Tbilisi, the snow, the resort itself, and what buying an apartment here actually involves.
What this journal is for
Almost everything written in English about Gudauri is written by people who have not been in February. We run eleven apartments inside the resort year round, so the posts here come from somebody who was standing in it: which lift queue moves, what the Georgian Military Highway is like when it snows, what a season actually returned, what the summer looks like once the lifts stop.
Where a post touches a local business, that business is independent of Altimera and is listed with its own contact details in the Gudauri Directory, so you book it with them rather than with us. Where a post touches a number, we say which season it came from. Where we do not know, we say that instead of rounding.
One email a week
New posts go up through the week, but the mailing list only hears from us once: a single Friday digest covering everything published that week. Three emails a week to someone who booked a ski apartment reads as spam, so we do not send them.
All 23 posts
· 6 min
Off-piste and heli-skiing in Gudauri
Gudauri's ski area sits above the treeline, which makes the off-piste unusually easy to reach and almost entirely unpatrolled. The terrain, the risk, the kit.
· 5 min
Gudauri when you are not skiing
A spa with a pool inside New Gudauri, paragliding that runs all winter, and the drive north towards Kazbegi. Rest days, storm days and non-skiers.
· 5 min
Skiing Gudauri with children
Gentle nursery slopes, wide runs, a locker downstairs and a kitchen upstairs. How a family day works here, and what is genuinely hard about it.
· 5 min
Owning a Gudauri apartment: your three options
Own a studio in New Gudauri and you have three routes: let it night by night in the Altimera Collection, let the whole ski season, or sell. How each works.
· 6 min
Horse riding in Juta: season, routes and prices
Juta horse riding runs 1 June to 30 October, from Juta village to the lake under Chaukhi. Routes, prices and the last 3 km by road, checked 21 September 2026.
· 5 min
Gudauri ski rental: what to book and bring
Gudauri has seven rental shops, most a few minutes from the lifts, so you can rent skis or a snowboard on arrival. What a set includes and what to bring.
· 5 min
What to pack for a week in Gudauri
Altitude, strong sun and real cold at once. What to bring, what people forget, what you can hire in the resort, and what the apartment already has.
· 6 min
Eating and drinking in Gudauri
Altimera's directory lists 14 restaurants, six cafes and eight bars in Gudauri. What to order, where to find halal food, what is open on the mountain.
· 6 min
Gudauri to Kazbegi as a day trip
Stepantsminda and Gergeti lie over the Jvari Pass from Gudauri. Official distances, why the pass closes in winter, and how guests book their own ride.
· 6 min
What it costs to buy an apartment in Gudauri
The asking price plus a 2.5% Altimera Fee at completion, then state registration and your own lawyer. Worked through five real New Gudauri listings.
· 5 min
What ski-in, ski-out really means in New Gudauri
Here it means a three and a half minute walk to the gondola and a ski locker on the first floor. What the phrase does not mean, and what to ask anywhere.
· 5 min
Where to eat in Kazbegi and Stepantsminda
Maisi, Tiba, Qondari and the restaurant at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi: what each one publishes about its own hours and booking, checked on 9 September 2026.
· 6 min
Gudauri ski pass: hours, rules and night skiing
A Gudauri ski pass has to be a physical card: the operator says an electronic ticket or QR code will not work at the turnstile. The rules, checked today.
· 6 min
Gudauri or Bakuriani: which resort to book?
Gudauri sits 500 metres higher than Bakuriani and 60 km closer to Tbilisi. Altitude, lifts, night skiing and pass rules, side by side.
· 5 min
Skiing Gudauri for the first time
Wide open bowls above the treeline, a base at 2,200 metres and a lot of sun. What to expect from the mountain, and how to spend your first few days sensibly.
· 6 min
Is Gudauri good for beginners?
Yes, and the reason is the shape of the mountain. The catch: the beginner terrain sits in five separate places, so day one needs a map as well as a lesson.
· 5 min
What a Gudauri rental management agreement says
Altimera publishes its management agreement in full: 20% of net rental revenue, monthly payouts, a twelve month term, sixty days' notice. Read clause by clause.
· 4 min
How often does a Gudauri apartment actually rent?
The eleven Altimera apartments ran at 70% occupancy across the 2025/26 ski season, around 90% in February. What that number means for a buyer, and does not.
· 4 min
When to ski Gudauri: the season month by month
December to April, and each month is a different holiday. A month-by-month guide to snow, crowds and what you are trading off, so you can pick your week.
· 4 min
Getting from Tbilisi to Gudauri in winter
The drive is about two and a half hours on the Georgian Military Highway. How to choose between a transfer, a taxi and a minibus, and what winter does to it.
· 5 min
The quiet case for booking direct
Airbnb adds a guest service fee; Booking.com takes commission from the property. Where the money actually goes, how to compare totals, and the honest trade.
· 5 min
Beyond the slopes: Gudauri in summer
The Gudauri summer lifts opened on 18 July in 2026, so the green season is shorter than the calendar suggests. When to come, and what is running when.
· 5 min
First tracks: a winter morning in New Gudauri
The Gudauri lifts run 10:00 to 17:00, so first tracks are won at the gondola, not at dawn. What a winter morning in New Gudauri looks like, hour by hour.
Not sure where to start?
The posts sit under four pillars. If you have come here with a specific question rather than to browse, the pillar page will answer it faster than the archive will.
- Planning a ski trip
- The winter page covers the season, the apartments and what a week here costs. The snow report is rebuilt weekly from live forecast data rather than written from memory.Read it →
- Coming in summer
- What there is to do when the snow goes, when the summer lifts actually run, and the hiking that needs no lift at all.Read it →
- Getting here, and the resort itself
- Where Gudauri is, what the drive from Tbilisi is like, where to eat, and the 77 local businesses in the directory with their own contact details.Read it →
- Buying an apartment here
- The market, the four-step process for a foreign buyer, and the occupancy the collection actually achieved in its first full season.Read it →