Gudauri or Bakuriani: which resort to book?

Gudauri sits 500 metres higher than Bakuriani and is 60 km closer to Tbilisi, so if snow reliability and driving time are your two tests, Gudauri wins both. Bakuriani is the better answer if you are teaching a small child to ski, want trees around you in flat light, or want to be on snow at eight in the evening on a Tuesday.

Both resorts are run by the same operator, the Mountain Trails Agency (M.T.A.), which also runs Mestia and Goderdzi. That is useful, because one source publishes comparable numbers for both. Everything attributed to M.T.A. below was read on its own site, mta.ski, on 4 September 2026.

How high is each resort, and does it matter?

M.T.A. puts Gudauri at 2,200 metres and Bakuriani at 1,700 metres. That 500 metre gap is most of the argument in one number. Higher usually means colder, so the snow that falls stays snow for longer and the season holds together better at either end of the winter.

The altitude also changes what you are looking at. Gudauri is open mountain above the treeline. Bakuriani, in M.T.A.'s own description, is "renowned for its coniferous forests and pristine air". On a flat light day, trees give your eyes something to read and the terrain stops being a white page. Gudauri in poor visibility is genuinely harder work.

Bakuriani hedges the snow question a different way. M.T.A. credits "modern infrastructure and artificial snowmaking" with keeping conditions good through the Bakuriani season, and makes no equivalent snowmaking claim for Gudauri, whose entry leads instead on "abundant snowfall and excellent snow quality". Read that as two answers to the same problem: Bakuriani manufactures a floor under a lower, warmer resort, and Gudauri relies on being high.

How big is each resort?

M.T.A. publishes 12 ski lifts and 33 km of trails for Bakuriani, across three separate ski areas: Didveli, Kokhta and Mitarbi. One pass covers all three, in the operator's words: "An MTA ski pass provides access to all lifts and slopes within these areas."

It publishes no lift count and no piste-kilometre figure for Gudauri on the same page. Worth knowing before weighing up numbers found elsewhere: the figures circulating online for Gudauri range from around 35 km to over 80 km depending on the source. We could not source one from the operator, so this post does not quote one.

What M.T.A. does say about Gudauri: four grades of trail, green, blue, red and black; heliskiing, freeriding, paragliding and a snow park; a ski destination since 1988; and a connection to Kobi "via a 45-minute scenic lift ride" heading towards Stepantsminda. Bakuriani's competitive record is the more recent one: it hosted the 2023 World Championships in Freestyle, Snowboard and Ski Cross.

The difference behind the numbers is shape. Bakuriani is "three distinct skiing areas" in its operator's own words, so plan it as three places on one pass, not as one linked mountain.

Which is easier to reach from Tbilisi?

M.T.A. gives Gudauri as 120 km from Tbilisi, in the Kazbegi municipality, and Bakuriani as 180 km, in the Borjomi municipality. Gudauri is about two and a half hours by road from Tbilisi on the Georgian Military Highway. We are not publishing a driving time for Bakuriani, because we have not verified one.

One thing applies either way: Altimera does not operate or arrange transport. Guests book transport directly with an operator. What the road is actually like in winter is covered in Tbilisi to Gudauri in winter.

What do the lift timetables actually say?

Both resorts run their lifts daily from 10:00 to 17:00: the Gudauri and Kobi areas at one, Didveli, Kokhta and Mitarbi at the other. The difference is after dark.

• Bakuriani: night skiing daily, 17:00 to 21:30.
• Gudauri: night skiing every Friday and Saturday, 20:00 to 22:00.

That is roughly four and a half hours of night skiing available every day of the week at Bakuriani, against two hours twice a week at Gudauri. If evening skiing matters to you, that one line settles the choice.

The catch is the pass, and it is the same at both resorts: "Daily ski passes do not include night skiing. Only seasonal ski passes allow access to both day and night skiing." Night Skiing is its own category in the price list, sold at resort ticket offices and online.

Other rules M.T.A. applies at both resorts, worth knowing before you queue:

• Passes are sold at the ticket office up to 30 minutes before the lifts stop.
• The physical card is mandatory at the turnstile. In the operator's words, "You cannot use the lift with an electronic ticket or QR code."
• A purchased pass cannot be cancelled or refunded.
• Two people cannot share a card, and using someone else's gets the pass cancelled.
• Lifts are free for children under 6. Child is 6 to 12 inclusive, Junior 13 to 18 inclusive.
• Last season's Multicard is reusable and can be topped up in any season.
• A lost personal pass must be reported at the ticket office within 24 hours or it will not be restored.

Which one for a family, and which one for a skier?

Bakuriani is the family answer, and M.T.A. sells it that way: a "family-friendly atmosphere", a seasonal pass that "includes unlimited toboggan rides", and a summer season running June to September. Lower altitude is easier on small children, and night skiing every evening turns a short winter day into a longer one.

Gudauri is the answer if the trip is about skiing rather than a holiday with skiing in it. It is high, open, and steep in places, and the operator lists heliskiing, freeriding and a snow park among what it offers. M.T.A. describes it as "known for its advanced trails but also caters to beginners", which matches what we see: a workable place to learn and a better one to improve. That is set out at length in Is Gudauri good for beginners?.

When does each season run?

M.T.A. gives the Bakuriani winter season as December to March. It publishes no equivalent winter window for Gudauri on the same page, and calls Gudauri "a year-round resort". Altimera's own Full Ski Season let runs 15 December to 15 April, which is our letting window rather than a statement about lift opening dates.

If exact dates decide your booking, check with the operator close to the time rather than trusting any published window, including this one. Which month suits which kind of skier is set out in when to ski Gudauri, month by month.

So which should you book?

Bakuriani if the trip is built around children, forests, tobogganing and evenings on the snow. Gudauri if it is built around altitude, open terrain above the treeline, a shorter drive from the airport, and something to go at off the side of the piste.

We are not a neutral party in this. Altimera manages and lets eleven studio apartments in New Gudauri, ski-in and ski-out, three and a half minutes' walk from the gondola.

If Gudauri is the one, start with the Gudauri resort guide for what is where, or check your dates and we will come back with what is free.

Deciding between the two resorts as a buyer rather than as a skier is a different question, and it starts with what an apartment actually costs: what it costs to buy an apartment in Gudauri goes through it line by line.