Caucasus

The Caucasus (Caucasia) is a region between the Black and Caspian Seas. It consists of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Known for its alpine terrain, the Caucasus is home to Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain peak in Europe, on the Russo-Georgian border. The region is considered part of the natural boundary between Europe and Asia.



Caucasus is a compact and diverse region. Its residents come from disparate ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds. In part due to this great diversity, historically the region has been embroiled in numerous ethnic and political conflicts, some of which remain unresolved to this day. Despite this difficult history, the Caucasus is for the most part safe for travel and increasingly ranks among popular emerging tourist destinations.

Countries and regions
Parts of Turkey and Iran are also included in the Caucasus, but we don't cover them in this article as they are covered under the Middle East.

Cities



 * — the region's largest city, international oil hub, and ancient capital of Azerbaijan
 * — Georgia's largest seaport is also the regional partying capital, and has been serving as a summer resort since the bygone days of the czars
 * — the home of the Armenian Apostolic Church contains a cathedral, churches, and museums
 * — a beautiful Azerbaijani city in a forest mountain setting
 * — Karabakh's main town makes a base to explore this undeveloped upland area
 * — Abkhazia's sub-tropical beach resort capital makes a change from the mountains
 * — Georgia's vibrant capital, surrounded by mountains, and filled with good food and wine
 * — The capital of South Ossetia is the most accessible part of the remote and isolated region
 * — Armenia's capital is the region's most laid-back, with great places to eat, and within easy striking distance of the country's principal attractions

Other destinations



 * — a spectacular canyon in northern Armenia studded with world heritage monasteries.
 * — the most photographed place in Armenia, a simple monastery atop a hill, right at the border, at the foot of Mount Ararat
 * — a cave monastery in the Georgia desert, full of beautiful old cave frescoes, and overlooking the vast empty expanse to the south in Azerbaijan
 * — big, beautiful mountain lake in Armenia
 * — ancient petroglyphs, south of Baku
 * — home to Georgia's breathtaking Tsminda Sameba Monastery
 * — one of Georgia impressive cave cities, hewn from the rock of a river gorge

Geography
The Caucasus contains two eponymous mountain ranges: the Greater Caucasus, which runs between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, largely following Russia's border with Georgia; and the Lesser Caucasus range, which runs in the south around the borders of Georgia, Turkey and Armenia. Geographically, the Caucasus and its mountain ranges are considered part of the natural boundary between Europe and Asia. The exact definitions of this boundary vary; however, due to cultural and socio-political factors, the region as a whole is generally viewed as part of modern Europe. Generally speaking, Georgians and Armenians identify as Europeans rather than Asians, while Azerbaijanis tend to have a more mixed identity.

History
This region has seen the ebb and flow of empires throughout the ages. The three traditional states south of the Caucasus — Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia — have been united and independent twice in their history. Tigranes the Great held a large kingdom here in the 1st century BC; and for a few months in 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic briefly saw the three countries united. Between these two periods, Romans, Byzantines, Mongols, Persians, Ottomans, Imperial Russians and Soviets have all held sway in different parts and at different times.

Early modern history
Nineteenth century imperial Russian expansion laid the foundations for the region's current look. While for centuries the Ottoman Empire held parts of Armenia and Georgia and the Persians nominally controlled Azerbaijan, neither fully subjugated or integrated the native peoples.

Soviet times
The Soviet successors to the Russian Empire briefly lost control of the region in 1918, but by the 1920s the three states had been folded into the USSR. Soviet rule attempted to galvanize a united Soviet identity but the different groups held on to their customs, religions and loyalties.

As the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s, fierce nationalism took the region. The cosmopolitan mixes of peoples that the Soviets cultivated proved immiscible as people migrated, often forced, to their ethnic homelands. The arbitrary boundaries of the Soviet republics, and hence those of the new independent states, ensured lasting hostility within and between the three states.

Post-Soviet confusion


In 1994, the ethnically Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan waged war against the Azeris. With Armenian backing, a new republic was created. However, no established nation - not even Armenia - officially recognizes it. Diplomatic arguments over the region continue to mar relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and both countries bar the other's citizens from entering their country, with Azerbaijan also banning anyone of Armenian ethnicity regardless of country of birth or citizenship. In 2020, as a result of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, Azerbaijan regained much of Nagorno-Karabakh and all of the surrounding Azerbaijani territories. The war ended with a ceasefire brokered by Russia, in which Azerbaijan got to keep the territories it reclaimed, and Russian troops were deployed to the remaining Armenian-controlled areas of Nagorno-Karabakh for peacekeeping duties.

In 2008, Georgian efforts to bring to heel the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia backfired when the Georgian troops sent to reclaim South Ossetia were quickly overwhelmed by Russian troops sent to back the separatists, with the Russian military overrunning much of Georgia proper. A ceasefire was agreed and Russia withdrew its troops to the boundaries of the new republics, which it diplomatically recognizes, though they are still not recognized by the United States and its allies.

Hostilities have largely cooled, though Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia remain internally unstable, and the three states are left trying to find a place in the new world. Georgia has looked west and become a staunch ally of the United States and the European Union, though its hopes of joining NATO and the EU were not realized soon enough to prevent the Russian invasion. Armenia remained loyal to Russia up till the Armenian Revolution in 2018, but since then has pivoted its foreign policy alignment away from Russia towards the United States. Azerbaijan, because of its cultural and linguistic ties to Turkey and other Turkic-speaking Central Asian countries, has more political links in those directions, though it continues to have cordial relations with Russia.

Culture


The Caucasus is the region where the borders between the Ottoman, Persian and Russian empires, as well as local kingdoms, were drawn and re-drawn several times across the centuries; today, it remains the centre of a three-way geopolitical contest between Russia, Turkey, and the United States. It is home to many ethnic groups, who were heavily influenced by their various conquering kingdoms but at the same time, were able to develop unique identities, as well as preserve ancient customs and traditions. In terms of religion, Armenia, Georgia and the Russian region of North Ossetia are mostly Orthodox Christian. Russia's North Caucasus (with the exception of North Ossetia) is mostly Sunni Muslim. Azerbaijan is mostly Shia Muslim but has a strong culture of secularism inherited from Soviet times.

While travelling here expect to meet friendly locals, eat food like none other on earth and witness breathtaking mountain vistas. The arcane, expensive and bureaucratic visa procedures are becoming gradually less of a burden, as are crooked police. However, sufficient blights remain to make this far from the easiest region to navigate.

The old ways of the Soviet Union are never far away when dealing with any kind of official, including immigration officers and police. And be very, very careful before you enter an area which is controlled by the Russian-backed local militia or Russian border troops of the separatist regions in Georgia and by the Armenian-backed local militia of the separatist region in Azerbaijan.

Talk


The Caucasus region is one of the most complex linguistic regions in the world, containing more than 60 languages from five distinct language families. While this is great for cultural diversity, it can be confusing to travellers.

If you're only going to take one phrasebook for the whole region, make it Russian. The former Soviet states were united through its use as a common second language. English is becoming more prevalent in the main cities but its penetration is insufficient to be relied upon. However, many people in Georgia are unwilling to speak Russian due to military tensions with Russia, and English has largely supplanted Russian as the foreign language of choice among younger Georgians, so you should try English before trying Russian when in Georgia. While the Russian North Caucasus is one of the few parts of the country where native Russian speakers are a minority, Russian is the lingua franca of the region and is spoken by virtually everyone as a second language.

Independence has meant massive migration, often forced, and ethno-linguistic segregation has become much more pronounced. There is therefore much less inter-ethnic interaction and so much less incentive for young people to learn a second language. National languages are becoming ever more important to travellers, but Russian remains very useful.

The national languages are Abkhaz, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian and Ossetian.

Knowledge of Turkish is also useful in Azerbaijan because Azerbaijani and Turkish are closely enough related to be mutually intelligible to a fair extent. Turkic languages such as Karachay-Balkar and Kumyk are also widely spoken in Russia's North Caucasus, but they are considerably less similar.

By plane
The three capitals each have airports that are well connected to east and west Europe and the Middle East. There are even a few flights to Ürümqi in China. The disputed territories are not served by passenger flights.


 * Baku – Heydar Aliyev International Airport
 * Tbilisi – Tbilisi International Airport
 * Yerevan – Zvartnots International Airport

The countries' secondary airports tend to serve mainly Russia, with also a few connections to Turkey, Ukraine and Iran. Kutaisi Airport is perhaps an exception; Hungarian airline Wizz Air operates a fair few cheap passages to several European countries.

Armenia
 * Gyumri – Shirak International Airport

Azerbaijan
 * Ganja – Ganja International Airport
 * Lankaran – Lankaran International Airport

Georgia
 * Kutaisi – Kutaisi International Airport
 * Batumi – Batumi International Airport

By train


Politics have severed many of the rail routes into the region.

Taking the train between Russia and Abkhazia is generally unproblematic but onward travel into Georgia proper is not generally possible. Trains from Russia to Azerbaijan are frequent enough but the border is closed to westerners.

Crossing by rail between Azerbaijan and Iran is possible at Astara.

There are no passenger rail connections with Turkey still open.

By thumb
Hitchhiking is considerably easy in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh.

With old Ladas you won't probably have not that much luck. Even though they are more likely to stop, in 50% of the time they will consider themselves as car for everything and thus also a chargeable taxi. Also they won't probably cross very long distances, they are more like a local transport option.

See the individual countries for more information.

Border crossing
Border crossing is generally difficult throughout the Caucasus. The Russian-Georgian border (Verkhniy Lars) near Kazbegi can now (since 2011) be crossed by any nationality, given the visas are in order. The Russia-Azerbaijan border are only open for citizens of CIS countries. There is also a border crossing from Russia to Abkazia, however it is not allowed to transit through Abkhazia from Russia to Georgia or vice versa. For non-CIS citizens, the only way to enter or exit Russia through the Caucasus is on the Georgian Military Highway between Vladikavkaz and Tbilisi. Aside from flying, there are ferries between Sochi, Russia and Trabzon, Turkey (near Georgia) and Baku, Azerbaijan and Aktau, Kazakhstan (near Russia).

The Armenian-Azerbaijani border is closed because both countries remain at war. The Armenian-Turkish border is also closed due to tensions between those countries. To travel overland between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Armenia and Turkey, it is necessary to go through either Georgia or Iran.

Georgia's borders with Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are all open, making the country somewhat of a regional transit hub for the Caucasus. Since 2003's Rose Revolution in Georgia, bribes are absolutely not necessary for foreign travellers entering Georgia. However this cannot be guaranteed for Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Entering Azerbaijan with a used Armenian visa or vice versa could likely cause problems (suspicion) with border guards. While this shouldn't prohibit entry, it is recommended to visit Azerbaijan first and then Armenia, to avoid potential problems and a refusal of entry to Azerbaijan. However, you will not be allowed entry to Azerbaijan with a Nagorno-Karabakh visa (you can ask to get the NKR visa on a separate piece of paper, though), otherwise it would result in a permanent entry ban to Azerbaijan. If you have an Armenian name, surname or of Armenian ethnicity, you will be banned from entering Azerbaijan regardless of your country of birth or citizenship.

Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan) can be entered from Turkey and Iran.

How
Overnight trains travel between Tbilisi-Yerevan and Tbilisi-Baku. When travelling by rail, you have the option of carriages with 4 beds (coupe, pronounced koo-peh') or 2 beds (SV, pronounced es veh). SV is a bit more expensive, but more comfortable and generally considered more safe from pickpockets.

There are direct bus services between Tbilisi-Yerevan and Tbilisi-Baku. If taking the air-conditioned bus between Tbilisi-Baku, bring a jacket. Buses also operate across the Russian-Georgian border, but are not an option for non-CIS country nationals.

If you would prefer a more social mode of transport, minivans (marshrutkas) operate across all open borders and throughout the Caucasus region.

There are direct flights between Tbilisi to Baku, Tbilisi to Yerevan. Expect no trouble at the airports: they are small and efficient.

You can cross the border between Georgia and Armenia in a rented car. Rental cars are insured in both countries and may be driven one-way and dropped off in the other country.

Do
Hike the Transcaucasian Trail, with sections open in Armenia and Georgia, as of 2021.

Ski in two very beautiful ski resorts of Georgia: Bakuriani (near Borjomi) and Gudauri.

Relaxing on the Georgian beaches on the black sea in Batumi, Kobuleti, Ureki, Gonia, etc.

Eat
The Georgian "Khinkali" and "Khachapuri"!

Drink
The drinks of note in the Caucasus are Georgian wines, Armenian cognac (brandy), and Russian vodkas.

Local beers throughout the Caucasus are excellent values.

Especially tasty Georgian wines:
 * Red: Saperavi, Mukuzani, Khvanchkara (semi-sweet), Kindzmarauli (semi-sweet)
 * White: Tsinandali, Kakheti, Tbilisuri

Respect
The people of the Caucasus are generally known as being very hospitable and friendly towards international visitors, as they are typically proud of their culture and their lands, and the region is mostly out of the radar of mass tourism.

Compared to many other post-Soviet states, the Caucasus is a region of diverse and outspoken people, who may sometimes come across as rude, prejudiced, and combative. This is likely due to a number of factors, including political conflicts, historical grievances, and a strong sense of cultural identity.

Years of conflict, warfare, and bad history have coloured many people's perceptions of certain ethnic groups. For example, some people in Georgia and parts of the North Caucasus may express negative feelings against or act coldly towards Russian people. In Azerbaijan, anti-Armenian sentiments are common and are even promoted by the government.

Russia's North Caucasus for the most part has a strictly conservative Islamic culture, and travellers should be mindful of that when dressing and dealing with local people, especially women. The rest of the Caucasus is considerably less religious, but Armenia and Azerbaijan are still more conservative than say the Americas or most of Europe, and LGBT people may face considerable discrimination.

Stay safe


The Caucasus is a tinderbox of age-old rivalries, some frozen, some very hot indeed. Despite that, most parts of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are far from conflicts and safe to visit, although regular crime can be a problem in certain areas, as well as harassment from security forces in border regions. Check individual district pages for more specific information.

For the rest of the region, the situation may change quickly and unpredictably, so if you are planning to visit, make sure to look for recent announcements. The following describes the situation by Dec 2020:


 * Russia's North Caucasus is relatively stable nowadays but security incidents such as attacks against police and military happen now and then, and several countries have travel advisories against visiting this area, making it harder to obtain travel insurance. Note that travellers from outside Russia and nearby countries are very rare and will likely attract considerable curiosity from locals, which may lead to interesting encounters but also require extra precaution.
 * Abkhazia is certainly the most stable and "tourism-open" of the "breakway republics", and the only one that can be visited without making you a criminal in any country in case you visit it from Georgia, even though it may be more convenient to do so via Russia.
 * South Ossetia, although nowadays not particularly dangerous, can only be visited from Russia, making you automatically a criminal in Georgia. As in Russia's North Caucasus, non-Russian travellers are very rare and will likely attract curiosity from the local people.
 * As result of the 2020 Sep-Nov war, the breakway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh suffered heavy territorial, infrastructure and humanitarian losses. Check whether it's open for independent travel before planning to visit.