Juta-Chaukhi trail — Attraction in Mtskheta-Mtianeti

BEWARE OF THE PARKING GUY. HE BLOCKS OFF THE ROAD TO MAKE $$ FROM TOURISTS!

The valley is obviously beautiful and we enjoyed our time there. But this review is to warn others about the parking guy.

About 4km before reaching Juta, the road is closed. An aggressive parking guy will show up to charge you 10GEL to literally park in a clearing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. It’s not even an actual lot and makes no sense to pay. But we handed over the 10GEL anyways.

Even though the road is “closed”, he and his friend, very conveniently, operate a taxi service taking tourists up to Juta. They drive up and down the road, stopping next to every hiker to ask if they want a taxi. We also noticed other people driving up the “closed” road, who I’m assuming are residents. So the road is really only closed if you're a tourist.

It took 1 hour to walk to Juta from the closure. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with the road! There's no construction or any damage to the road. It’s unpaved but actually pretty flat and free of rocks. You could drive up in a 2WD. It’s a very very easy drive compared to the road into Truso, so why is it closed?

After, we read reviews for the Juta parking lot, and found this guy has a history of being aggressive towards tourists and also trying to enforce is parking fee even if you park on the road before his parking lot.

Now by closing the road, he makes sure 1. you can’t park any further away because you already have a long walk ahead of you. And 2. He makes more $$ by now charging tourists for his taxi service.

PLEASE do not pay this man! Try to park on the side of the road before you see him, and whatever you do DO NOT PAY FOR HIS TAXI! We saw a few people pay for it, which only encourages this man to continue blocking the road and taking advantage of...

The trail is excellent, completly worth the effort.

My review is to complain and help other drivers to get to Juta, because in our case it was so stressful and I think it can be useful. (AUGUST 2024).

First of all, they told us and you may heard that road to Juta “was closed” -apparently cause it was under construction-.

This was not the case, as afterwards we saw that the construction was only at the side of the road, and that the road was ok. There was not any problem driving it carefully, and even less problem if you do it early in the morning to avoid workers. That’s what I would do if I had to go there again.

Notice that local people and taxis drive to Juta during all day without problem, just being carefull with the bumpy and narrow parts.

Also, my advice is to avoid local people to trick tourists or non-local people. In our case we found a random guy, who apparently was “working there”, cutting the road few km away from Juta, and asking for money to just park the car wherever he said. This is just a trick, don’t fall for it. There are not official workers there, so no one can cut your pass. I attach photos from this guy, so anyone who sees this can know that he is just a drunk guy trying to take some money from unprevented people.

This may sound as an excessive alarm, but I would like to point out as well that as we refused to pay the guy was getting angry and violent.

Also, there are a lot of taxis that will offer you a ride, which I personally also consider a trick as it’s way overpriced. If you want to stop at the beginning of the “difficult road” just take a walk, it would only be 30 min in a beautiful landscape! Also, you may be lucky and get into nice local people’s car who will not ask you for money.

Hopefully Georgia can get over this tricky people! 🇬🇪

Have...

PARKING SCAM. August 2025. Info from Stepantsminda police: you should park on the side of the road and walk to Juta but THE PARKING IS FREE. If any guy approaches you to ask money 1) make video or audio recording of him and your conversation 2) don’t give him money 3) go to the Stepantsminda police and make a statement about blackmail. Show the photo of the guy who asked for money. We didn’t do a recording and in the police they said that they would be really glad if we did.

Our story: We were driving to Juta and 3 kilometers before the village saw a row of parked cars. There was a rumor that the road is not good for driving to the village and we should park here. After we parked on the side of the road a guy approached and said “30 lari for parking”. I asked for any papers which prove that the parking is not free. He started screaming and said “baby, you are in mountains, while you are away - something may happen with your car here. That’s why you should pay”. I refused to pay anyways because I didn’t want to support scam that lasts daily for months. Disgusting impression of Juta because of this. Initially we were planning to have a meal in the village and to rent a horse for a mountain walk, but then we changed our mind. I live in Georgia for a while and can tell that comparing to other regions like Svaneti and Racha this one is not super-unique. But in other places I haven’t encountered such blackmail and bulling for 3,5 years of often trips and hikes. Similar beautiful views can be seen on a hike from the other side on the mountain from Roshka village + Abudelauri lakes in one day (which we actually did last week and it was wonderful -...