Mestia Inn

Set beside a stone tower nearly a thousand years old, Hotel Mestia Inn pairs that medieval silhouette with a plainly modern interior. Rooms run from 20 to 32 square metres and open onto balconies with views either of the Caucasus ridgeline or of Mestia's own defensive towers, the koshki that give the townlet its skyline. Fittings are straightforward: flat-screen TV, minibar, kettle, a desk built for actual work rather than decoration. It is a practical stay. The rooftop terrace does the sensory work the rooms leave open, with the bar and restaurant beneath it and a 24-hour desk running the building underneath. A ground-floor lift and adapted access mean the hotel functions for guests who can't manage stairs, a detail many mountain properties skip. You can walk from the lobby to the town's history and ethnography museum in a few minutes, past shopfronts and the older stone houses that ring the centre. The inn arranges transfers from Mestia's small airstrip, 1.5 kilometres off, and from the international airports at Kutaisi and Batumi, along with day trips to Ushguli, Koruldi Lake and the Chalaadi Glacier. Free Wi-Fi and free parking round out a stay built less on flourish than on function.