How to get to Georgia by your own car: route, papers, checkpoints

Thousands of travelers to all types of travel around the world prefer to travel behind the wheel of their favorite car. Among other routes, the road from Moscow to Tbilisi has the right to take its rightful place. Traveling to Georgia by car will become easy and enjoyable if a number of conditions are met and the requirements are not formalized. For all the ambiguity of modern diplomatic relations, people on both sides of the border are still friendly.

A visa is not required to visit Georgia. There is a visa-free regime between the states, which allows Russians to come for up to 90 days without special permits.

List of documents that need to be prepared when planning a trip:

international passport... Necessary for a Russian citizen to cross the border with Georgia. It requires two blank stamp sheets. The passport must be valid three months after the official end of the trip. It is important that the document does not contain notes that you have previously been to Abkhazia or South Ossetia. Georgia considers these territories to be occupied. The Russian, in whose foreign passport the seals of the Abkhaz border guards will be found, faces arrest.
In addition, a citizen will have problems with visiting other countries, since he will be included in the lists of “violating the visa regime”. This does not mean that you should not visit Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They are open to tourists. But it makes sense to go there with a Russian passport and from Russian territory. Tips for those planning to enter independent territories from Georgia are given below.

(Russian or international model). An important condition: the driver's data must be duplicated in the document in Latin.

Technical passport.
... Only Russian traffic police will require you to travel. There is no compulsory insurance for motorists in Georgia.

Power of attorney for a car with the right to travel abroad(not to be confused with the usual - general). It is necessary if you do not own the car on which you went on a trip. The document must be notarized.
Documents for children... Children should be entered in their parents' passports or separate documents should be drawn up for them.
Child's birth certificate(original). It will be required to confirm the relationship.

Child export permit... Necessary if the child travels without parents or guardians. By default, grandmothers, uncles, aunts and other relatives are not. A permission to take out a child is drawn up in advance on a special form from a notary.

Route of movement

You can get to Georgia by car from Russia in one way - through Vladikavkaz. More precisely, through the Upper Lars checkpoint. Before him go along the highway M29 "Kavkaz".

From the capital of Russia we are moving towards Rostov-on-Don along the Don section. It is 1100 km of four-lane road. In the future, half of the segment is promised to be paid. So far, you will have to pay at the 48th and 414th kilometers. The amount does not exceed 100 rubles for both sections of the toll highway (provided that the traveler is driving a car).

We pass the stationary post in the Stavropol Territory. Here, good asphalt and a four-lane highway again return to the car enthusiast. The road will lead to Kabardino-Balkaria and further to North Ossetia. There is another large police post between the republics. Here they may require not only a license, but also a passport. The documents are checked with the driver and passengers. Inspection of the vehicle is not excluded, however, unpretentious. Usually the police are limited to a request to open the trunk of a car.

Checkpoints

Checkpoint Verkhniy Lars

A trip by car to Georgia involves not only constant traffic, but also a long wait. At the entrance to the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint, the driver will be met by a convoy of cars. You can spend several hours in it. Border guards inspect transport and travelers carefully. The order of passage is approximately as follows:

The car passes the barrier, it is stopped and inspected from different sides and from the inside.
The driver and passengers go to passport control, where they receive a stamp on the border crossing in the document.
The vehicle goes to customs control. The customs officials will demand to put things out of the car. Perhaps the car will be X-rayed in order to prevent the export of illegal goods. The list of loads is standard: weapons, drugs, gold, etc.
The driver receives permission to move on and a wish of a good journey.

It may also happen that the checkpoint workers at the above control points confine themselves to a couple of questions and a cursory visual inspection of the vehicle.

The Georgian colleagues of the Russian border guards and customs officers are more loyal. Queues at the Daryali Georgian checkpoint are rare. The verification procedure is limited by the fact that the driver, having previously dropped off the passengers, gives the passport through the car window. Through it looks into the camera for photographing.

Daryali checkpoint

Other participants in the trip at this time go through passport control on their own in a nearby building. After the formalities are met, the border guards open the barrier. Ahead is the Georgian military road past the Daryalsky and Khevsky gorges, Terek and Kazbek.

Abkhazia and Georgia

The relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia is extremely tense. As a result of the coup, the Abkhaz Republic declared independence. The Georgian authorities categorically refuse to accept this decision, continuing to consider the territory of the republic as their own.

Travelers who travel to Georgia by car and plan to visit Abkhazia at the same time, it is extremely important to make the right route in order to avoid problems and return home safely.

The trip plan is as follows: Russia - Georgia - Abkhazia - Georgia - Russia. Only in this sequence and nothing else. The border guards will consider entering Georgia from the territory of Abkhazia a violation of the law - after all, you previously crossed the Russian-Abkhaz border without permission. The punishment is harsh: from a monetary fine to imprisonment.

One can legally enter Abkhazia only from the Georgian side through the Inguri checkpoint. Afterwards, it is necessary to return through it and follow through the territory of Georgia to the Daryali checkpoint, which borders on Russia. In this case, entry and exit notes will be made in the passport. You will not violate Georgian laws and you will be clean from the point of view of the formalities of recognized and unrecognized states.

Checkpoint Inguri

Stamps in the passport about crossing the border with Abkhazia

You cannot leave Georgia through Abkhazia for the same reason that entry is prohibited. This will be equated with violation of state borders. The passport will not contain a note that the foreigner has left the territory of the republic. This will become the reason for the refusal to further visit not only Georgia, but also a number of other states.

In order to visit Abkhazia legally, permission from the authorities is required. The application is made in electronic form and sent to the mail of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia.

The application has a prescribed form. It can be downloaded from the official website of the country's Foreign Ministry. The package of documents includes a digital photograph of the applicant (as for a passport) and scanned passport pages with personal information. Papers are allowed to be sent by fax. The answer will be sent in electronic form to the mail, which is indicated in the questionnaire. It needs to be printed. A permit to enter Abkhazia must be presented at the Inguri checkpoint and noted at the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry within 24 hours.