Rooms Hotel KazbegiStepantsminda, Georgia

Staying at the Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, in Georgia’s incredible northern region, sort of feels as if you’re sat on some shoulders at a gathering of the giants.

With the awe-inspiring Caucasus Mountains looming as a shadow, the hotel would have looked impressive had it just put a tin shed. As it is, the building is a typically Soviet symmetrical thing of beauty, curving slightly if viewed from side on.

There’s a swimming pool for the ages, where you can swim in heated goodness while watching snow doffs the mountain peaks around you through floor to roof windows. There’s fireplaces, leather couches, wooden floors and stylings that reflect Georgia’s unusual place in the world, as a gateway between Europe and Asia.

This is some of the best hiking country in the world in summer, and the trekking – either by foot or by horse – is some of the best you’ll ever do.

The Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument is within reach from here – a very Instagrammable spot, even if Russia and Georgia aren’t always the best of friends.

The rooms at Rooms are plush – ideal for corpsing after a mammoth day of scaling the giants . Georgian recipes handed down from generation to generation are served here - if you’ve never had Georgian food, you’re in for a treat (and some carbs).

The air is clean in this part of the world, so make sure you go out at night and take a big long look at the stars. Some cheeky vodka will warm you up, and word is they roll cigars for you at the lobby if requested. This is living.

---