Rooms Hotel Kazbegi

There’s something deceptively understated about the name Rooms Hotel — the connotation being, perhaps, that it’s a practical, utilitarian sort of hotel, nothing more than a place to hang your hat. But both properties in the Rooms Hotels line, one in Kazbegi and the other in Tbilisi, offer quite a bit more than four walls and a roof over one’s head. Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, in fact, is grand and memorable, and the setting, in northern Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains, is downright cinematic. Spot the wooden lodge from far away, dwarfed by the dramatic scenery, and you’ll be glad you made the trip. Rooms, what rooms? You might forget where exactly you unpacked your suitcase when you’re drinking in views of snow-capped peaks from the hotel’s terrace or sipping Georgian wines by the roaring fireplace.

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi operates on that old entrepreneurial concept: if you build it, they will come. (And, conversely, if you don’t build it, they won’t come; how many people do you know who have vacationed in the remote reaches of Georgia lately?) So build it they did, just a few short years ago, with a hip young designer duo at the helm. The architecture draws on the style of a traditional mountain lodge — airy, open spaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, cozy leather sofas — but there’s a modern and sustainably minded twist here, with furnishings by Restoration Hardware and the Belgian label Flamant. Native wood, exposed brick, vintage carpets, clean lines and retro-inspired light fixtures and barstools, books to page through, globes to spin: this isn’t your grandfather’s cottage in the mountains, so to speak. The rustic-chic aesthetic prevails in the restaurant, in the charming and sun-drenched library, and on the large terrace, and there are even wood-planked floors around the indoor swimming pool.

And about those rooms — which rooms? You know, the guest rooms: they’re minimalist and sophisticated, outfitted with a subtler touch than you’ll find in the adorably quirky public spaces downstairs. There’s plenty of wood, of course, and lovely writing desks, and private balconies facing the surrounding forest and mountains. Spare and silent, they feel like mini refuges from the world outside, and from the rest of the lodge itself. They are, well, rooms — places to sleep — before an epic hike in the natural playground that awaits outside, and after a modern Georgian-style feast and drinks by the fire downstairs.

How to get there: Rooms Hotel Kazbegi is located approximately 169 km by car from Tbilisi International Airport via E117.