The Diamond Bridge
240 m long, with a glass café mid-span.
Paata vardanashvili — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 30pips — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 30pips — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Paata vardanashvili — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Paata vardanashvili — CC BY-SA 4.0
Dashbashi Canyon, or Tsalka Canyon, is a gorge some 8 km long cut by the Khrami, called the Ktsia upstream, into a basalt lava plateau by Dashbashi village in Kvemo Kartli. It lies between 1,110 and 1,448 m, springs pour from its walls as waterfalls, and since 2022 the Diamond Bridge, a 240 m suspension footbridge, has spanned it. A natural monument since 2013, the gorge was noted long before: the 18th-century geographer Vakhushti Bagrationi described the Ktsia plunging there into a great pool. Dashbashi keeps a restored church of St George, commissioned around 1000 by Rati, duke of Trialeti, its inscription says. The private company Kass Group built the bridge, inaugurated on 14 June 2022; mid-span hangs a diamond-shaped glass café, reportedly about 280 m above the canyon floor. From the visitor centre a 1.8 km trail of railed walkways and stairs, then a sloping paved path, drops to the river and the emerald-green main waterfall, which freezes in deep winter. The canyon's Crying Wall, a curtain of small falls, streams down its cliffs. The rim adds a sky bike across the gorge, a giant swing and a family park. It is about 92 km by road from Tbilisi, 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours by car, and 57 km west-south-west of the centre as the crow flies. Allow half a day and come early to avoid weekend queues. At about 1,500 m the plateau is cooler than Tbilisi, and the trail closes in rain, fog or snow. Dmanisi's archaeological site lies 32 km south-south-east in a straight line.
240 m long, with a glass café mid-span.
1.8 km of walkways and stairs down to the river.
A curtain of small falls down the cliffs.
Kass Land visitor centre by Dashbashi village, about 3 km from Tsalka, Kvemo Kartli
The trail drops about 150 m, so the climb back is the tiring part, and the round trip takes an hour to an hour and a half. A vehicle can be arranged for the return, and only visitors taller than 1.2 m may use the trail.
The rides cost extra, among them the giant swing at 35 GEL per person and the sky bike at 120 GEL, per the Agency of Protected Areas. Guests of the on-site hotel enter the park and the canyon trail free but still pay for the rides.