Hiking from Norio village to Martkopi monastery is about 10km long distance (forth and back), best done in Spring, Summer, or early Autumn. The route is pretty steep, though covered with asphalt, there are parts of the damaged surface and some agility is needed.
Update: We originally did this hiking path back in 2017. in 2020 there is a new asphalt road built reaching the monastery complex
The route offers a kind of Wilderness in Georgia views, with ruined bridges, tumble asphalt, and livestock with a really nice Martkopi monastery at the end of the route.
Tip: You could get to the Norio village just for 1.5 GEL in about 30 minutes from Samgori metro station in Tbilisi
We decided to take this hiking route at the end of February 2017, here are a few shots from our route
At the start of route in Norio Village
It was a nice and sunny Saturday in February 2017. With help of Google Maps we started our route just after left marshrutka
First obstacles - mud puddle
It was a good test for my Aldo leather shoes I bought in NYC few month before.
It also reminded me another hiking route we did and failed to complete because of landslides in Tbilisi - Failed attempt to complete Tskneti - Turtle lake hiking route
Livestock
It wouldn't be Georgia without cows crossing your path
View towards Martkopi monastery
It will ask about one more kilometer to reach our final destination - Martkopi monastery, and that will be the toughest mile (kilometer). As snow is still keeping in the upper ranges of mountains - the rest of the path is kind of mud puddle hell.
We did it - at top at Martkopi monastery
Yes, it's time to buy new Aldo shoes.
View near Martkopi monastery
This was an intermediate hiking route, but I guess it would be easy to handle in Spring (after the snow has melted), Summer, and early Autumn. In total (forth and back) it took us about 4 hours to complete this route and we had a very good sleep at night
