The point of Pankisi is the gorge itself and the villages along it — Duisi, Jokolo, and Birkiani — where Kist culture, Sufi worship, mosques, and old Georgian church ruins sit a short walk apart. The valley is also one of the main approaches to Tusheti National Park: the high-route Atsunta Pass crossing starts here, and shorter day walks lead into the foothills. Add a guesthouse meal of Kist cooking — a Chechen-Georgian mix unlike anything else in Kakheti — and a Sufi zikr ceremony on a Friday evening if you can arrange it.