Duisi is the largest of the Kist villages in the Pankisi Gorge and the natural base for visitors. The single main street runs parallel to the Alazani river and is lined with old wood-and-stone houses, a couple of mosques, and the village's small shops. Most of the family-run guesthouses that have opened in the gorge over the last decade are here, which makes it the easiest place to arrange meals, drivers, and walks into the surrounding hills.
The village is also the centre of Pankisi's Sufi life. There is a male Naqshbandi brotherhood that holds its zikr on Thursday evenings in the village mosque, and the better-known women's zikr, an unusual feature of Kist Islam, meets weekly in a private house. Guesthouse hosts can introduce visitors to the participants, who have generally been open to respectful guests. Walk the back lanes in the late afternoon and you will hear the call to prayer from the village mosque rolling across the orchards.