The cliffs of Mount Erusheti form the backdrop to everything at Vardzia. Above the cave complex, a rough track climbs to a ridge where you get views back across the gorge to the Turkish border mountains. This is not a formal hiking trail, and the upper sections require scrambling over loose volcanic rock, but the effort is proportional to the views.
From the ridge on a clear day you can see south into Turkey and east toward the Javakheti plateau. The volcanic landscape up here is stark: black rock, sparse vegetation, occasional patches of snow well into June. A few summit crosses mark high points where Georgian pilgrims have been coming for centuries. The climb takes 1–2 hours from the cave complex, depending on how high you go.