The name issue is often a topic when it comes to Kazbegi and Stepantsminda. Many travel-guides indicate Kazbegi as a name of the village, but marshrutkas from Didube only go to Stepantsminda. Also in the newer maps about the region you will NOT find any village with the name Kazbegi.

The reason for this confusion is that the village has changed the name for not long ago. During the soviet times and up to the latest times the village of Stepantsminda was called Kazbegi, for the honour of great georgian writer and poet Alexander Kazbegi (see “sights and walks” at the web page). A couple of years ago the municipality decided to give the village back its ancient name Stepantsminda: the village of Stepan the Holy. The name Kazbegi has remained a kind of a commercial name that indicates the whole area.

PS: there are also mount Kazbek and the well known beer trademark “Kazbegi”. This doesn’t really help to solve the confusion…