Batumi, the capital of the autonomous republic of Adjara, is Georgia's largest city on the Black Sea and its main summer resort: a seafront of new towers and casinos in front of a 19th-century old town, with green, rainy hills rising behind it. It is 5–6 hours from Tbilisi, near the Turkish border. Here is what to see and how to fit it into a trip.
Getting there
- Train: direct trains from Tbilisi take about 5 hours.
- Road: about 370 km from Tbilisi, 5–6 hours; from Kutaisi about 150 km, 2–2.5 hours.
- Air: Batumi airport, just south of the city, has international flights, most of them in summer.
The seafront
- Batumi Boulevard, the seafront park first laid out in the 1880s, runs for several kilometres with cycle paths, cafés and beach access.
- The Alphabetic Tower, 130 m high, with the 33 letters of the Georgian alphabet spiralling up it and a viewing deck near the top [2].
- Ali and Nino, Tamara Kvesitadze's moving steel sculpture of the lovers from the 1937 novel. Every evening from about 19:00 the two 8-metre figures glide towards each other, pass through each other and part again [3].
The old town
Behind the seafront, the grid of 19th-century streets around Europe Square and Piazza is good for an evening walk. The city's mix of communities shows in its buildings: the Cathedral of the Mother of God, built around 1900 as a Catholic church, the 19th-century Orta Jame mosque and the 1904 synagogue are all a few blocks apart.
Batumi Botanical Garden
North of the city at Green Cape (Mtsvane Kontskhi), the garden was founded in 1912 by the botanist Andrey Krasnov and covers 111 hectares of hillside above the sea, planted by region: East Asia, the Mediterranean, the Americas, New Zealand and the humid subtropics of the Caucasus. Allow 2–3 hours; the paths are steep. Entry is 20 GEL for foreign adults [1].
Gonio fortress
About 12–15 km south of Batumi, Gonio is a walled Roman fort, known in antiquity as Apsaros, with later Byzantine and Ottoman layers and a small museum. Tradition holds that the Apostle Matthias is buried here. Entry is about 10 GEL. The beaches at Gonio and Sarpi, by the Turkish border, are quieter than the city's.
The beaches
Batumi's beaches are pebble, not sand, and the sea gets deep quickly; water shoes help. The swimming season runs from about June to September, with the warmest water in August. The city beach is free; beach clubs charge for loungers.
Into the hills
- Mountain Adjara: the Acharistskali valley behind Batumi has the Makhuntseti and Mirveti waterfalls and arched medieval stone bridges, including one named after Queen Tamar, about 45 minutes from the city.
- Mtirala National Park, north of Batumi near Chakvi, protects Colchic temperate rainforest, one of the wettest places in Georgia. Georgia's Colchic rainforests were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2021.
- The Machakhela valley, near the Turkish border, for village lunches and easy walks.
When to go
- June to September: the beach season. July and August are hot, humid and busy.
- Late August to early October: the autumn raptor migration, when birds of prey funnel along the coast over the hills above the city; almost 900,000 were counted in 2025.
- October to May: Batumi is one of the rainiest cities in Georgia, and autumn and winter bring long wet spells. The city stays open, but it is not beach weather.
How long to stay
Two nights give you a day for the city and the Botanical Garden and a day for Gonio or the hills. Batumi fits best at the end of a route through western Georgia, after Kutaisi, the canyons and Svaneti. From Tbilisi it is a long way to go just for the beach.
Going with us
Our Western Georgia in 6 days tour ends with two nights in Batumi, Gonio and the Botanical Garden after Kutaisi's caves and canyons and Svaneti; you take the evening train back to Tbilisi or fly home from Batumi. The Grand Tour of Georgia, 10 days adds Batumi to the mountains and wine country. If you are already in Batumi, the Mountain Adjara day trip takes 6.5 hours with a family lunch, and in autumn birders can join the 4-day Batumi raptor migration tour. All are private, with an English-speaking driver-guide (Russian-speaking on request), and there is nothing to pay now.
Sources
- Batumi Botanical Garden, entrance price: bbg.ge; history: en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Alphabetic Tower": en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Tamara Kvesitadze": en.wikipedia.org
Last checked: September 2026.
