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Geotour

Batumi

Adjara & Black Sea · City

Getting there
About 370 km (5.5–6 h) from Tbilisi by road, or about 5–5.5 h by direct train
Best time
June–September
Recommended stay
1–2 days

About Batumi

Batumi is Georgia's main Black Sea city and the capital of Adjara, about 370 km (5.5–6 h by road, about 5–5.5 h by train) from Tbilisi and 150 km from Kutaisi. Its seafront Boulevard runs for about 7 km past palms, pebble beaches and modern towers, and the compact old town around Europe Square has 19th-century houses, cafés and the Piazza. Travellers come for the sea from June to September, the Botanical Garden on Green Cape, Adjarian food and day trips into the green hills of mountainous Adjara.

Tours Including Batumi

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Must-See Attractions

  • Batumi Boulevard

    About 7 km of seafront promenade with palms, cycle paths, pebble beaches and sculptures; best at sunset.

  • Ali and Nino

    Tamara Kvesitadze's 8 m moving steel sculpture (2010) of two figures that slowly pass through each other, on the seafront near the Alphabetic Tower.

  • Alphabetic Tower

    A 130 m tower (2012) decorated with the letters of the Georgian alphabet, with a viewing platform at the top.

  • Europe Square and the old town

    19th-century houses, the Medea statue, an astronomical clock and the Piazza, a short walk from the sea.

  • Batumi Botanical Garden

    A 111-hectare garden founded in 1912 on Green Cape, about 9 km north, with plants from nine regions of the world and sea views.

Nearby

  • Gonio Fortress

    Roman and Byzantine fortress walls about 12 km (20 min) south.

  • Mtirala National Park

    Colchic rainforest with walking trails, about 25 km (40 min) north-east via Chakvi.

  • Makhuntseti waterfall and Queen Tamar's bridge

    A waterfall and a medieval arched stone bridge in mountainous Adjara, about 30 km (45 min) inland.

  • Batumi Botanical Garden

    About 9 km (20 min) north at Green Cape.

Location41.6461° N, 41.6405° EView on map

Good to know

Getting there

About 370 km (5.5–6 h) from Tbilisi by road, or about 5–5.5 h by direct train; about 150 km (2–2.5 h) from Kutaisi. Batumi has an international airport.

Best time

June–September

Best time

June to September is the swimming season, with the busiest weeks in July and August, while May and early October are quieter and mild but wetter.

Recommended stay

1–2 days

Getting there

Direct trains from Tbilisi take about 5–5.5 hours; Batumi airport has flights to European and regional cities.

Season/Access

The sea is warm enough to swim from June to September; July and August are hot, humid and busy.

Heads-up

Batumi is one of the wettest cities in Georgia, especially in autumn, so pack a rain jacket.

Beaches

The beaches are pebbles, not sand; water shoes help.

Time needed

One or two days for the city and the Botanical Garden.

History & culture

Culture

Adjara has its own dances, costume and cooking, shaped by centuries of Ottoman rule, and part of the population is Muslim: Batumi's Orta Jame mosque stands a few streets from Orthodox and Catholic churches and the synagogue. In summer the city has a busy programme of open-air concerts and festivals on the Boulevard.

History

The coast here was known to the ancient Greeks, and the Romans kept a fort at Gonio, just to the south. Batumi was under Ottoman rule for about three centuries until the Congress of Berlin gave it to the Russian Empire in 1878; it was then a free port until 1886. The railway from Baku (1883) and the Baku–Batumi kerosene pipeline (1906) turned it into one of the main oil-export ports of the Black Sea, with Nobel and Rothschild companies and a mixed population of Georgians, Armenians, Greeks, Russians and Turks. Since the 2000s the city has grown fast, with new hotels, towers and a rebuilt seafront.

Local Cuisine

Adjarian khachapuri, the boat-shaped bread with cheese, butter and an egg, is the local speciality; also try borano (cheese melted in butter), sinori (thin dough rolls with cottage cheese and butter), and Black Sea fish such as red mullet (barabulka), turbot and anchovy, grilled at the fish market restaurants near the port.

Accommodation

The largest choice of hotels outside Tbilisi: international chain hotels on the seafront (including Radisson Blu, Hilton and Sheraton), many mid-range hotels in the old town, and apartment rentals in the new towers. Seafront rooms sell out in July and August.