Oni
Imereti & Racha · Culture
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About Oni
The main town of upper Racha, on the Rioni. Its synagogue, built in 1895, recalls a once-large Jewish community, and the town is the gateway to the Shovi valley and to high passes toward the Russian border.
Travel Tips
Check synagogue access in advance. The Mamisoni and Notsara passes need free border permits issued in Oni. Rioni rafting (Apr-Jul, adults only on the extreme section) can be arranged from the region.
Tours Including Oni
View All Oni ToursRacha: Nikortsminda, Shaori Lake & Khvanchkara Wine — 3-Day Private Trip
Three quiet days in Racha, a mountain region in north-west Georgia with few visitors. You see the carved façade of the 11th-century Nikortsminda Cathedral on the way to Ambrolauri, spend a day in Upper Racha around Oni and the upper Rioni valley, and taste the region's semi-sweet red Khvanchkara at family wineries before leaving past Shaori lake. Between April and July you can add a rafting day on the Rioni (extreme section, adults only, strong swimmers). Day one and day three are long drives of 4.5–6 hours; the reward is a region most tours miss.
Jewish Heritage of Georgia — 7-Day Private Tour
Seven days through the places where Georgia's Jewish communities have lived, with a separate licensed English-speaking heritage guide alongside your driver. In Tbilisi you visit the Great Synagogue (1911), the David Baazov Museum of Georgian Jews and have lunch at a kosher restaurant. You travel west via Mtskheta and Gori to Akhaltsikhe for its 18th- and 19th-century synagogues and old Jewish cemetery, with an optional visit to Vardzia. Then come Kutaisi's Jewish quarter on Gaponov Street with its three synagogues, Oni in Racha with its 1895 synagogue, and Batumi's 1904 synagogue, where the tour ends. We schedule around Shabbat on request, keeping travel off Friday evening and Saturday. Outside Tbilisi kosher food is packed in advance.