A short trip for anyone arriving in Batumi, by plane or on the ferry from Turkey, who wants to see more than the beach. The first full day stays in the city: the Roman fortress of Gonio, to the south, the Borjgalo ethnographic museum and the boulevard. The second heads up to Imereti with a stop at the Shekvetili dendrological park and the afternoon at the two monasteries of Kutaisi, Gelati and Bagrati, with a night in the city.
The third is the canyons: the Okatse walkway, 140 metres above the river, and the boat through Martvili, and from there back to Batumi, 241 km. On the last day, transfer to the airport. It is a gently paced circuit with a single long day, and it can be done at any time of year; in summer, bring a swimsuit for Martvili.
Itinerary
Day 1 - Transfer from Batumi airport to Batumi
We pick you up at the airport whenever your flight lands and go to the hotel. No more programme today.Day 2 - Batumi and surroundings
Total road of the day - 27KM 0 Hours and 50 Minutes We leave after breakfast. On the programme, Borjgalo Ethnographic Museum and Gonio Fortress; 27 km in short stretches. Road 6KM 0 Hours and 15 MinutesBorjgalo Ethnographic Museum
It is not a museum in the usual sense. Borjgalo was made by hand by Kemal Turmanidze, a sculptor from the area, and opened in 2016 on the outskirts of Batumi, near the airport: models and near life-size wooden figures showing how people lived in the villages of Adjara a hundred years ago, the house, the mill, the forge, the wedding, the beekeeper. Many pieces move or make sounds, and Kemal himself or his family are usually around.
It works very well with children and with anyone who is tired of churches by now. An hour. It sits on a residential street with nothing around it, so do not expect a café.
Gonio Fortress
Fifteen kilometres south of Batumi, almost on the Turkish border, the Romans built the camp of Apsaros in the 1st century to watch the coast, and the walls are still standing: a rectangle with a perimeter of almost 900 metres and 18 of its original 22 towers. Later the Byzantines and the Ottomans used it, and the Ottomans called it Gonio. Inside there is a small museum with the finds from the digs, the remains of Roman baths and a grave that tradition attributes to the apostle Matthias, the one who replaced Judas. No proof, but people come to pray.
It is a 45-minute stop, flat and without shade; in summer bring a cap. If there is time, Gonio beach is next door and is one of the quietest in the area.
Day 3 - Batumi - Dendrological Park - Gelati - Bagrati - Kutaisi
Total road of the day - 206KM 3 Hours and 35 Minutes Shekvetili Dendrological Park, Gelati Academy and Bagrati Cathedral. It is 206 km; we leave early so as not to rush. Road 49KM 0 Hours and 51 MinutesShekvetili Dendrological Park
The trees in this park arrived by sea. They are specimens one and two hundred years old, tulip trees, magnolias, eucalyptus, that Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia, bought all over the country and shipped by barge to the coast of Guria; there is a documentary, "Taming the Garden", that tells the story and does not flatter the owner. Shekvetili park opened in 2020: 60 hectares by the beach, more than 200 species, lakes, a bamboo grove and, in the middle, the biggest tree, visible from the road.
It is free, immaculate, and in summer there are queues at weekends. A good hour's walk; nearby are the magnetic black-sand beaches of Ureki, which local people use as a spa.
Road 145KM 2 Hours and 15 Minutes
Gelati Academy
David the Builder asked to be buried in the floor of the south gate, so that everyone who came in would step on his grave. He has been there since 1125, and the monastery of Gelati, which he founded in 1106, was for centuries the great school of the kingdom: in its academy Greek philosophy was translated and copied at a time when Georgia looked to Byzantium. A UNESCO site since 1994 and, unlike Bagrati, still on the list. As soon as you enter the main church, the 12th-century mosaic of the Virgin in the apse; then frescoes on every wall, from different centuries. We give it almost an hour between the church, the tomb, the academy (a long hall with stone benches) and the church of St George. The domes were under repair for years because of leaks [VERIFICAR: estado de la restauración del tejado en 2026].
Road 10KM 0 Hours and 20 Minutes
Bagrati Cathedral
You can see it from half of Kutaisi, so you arrive already knowing what it is. What you cannot see from below is the controversy: Bagrat III consecrated it in 1003, the Ottomans blew it up in 1692 and it stood in ruins for three centuries until, in 2012, it was rebuilt in full, with concrete and a glass lift stuck to one side. UNESCO took it off the list in 2017 for that. Some people see it as a botch job. We still like it, mostly for the site: the terrace has the best view of the city and the Rioni valley. Ten minutes uphill from the centre and a full circuit of the building to find the original carvings left on the walls.
Road 2KM 0 Hours and 9 Minutes
Day 4 - Kutaisi - Okatse - Martvili - Batumi
Total road of the day - 241KM 4 Hours and 40 Minutes First Okatse Canyon, then Martvili Canyon. 241 km, 4 hours 40 minutes; lunch on the way. Road 50KM 1 Hours and 5 MinutesOkatse Canyon
If you have a fear of heights, read this first. Okatse canyon, back in Imereti, is not visited from the water but from above: a 700-metre metal walkway bolted to the wall of the gorge, some 50 metres above the river, with a grid floor that lets you see the bottom, and a final platform that juts a few metres out over the drop. From the car park in the village of Gordi it is 2.5 km through the forest of the old Dadiani park to the start of the walkway; you do it on foot or in the locals' 4x4s, which charge extra [DATO: precio del 4x4 en 2026].
Two hours in all. We usually walk there and come back by 4x4 if the group prefers.
Martvili Canyon
The water of the Abasha river is a turquoise that looks edited. It is not: this is Martvili canyon, in Samegrelo, three and a quarter hours from Mestia and the most visited canyon in western Georgia. It has two sections. In the upper one you take a boat ride of about fifteen minutes between walls 20 to 40 metres high; in the lower one there are walkways and a waterfall. It was the bathing place of the Dadiani princes, whose palace was in Zugdidi. Since it was developed in 2016 there is a ticket office, a car park and quite a crowd; on July and August weekends there is a queue for the boats [DATO: precio de entrada y de la barca en 2026]. We do the boat as soon as we arrive and then the walkways, half an hour without hurrying. If the river is swollen after rain, the boats do not go out and the water loses its colour; on those days we swap the order with Okatse.
