Batumi & Adjara: Black Sea and mountains

Batumi, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, is Georgia’s gateway to the Black Sea. Palm trees, a subtropical climate and a lively seaside promenade meet green mountains that rise just a few kilometres behind the coast.

We start on the Batumi Boulevard, which stretches for kilometres along the pebble beach, past the famous moving sculpture “Ali and Nino” and the Alphabet Tower with the letters of the Georgian script. In the old town with its restored 19th-century houses and on Europe Square you can feel the city’s cosmopolitan past as a busy trading port, which in the 19th century shipped Caspian oil to the world.

A short drive leads to the Batumi Botanical Garden, founded in 1912 on a green cape above the sea, with plants from all over the world. In the afternoon we visit the Roman Gonio-Apsaros fortress and continue into the hills of Adjara to the Makhuntseti waterfall and the elegant arched Queen Tamar bridge from the Middle Ages.

Good to know

Batumi has an international airport and is easy to combine with Western Georgia, Svaneti or a hike in Mtirala National Park. Swimming season is from June to September; the Botanical Garden is beautiful all year round. Don’t miss an Adjarian khachapuri – the boat-shaped cheese bread with egg and butter.