Adjara

Adjara is Georgia's most humid region: air arrives laden from the Black Sea and the slopes of the Pontic Mountains retain enough rain to sustain evergreen forests with no equivalent elsewhere in the Caucasus. The capital, Batumi, has beaches of dark pebbles where the water is colder than it looks in summer, a seafront boulevard lined with palms and an architecture that blends art nouveau buildings from the Russian period with glass towers from the property boom of the 2010s. At night the Batumi Boulevard fills with Georgian families eating ice cream; by day, the smell of coffee and fried corn churros drifts from the stalls at Europe Square.

Driving inland from the coast along the road that follows the Acharistskali River, the landscape changes quickly. Tea fields appear — Georgia is one of the few tea-producing countries in Europe —, orchards of mandarins and hazelnuts, and villages with wooden houses darkened by humidity. The air drops several degrees within an hour of driving and herds of cows cross the road without warning. The area around Khulo and the viewpoint at Beshumi offer panoramas of green almost impossible to believe in August.

Adjaran cuisine has dishes of its own that you won't find the same way in Tbilisi: khachapuri adjaruli, a boat-shaped bread filled with melted cheese and a raw egg on top that you stir in while eating, and sinori, a rolled crêpe with walnut ricotta. Restaurants in central Batumi charge around 15–25 GEL (5–9 EUR) per person; in interior villages, half that. In July and August the city fills with Georgian and Armenian tourists and coastal traffic slows from midday.

Adjara was for centuries a border zone between the Ottoman Empire and the Georgian kingdoms. Ottoman influence lasted until 1878, when the Treaty of San Stefano transferred the region to the Russian Empire. That past explains why a significant portion of the population is Muslim, unlike the rest of Georgia, and why Batumi's architecture mixes mosques with Orthodox churches and Russian manor houses. After Georgian independence in 1991, Adjara went through a period of semi-autonomous rule under Aslan Abashidze with limited oversight from Tbilisi. In 2004, following protests of the Rose Revolution, effective control of the region returned to the Georgian central government.

• Batumi Old Town Narrow streets with carved wooden balconies, cafés in inner courtyards and the immediate contrast with the glass towers along the waterfront. Enter from Mazniashvili Street and walk without hurry; the art nouveau buildings from the Russian period are well preserved on the western side of the old town.
• Batumi Botanical Garden Founded in 1912 on a 110-hectare hillside south of the city, with over 2,000 species and a viewpoint over the Black Sea. Open daily 10:00–19:00 (until 17:00 in winter); entrance around 15 GEL (5 EUR). Bring water and comfortable shoes: the gradients are considerable.
• Makhuntseti Waterfall and Bridge About 30 km from Batumi, a waterfall of some 30 metres drops into a limestone canyon. A few metres away, the medieval Makhuntseti bridge, a 12th-century stone arch over the Acharistskali River, is still in use. The walk from the road takes about 10 minutes.
• Khulo and the Mountain Cable Car About two hours from Batumi, the cable car at Khulo connects the village to high-mountain Adjaran settlements where roofs are wooden and the slopes make road access impossible in winter. In summer, the area around Beshumi has hiking routes through alpine meadows.
• Adjaran Tea The tea plantations around Chakvi and Kobuleti can be visited with a guide or independently; some estates sell dried leaf directly. Georgian tea has a earthier, less refined flavour than Chinese, but seeing the manual harvest in September is worth the stop.

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Batumi International Airport (BUS) has direct flights from several European and CIS cities. From Tbilisi there is an overnight train (about 5 hours, from 15 GEL in second class) and marshrutkas from Ortachala station (about 5–6 hours, around 20 GEL). From Yerevan there are direct marshrutkas via Akhaltsikhe. Within the region, marshrutkas connect Batumi with interior villages several times a day.

Batumi and the coast are most pleasant in May–June and September–October: the sea is mild, the heat is not excessive and hotel prices are reasonable. July and August are high season: packed beaches, high prices and slow coastal traffic from midday. The mountain interior — Khulo, Beshumi — is best in summer; in winter roads to high villages may close due to snow. In winter Batumi sees frequent rain and grey skies, though accommodation prices drop considerably.