Where to Stay in Batumi, Adjara

What is Batumi known for?

Batumi is known as Georgia's seaside city, a Black Sea port and beach resort backed by the wooded foot of the Lesser Caucasus. A long boulevard runs beside the pebble shore, lined with the tall towers that rose along the waterfront. The Alphabetic Tower spells out the Georgian script down its spiral facade, and the moving Medea statue lifts the golden fleece over the central square.

Faiths sit side by side. The Batumi Cathedral of the Mother of God, a mosque, and a synagogue stand within the restored streets of the Old Town.

What are the main landmarks in Batumi?

Batumi's landmarks line the shore and the Old Town. The Alphabetic Tower rises on the waterfront, its spiral marked with the letters of the Georgian alphabet, while the tall Batumi Wheel turns beside the pebble beach. On the central square the Medea statue holds the golden fleece aloft, tying the coast to the old myth of the Argonauts.

Churches gather in the old streets. The Batumi Cathedral of the Mother of God and the Church of the Holy Spirit stand near the Piazza, and the State Art Museum of Adjara keeps the region's painters.

What is the history of Batumi?

Batumi is an old harbour on the Black Sea, long a doorway between the coast and the mountains behind it. Greek colonists settled this stretch of shore in antiquity, and the myth of Jason and the Argonauts sailing to Colchis for the golden fleece belongs to this corner of the sea. The town passed under the Ottomans for centuries, known then as Batum, before it was drawn into the Russian Empire in the late nineteenth century.

Oil made it grow. A rail line and pipeline reached the port from the Caspian fields, and the Nobel Brothers built their works here to ship kerosene out across the water. Grand stone facades rose along the streets in that boom, the classical Old Town that still stands behind the harbour.

The Soviet century left its own marks on the waterfront. After Georgia regained independence, Batumi became the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. A wave of building lined the shore with towers and restored the old core, turning the working port toward the sea and the traveller.

Where is Batumi?

Batumi sits on the Black Sea coast in Georgia's southwest, in the corner of the country just north of the Turkish border. The city curves along a bay at the foot of the Lesser Caucasus, whose green ridges rise close behind the shore. A long boulevard follows the pebble beach, and the small rivers of Adjara come down from the mountains to meet the sea near the port.

Wooded hills wall the coastal strip.

What is the climate of Batumi?

Batumi has a mild, wet subtropical climate, the rainiest corner of the Georgian coast. The Black Sea keeps winters gentle, with little frost along the shore. Summers are warm and humid.

Moist air off the water banks against the Lesser Caucasus and falls as heavy rain, so the hills behind the city stay green and thick through the year. The wettest months come in autumn, when storms roll in off the sea.

How do you get to Batumi?

Batumi is reached by air, rail, and the coast road. Its international airport lies south of the centre near the Turkish border, close enough that some flights serve both sides of the frontier. Trains run up the coast.

Rail lines and the main highway follow the Black Sea shore toward the rest of Georgia and inland to Tbilisi, while the working port handles the ships and ferries of the eastern sea. The road south crosses quickly into Turkey.