West Coast Georgia small group tour
4 Days | Adjara, Guria | Spring, Summer, Autumn | #Localoba
The West Coast Georgia small group tour is about experiences, feelings and support. If you’re looking for another traditional guided journey along popular tourist destinations – you probably won’t like what’s in here 🙂
West Coast Georgia small group tour detailed program
Batumi
Meeting point and time: Tbilisi train station meeting at 10:10 am. Our team member will be there to welcome you.
You will be given your personal brand-new reusable water bottles, face masks and hand sanitizers. And exciting reading material about some of the places you’ll visit. This will both help you get started with the tour and while away some of your 5-hour train ride.
Arrival in Batumi at 3:30 pm
On the way from Batumi train station, we’ll stop at the famous Fish Market. If you haven’t been there yet, there are definitely some things that will impress you. A catch-of-the-day fish lunch on the Black Sea shore is the perfect start to your Adjara adventure. The choice of fish is up to you (you may choose between Trout, Mullet, Surmullet, Dorado or Sea Bass; or just have a khachapuri 🙂 ).
Upon arrival in the Old Town, we will check you in to the Admiral Hotel, right in front of the main Batumi Pier.
This local boutique-type hotel was one of the first in Batumi to open its doors for travelers after the quarantine. Hotel management and staff strictly follow all required health & safety regulations and anti-Covid measures. With no effect on their usual high-quality service whatsoever.
For later evening you may just simply relax on the hotel’s wonderful terrace enjoying the sea view. Or go for a bicycle ride along the Batumi boulevard. Our experience shows that riding along the sea front is a great refreshing exercise after a train journey and before the nighttime.
Machakhela
Todays tour will take us to one of the most hidden gems of Georgia – the Machakhela Protected Areas. The area was closed for any kind of public access during the Soviet period, due to its proximity to the state border with Turkey.
The main road leading to the national park is often called “Machakhela Gun Road”.
This area of Georgia has long been famous for manufacturing firearms since the 18th century. Celebrating this fact, the Gun Monument is indeed something to stop by and ‘shoot’ your first photo of the day.
Upon arrival at Machakhela National Park we will make another stop at arguably the longest rope bridge in Adjara. The fast mountain river’s flow beneath the bridge will surely add to the impressions.
We continue further up the picturesque Adjarian mountain road to see one of the oldest ethnographic museum collections in Georgia. Established in 1984, the museum building itself is much older and used to be a local mosque and madrassah.
The museum’s interior still reflects building’s religious past. Apart from this, the museum’s location is so amazing – standing on a hill, the views over the vast territory of Machakhela National Park are just breathtaking.
Beekeepers and shepherd cheese makers are a local “specialty” of Machakhela. Making hospitality a business was not a concept here for a long time (until 2014) – a legacy from when the area was a restricted border zone closed for visitors.
We’ll visit a local family now engaged in both – honey and cheese production, and welcoming tourists – to relax, chat and have lunch. Real honey and not-your-usual cheese are obvious sides.
We almost forgot to mention that tasting of Tsolikouri and Chkhaveri local wines is also included 🙂
On the way back to Batumi, we stop at the medieval Tskhimlari arch bridge over the mountain river. A great place to take a group photo, encapsulating everything this day was about.
Free evening in Batumi.
Tea tour
In the morning depart Batumi towards the Guria Region of Georgia. For more than a century, this place has been famous for its tea plantations. During Soviet times, Georgian tea was one of the major products keeping Guria busy. The local climate and soil quality made it possible to grow a very high-quality tea.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, tea production experienced a drastic fall, leading to complete abandonment of the fields.
In recent years, local people started to bring back the tradition of tea making. We will visit one such family. Lika Megreladze, daughter of the former Ozurgeti Tea Factory’s senior production technologist, created a small tea garden on the backyard of their century-old house.
Now you have a chance not just to see how tea is being grown, but to actually harvest tea leaves, and take part in the whole process of domestic real tea-making. All of this will, of course, be complimented with an organic farm-to-table lunch, made of locally produced and grown products.
The garden itself, being based around tea bushes, is a miniature paradise! A cozy bamboo grove, calming watercourse in-between high trees, beautiful mini-forest of their own, and lines of vineyards. This family is truly blessed with what they possess.
Return to Batumi for yet another seaside evening.
Mtirala National Park hiking
Сheck-out after breakfast. Depart hotel towards your last adventure on this tour: half-day easy level hiking in Mtirala National Park.
About a 40-minute drive from Batumi, we arrive at the park’s visitor center. The trail runs along the beautiful Chakvistskali River gorge. Two kilometers away, there’s a 15-meter-high waterfall covered in ivy and Colchic box trees.
We will have a light picnic lunch there before going back.
Upon return to the Visitor center, you will be transferred to Batumi train station*. That same comfortable Stadler train will take you back to Tbilisi. We ourselves actually enjoy the train ride for a number of reasons.
First of all, it is a true gift of time! You’re on the road, so no one can judge you for dedicating 5 hours to yourself. Sleeping, reading, watching movies on your laptop or mobile device, or simply daydreaming – these are the things you most likely have been depriving yourself of for a long time.
Secondly, taking the train instead of car or plane is good for our environment, not to mention extremely safe. As promoters of responsible traveler behavior, we strongly encourage this type of transportation on our tours in Georgia. And believe us, this is an extremely satisfying feeling – to be a responsible tourist.
* You may extend your stay in Batumi for your own time and program. Just let us know the date/time you want your return train ticket to be purchased for.
Upcoming tour dates
| Start date | End date |
|---|---|
| Thursday, September 3 | Sunday, September 6 |
| Thursday, September 10 | Sunday, September 13 |
| Thursday, September 17 | Sunday, September 20 |
| Thursday, September 24 | Sunday, September 27 |
| Thursday, October 1 | Sunday, October 4 |
| Thursday, October 8 | Sunday, October 11 |
| Thursday, October 15 | Sunday, October 18 |
Tour price and inclusions
Total tour price: 670 GEL per person (sharing double or twin room)
Single room supplement: 155 GEL
Children under the age of 6 are at discounted price: 440 GEL per child
Tour includes:
- Train tickets (2nd class) from Tbilisi to Batumi, and return
- Transportation during the tour on a comfortable Mercedes Sprinter
- Accommodation at the Admiral hotel, Batumi (3 nights, breakfast included, standard room)
- English-speaking guide to accompany the group throughout the tour
- Lunches on Days 1, 2 and 3 (locations indicated in the tour program)
- Picnic lunch on Day 4 (during Mtirala National Park hiking)
- All tour activities mentioned in the program
- All entrance fees
- Personal reusable water bottle (It’s brand-new and it’s yours! Just please don’t bring a plastic bottle)
- COVID prevention kit: 2 reusable face masks, tissues and hand sanitizer