Batumi

Introduction

The Old Ship Hotel, Batumi

© neillkylie

Batumi is a city in Georgia and has around 125,000 inhabitants. Batumi is the capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. It is the country's major port city and is located in the subtropical part of the country, with generally warm or mild weather year round.

Neighbourhoods

There are 7 boroughs:

• Old Batumi
• Khimshiashvili
• Bagrationi
• Aghmashenebeli
• Javakhishvili
• Tamar
• Boni-Gorodok

Sights and Activities

Stalin

© Utrecht

• Stalin Museum - a much smaller one compared to the one in Gori, this museum is located in the house where he once lived.
• The Black Sea - enjoy the waves and admire the beach and the port itself.
• Nurigeli Lake
• Oceanarium
• Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian churches
• Old Mosque
• Remains of Gonio Fortress
• Batumi Botanical Garden

Events and Festivals

Black Sea Jazz Festival

Traditionally in the mid July Batumi hosts the Black sea Jazz festival organized by Eastern Promotion. The six-day jazz event offers a tasteful music to the admirers of jazz all around the world. 4 stages, 21 bands, 37 shows and participants from 11 countries make Batumi the centre of summer vacation.

Weather

Batumi has a warm subtropical climate with humidity hovering around 70-80%. Temperatures range from around 10-12 °C in December and January to 26 °C in July and August. Lows average around 5 °C and 19 °C respectively. The absolute records are 40 °C and -7 °C. Batumi receives over 2,700mm of precipitation a year, most of it falling as rain. May is the driest month with less than 100mm, while September to November has 300mm a month or more!

Getting There

By Plane

Batumi International Airport (BUS) offers flights to/from Kiev, Ankara, Minsk, Baku, Donetsk, Kharkov, Moscow, Odessa, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Tehran and Istanbul.

By Train

Batumi Central Station is about two kilometres north of the centre. 06:00–01:00. Several local buses (No.2, No.15, No.8, etc.) go by the station – check out the live traffic here.

Georgian Railways operates several daily (+one night) fast trains between Batumi and Tbilisi. During the summer, an extra train Batumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan also operates. There are also slow trains to Kutaisi and Ozgureti, one pair each. Daily trains are typical by western standards. For the night trains, there are 3 classes: In first class, there are two people per cabin, the berths are a little short, narrow and hard but rather comfortable, and linen is provided. First class costs 40 lari, second class costs 23 lari, seats cost 13 lari. Since the schedule changes quite often, you can check before hand on the Georgian Railways Web site - be careful with the simplified version of the timetable - the Georgian version tends to be updated more often than the foreign ones (check the last update timestamp on both to be sure). However, the ticket booking system always has correct times.

Train tickets can be bought online, which is the easiest as trains tend to feel up fast (except local ones). You can do it at the station or from an office in the old town at 5 General Mazniashvili St (between Melashvili and Abashidze). This office is very plain and nondescript with no signs in English. The door and window frames are green and some metal chairs are visible inside. Hours are 09:00 to 18:00.

Unless taking the slow train to/from Kutaisi or Ozgureti, reserve your seats in advance on the weekends, as many Georgians flock to the seaside.

By Car

Batumi is on the E70 and S2 roads, which stretch north to Poti, and south into Turkey and along the Turkish coast to Samsun. The E97 road connects Batumi with Abkhazia, Russia and Crimea to the north, and also to Trabzon, Rize and Aşkale in Turkey to the south.

By Bus

Buses and minibuses (marshutkas) operate regularly between Batumi and Tbilisi, taking around 6 hours. There is an overnight bus (Metro Georgia) from Tbilissi to Trabzon in Turkey arriving / leaving in Batumi around 2am. In the daytime there are hourly buses from Trabzon to the border (35 Turkish Lira, 2018), from there are frequent minibuses to the old bus terminal in Batumi, 2 Lari. Not far from the old bus terminal at Gogibashvili street, the road along the sea, next to the cable car ground station, there leaves a minibus to Mestia in the Svaneti region at 3 pm every day.

By Boat

A new ferry operates between Sochi, Russia to Batumi, Georgia. It is a high speed hydrofoil which operates three times a week, Wednesdays at 10:30am, Fridays at 9:30am, Sundays at 10:30am. Check the port of Sochi for more information about those crossings.

Getting Around

By Bike

An automatic bike sharing scheme, called BatumVelo is available to rent bicycles and ride along the beaches.

Eat

Western Georgia has plenty of local flavours, and a local specilaity is a type of khachapuri named acharuli khachapuri (Ajarian khachapuri) that resembles a Viking boat, with the cheese all mixed up with an egg in the centre. Avoid this one if you have high cholesterol, but you'll be missing out as it's absolutely delicious.

Sleep

Batumi increasingly attracts investors and well heeled visitors from Russia, Iran and Central Asia. The emphasis is on casinos and luxury hotels. Some of the ambitious hotel projects are currently (March 2012) stalled. Prices vary depending on proximity to the beach and level of service provided. Cheapest option are from 40 lari for a double room incl. breakfast.

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafés, locally called "internet clubs", are common and cheap in Tbilisi and Batumi but scarce in Kutaisi. Some places offer free WLAN to their customers. At least in Tbilisi, all hostels have free fast WLAN.

There is free Wi-Fi network all over the Tbilisi. Other places might have some hotels, restaurants etc. with (free) wifi.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

International calling code for Georgia is 995. The emergency number is 112.

Many Georgians have now have access to a mobile phone and as such public payphones are becomming obsolete in the bigger cities, although there are many places offering phone services, usually attached to an internet cafe of 'Xerox' shop.

Georgia uses GSM (900 MHz and 1800 MHz) for mobile phones and has three mobile operators. Magti, Bee Line and GeoCell. The best coverage is offered by GeoCell which covers most of the country and a fair bit of the mountains. SIM cards can be purchased from all the networks and topped up with scratch cards purchesed from shops or various touch screen 'kiosks' in the bigger cities. It usually works out a lof cheaper compared to roaming with your own cell phone, especially regarding internet costs.

Post

Georgian Post offers a range of services, but don't count on it being very reliable or quick. On top of that they are relatively expensive. It is advisable to post letters in central post offices rather than using the post boxes in the street. Opening hours are usually from 10:00am to 6:00pm from Monday to Friday, some larger ones at Saturday and most are closed on Sunday.

"Georgian International Express Mail Service" is a member of the World Network of "Express Mail Services". It sends letters and parcels to 200 countries and delivers inbound items received by EMS network to all Georgian regions. EMS has branches in Kutaisi, Batumi, Poti, Gori, Marneuli. All items are insured by insurance company "IC Group". Nevertheless, you might use international courier companies lik TNT, UPS, DHL or FedEx, as they are reliable, fast and comptitively priced as well.

External Links

• Official Website