Discover the new modernized Batumi

Where to go in Batumi?

Last year during my relocation to Trabzon, Turkey, the city at the Black Sea, surprisingly I discovered a small country just two hours away from me. And, of course, where I didn't need visa. This country was Georgia and its capital is Tbilisi. To tell you the fact I didn’t knew almost nothing about this country. Just that is not in UE.

I had this impression that is so underrated and there is nothing to do or see there. Boy I was wrong. In lack of nothing to do I decided to give it a try and go for couple of days and visit Batumi, which before I google it and looked nice. And, of course, it is just two hours away from me.

Said and done, after I exit Turkey's border, 20 km it was Batumi, this city at the Black Sea. I arrived in our hotel, checked in, they were all speaking English there, I was happy because in Turkey they lack this ability. Hotel was nice I guess 3 stars, student budget of course, nice and clean all I needed. It was very close to the shore and like 3 km let's say from the centre.

During this 20 km from the border until the actual city it was looking like a poor city with same blocks and building from communism time. I said to my boyfriend “Where we are? ”.

Old blocks from communism time

Shocker when we left from hotel in order to check out the sights and shops, I was blown away of how the old blends in with the new. Literally they have old communism blocks after super extra Dubai kind of modern architecture and new buildings.

Caught me so by surprise, it was amazing. They rebuild this new city called Batumi. The shore I guess is around a good 5 km straight line near the beach with a lot of shops, restaurants and activities to do.

Crazy modern architecture of new hotel

That Beverly Hills look

As I’ve seen and heard many of the tourists are Russians. Some Turkish.

So, I got a touristic map and circled all the points in order to visit: the museums, the Aquarium, the Dolphinarium, the Botanical Garden, the Alphabetic Tower, the Piazza, the upside down restaurant (White Restaurant), etc.

They are all very close to each other so it's very easy to stroll around the touristic points First we visited the:

• Aquarium

  Don’t forget the currency there is GEL or lari and 100 euros is around 270 lari.

  Price to enter to the Aquarium it was 3 lari. Place was very small not quite as I expected, but they did have some nice coloured fish and nice aquariums shaped. I guess we spend less than 20 minutes there and went near into the Dolphinarium.

  

  

• Dolphinarium

  They have 3 programs per day if I’m not wrong, so we booked the 17:30 PM one. Ticket it was 15 lari per person. In the brochure they say show it will be around 1h and something. Okay, time came, we took our seats. There were a lot of foreigners, not so many places maybe around 200 let's say. In front of the seating it was a big pool with dolphins swimming around, they were quite big. Show started. It was extremely entertaining and they had one presenter speaking in English, Russian and of course Georgian. The dolphins performed tricks and it was a good show the until when by mistake a dolphin came so close to the edge of the pool that he threw so much water in the audience. I was full wet! I recommend this activity when in Batumi.

  

• The zoo

  The zoo is very close to the Aquarium, actually near. But you can’t call it a zoo. They have few animals like 2 kangaroos, some pony and a zebra. I guess that's it. No entry fee.

  Moving on...

• The Alphabetic Tower

  Is the symbol in Batumi and the tallest monument or structure to call it like this. It’s basically a tower with a bunch of letter on it and it’s amazing in the night after dark when the lights turn on. Pretty amazing. It gives the city an edgy feel.

  

  

• The Eye of the Sea, Batumi

  Is a spinning big weil like in London, but of course not as big, which gives you a nice view of the city and the Black Sea. Price was 2 lari.

  When we were not visiting, we just spend time in restaurants. On the seashore they have nice terraces and one particular restaurant caught our attention. It was actually an old pirate ship transformed into a restaurant. My favourite but I don’t recall the name.

  We drink mojitos and eat some nice fruit salads. Prices are cheap in Batumi for everything, even electronics. I recommend in case if you want to buy mobile phones. At least 200 euros difference from original prices plus all the shops they have tax free.

  

• The Botanical Garden

  It was the only objective far away from the centre or shore. We took a small bus and we went outside the city like 20 minutes. The Botanical Garden is situated somewhere inside a forest and a lot of natural space. Entry fee was 8 lari for students.

  All the prices I post here are for students. Regular price is more. They accept your student card from abroad.

  So, it was a long walk throwout this forest, not so impressive actually just many km walking up and just some exotic trees maybe to see. I don’t recommend because you will walk a lot until the exit. And they have 4 exits and if you want to take the same bus to go back. You must return all the way back where you entered.

  

  View from the Botanical Garden

• The Piazza

  Is the censer of the centre, meaning a small Piazza with some nice terraces and medieval buildings around. It’s a nice fleur to it.

• Other points to visit

  The Synagogue and a lot of churches which I skipped. The statue of Ali and Nino. The White Restaurant and they have an amazing McDonald’s. They say the best in the world as design and architecture.

  

  Statue of Ali & Nino

  

  The White Restaurant

  

  McDonald’s in Batumi

  

  Georgian cuisine and traditional lemonade

  Batumi is the first city after you exit from Turkey. Please if you got a chance go and visit it. It’s beyond underrated and tourism is starting to develop. Prices are cheap, but life is great there.

  Small tip: Walmart is the best supermarket for shopping foods, beverages and many more.

  Namaste

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