Beyond Batumi: the Adjara mountains — Khulo, Goderdzi, Beshumi, Machakhela, arched bridges and mountain Adjarian culture

Beyond Batumi’s palms and glass towers, Adjara climbs fast. Within ninety minutes of the coast the road leaves banana plantations and tea bushes behind and starts switchbacking through beech and chestnut forest toward a highland world of wooden balconies, stone arched bridges, Soviet-era sanatoria and a cable car that locals still use to get to market. Khulo, Goderdzi, Beshumi and the Machakhela valley are not a single day’s postcard stop; they are a different Adjara, mountain Adjara, where the Muslim-heritage highland culture, the dialect and the food diverge noticeably from the Black Sea resort towns below.

The short answer for a visitor with limited time: a long day trip from Batumi (roughly ten to twelve hours door to door) covers Khulo’s cable car and the Goderdzi Pass comfortably; two days lets you add Beshumi, the alpine garden and one of the arched bridges without rushing; and a dedicated half-day is worth setting aside separately for Machakhela, which lies in the opposite direction from Khulo, closer to the Turkish border. None of this is a self-drive errand for a rented hatchback outside the main summer months — the roads are real mountain roads, and this guide explains where that matters.

Getting there and road conditions

From Batumi the route runs via Khelvachauri and Keda to Khulo (about 90 km, two to two and a half hours), then continues a further 25-30 km of tighter switchbacks up to the Goderdzi Pass and on toward Adigeni in Samtskhe-Javakheti. The lower stretch to Khulo is paved and manageable in an ordinary car in good weather; the climb beyond Khulo toward Goderdzi and Beshumi narrows, loses its asphalt in places and is best attempted in a 4×4, particularly after rain or outside the June-to-September window. The pass itself, at roughly 2,025 metres, is seasonally affected by snow and can close for extended periods in winter and spring. Always check current conditions before heading up, since closure dates vary year to year: see the official road-condition updates at georoad.gov.ge. Public minibuses (marshrutkas) run from Batumi to Khulo daily, but onward transport to Goderdzi and Beshumi is thin outside summer, which is why most visitors book a driver for the day. GTOUR runs Adjara Highlands — Khulo, the Goderdzi Pass and the Green Lake as a ten-hour day tour from Batumi, and Adjara Highlands by 4×4 — Beshumi, Goderdzi and the Alpine Villages as an overnight version for travellers who want to linger.

Khulo and its cable car

Khulo is the administrative centre of the highland district and the natural first stop. Its best-known feature is an aerial cable car linking the town centre to the village of Tago on the opposite slope of the gorge — a working piece of local infrastructure, built in the Soviet period and later renovated, that villagers use for everyday journeys and that visitors ride largely for the view over the Khulo gorge and its scattered farmhouses. It is a short crossing, a few minutes each way, and queues can form on market days and in peak summer, so flexibility helps. Khulo’s Monday market, when families come down from surrounding villages, is worth timing a visit around if your schedule allows. Regional information on access and current operating notes is published by the Adjara government at adjara.gov.ge; confirm opening hours locally since small mountain attractions change schedule without much notice.

Goderdzi Pass and the alpine botanical garden

Above Khulo the road climbs through subalpine forest into a genuinely different landscape: open meadow, dwarf pine, and in late spring and early summer, drifts of wild rhododendron and azalea. Near the pass, a long-running alpine botanical station (associated with Batumi’s botanical research institutions) has documented the flora of this zone for decades and maintains a garden showcasing high-altitude Caucasus plant species; it is a modest, research-oriented site rather than a polished visitor attraction, and worth visiting for the setting as much as for labelled specimens. The Goderdzi area has also been marked for ski-resort development in recent years, with lift infrastructure and accommodation gradually expanding; current development status and trail information are tracked at mountainresorts.ge. Outside the ski season (roughly December to March, snow permitting), summer is the more reliable time to see the pass at its most accessible, with wildflowers at their peak from June into early July.

Beshumi and the Shuamtoba festival

A short distance from Goderdzi, the Beshumi plateau sits at around 1,900 metres and has served as a highland health resort since Soviet times, when sanatoria were built here to take advantage of the clean mountain air — a function the area still performs informally for Batumi families escaping the coast’s summer humidity. Beshumi is also the venue for Shuamtoba, a midsummer highland festival (the name translates roughly as “midsummer,” and it is usually held in August) bringing together horse races, Georgian wrestling (chidaoba), folk singing and dancing, and stalls of local cheese, honey and highland bread. Dates shift from year to year and are set by the Adjara regional administration and local municipalities, so confirm the current calendar before planning a trip around it; check adjara.gov.ge or regional event listings on georgiatoday.ge closer to the date. GTOUR’s two-day Adjara Highlands by 4×4 itinerary is built to allow a Beshumi overnight when the festival calendar fits.

The stone arched bridges: Makhuntseti and Dandalo

Scattered through the river valleys of Keda and Khulo municipalities are a number of hump-backed stone arched bridges, most dating from the nineteenth century, built under local Muslim Adjarian nobility (notably the Khimshiashvili family) to carry trade routes across fast mountain rivers. The best known is the Makhuntseti bridge, a single graceful stone span over a tributary of the Adjaristsqali near a waterfall of the same name, close enough to the main Batumi-Khulo road to make an easy stop. Further into the Keda valley, the Dandalo bridge is a quieter, less-visited example of the same building tradition, usually combined with a visit to the wine villages of Keda, where the local chkhaveri grape is grown on steep terraces. GTOUR’s Keda Wine Villages and the Dandalo Bridge day trip and the Chkhaveri and Tsolikouri — the Wines of Adjara and Guria tour both build around this stretch.

Machakhela National Park

Machakhela lies in a separate valley south of Batumi, close to the Turkish border, and is best treated as its own excursion rather than an add-on to the Khulo-Goderdzi route. Established to protect a long belt of Colchic forest — chestnut, oak and relict broadleaf woodland — along the Machakhela river, the park is managed as part of Georgia’s protected areas network; official information on access, trails and rules sits with the state protected areas authority at apa.gov.ge. Beyond the forest, the valley is historically known for traditional gunsmithing villages, old watermills still used by local families, and its own stone arched bridges strung across the river at intervals. The Mirveti waterfall, reached on foot from the park’s lower reaches, is a common turnaround point for a half-day visit. GTOUR’s Machakhela Valley — Arched Bridges, Mirveti Waterfall and a Village Lunch tour runs as a seven-hour trip from Batumi and includes a stop at a family home for a highland lunch.

Adjarian highland cuisine: borano and sinori

Lowland Adjara gave Georgia its best-known export, the boat-shaped khachapuri Adjaruli, but the highland villages cook differently, built around dairy and simple grains rather than the coast’s seafood and citrus. Borano is a shared dish of sulguni cheese melted slowly in butter in a clay or metal pan at the table, eaten by dipping bread, closer to a fondue than to baked khachapuri. Sinori is a layered dish of thin dough sheets (sometimes compared loosely to lasagne) interleaved with butter and cheese, a filling, practical food built for cold mountain evenings. Corn bread (mchadi), honey from highland apiaries, and herb-heavy soups round out the table; expect less tomato and more butter and cheese than in Kakhetian or Imeretian cooking further east. Visitors wanting a structured introduction before heading uphill can take GTOUR’s Adjarian Khachapuri Class in Batumi, which covers the coastal dish directly, while the Machakhela and Keda day trips both include village lunches where borano or sinori typically appear depending on the household.

• Borano — melted sulguni cheese in butter, eaten with bread, a highland staple
• Sinori — layered dough, butter and cheese, a dense mountain dish
• Mchadi — Adjarian corn bread, served alongside most meals
• Highland honey and dairy — sold at Khulo’s Monday market and roadside stalls near Beshumi

Practical summary

• Distance: Batumi to Khulo about 90 km (two to two and a half hours); Khulo to Goderdzi/Beshumi a further 25-30 km of narrower mountain road.
• Vehicle: ordinary car is fine to Khulo in good weather; 4×4 strongly recommended beyond Khulo, year-round for peace of mind, essential outside summer.
• Season: June to September is most reliable for the pass and alpine garden; the Goderdzi Pass can close with snow in winter and spring — check georoad.gov.ge before travelling.
• Shuamtoba festival dates at Beshumi are set annually, usually in August — confirm current dates with the Adjara regional administration before booking around it.
• Machakhela is a separate excursion from the Khulo-Goderdzi route, reached directly from Batumi; check park access rules via the protected areas authority.
• Food to try: borano, sinori, mchadi and highland honey, distinct from Batumi’s boat-shaped khachapuri.
• GTOUR day and overnight options: Adjara Highlands — Khulo, the Goderdzi Pass and the Green Lake; Adjara Highlands by 4×4 — Beshumi, Goderdzi and the Alpine Villages; Machakhela Valley — Arched Bridges, Mirveti Waterfall and a Village Lunch; Keda Wine Villages and the Dandalo Bridge; Batumi & the Ajara Mountains — 2 Days.

Sources

• Road condition updates
• Georgia Today regional news
• Beshumi Shuamtoba Summer Festival
• Mountain Roads of Adjara: Khulo-Goderdzi Pass