Imereti

Imereti is the green heart of western Georgia — soft hills, river gorges, cave systems and a capital, Kutaisi, that was already a royal city when most of Europe's capitals were villages. It is the region travellers cross on the way to the sea and rarely give enough time; those who stop find some of the country's most rewarding sights within an hour of each other.

The UNESCO-listed Gelati monastery holds the tomb of King David the Builder and twelfth-century mosaics still bright with gold. Nearby, the Prometheus and Sataplia caves open into halls of stalactites and dinosaur footprints. At Tskaltubo, the grand sanatoriums of the Soviet spa era stand in a park of radon springs — one of the most photographed abandoned landscapes in the Caucasus, and slowly returning to life.

Imereti's cooking is its own: the cheese-filled Imeretian khachapuri, walnut-rich pkhali and a lighter, more herbal wine tradition than Kakheti's. Kutaisi's international airport makes the region a natural first or last stop in Georgia.