Guria

Guria is a small, quiet region between Imereti and the sea — a land of tea plantations, hazelnut groves and villages where polyphonic singing is still an ordinary part of a feast. Georgians know it for its wit, its horsemen and its fast, intricate folk songs; travellers mostly pass it on the highway to Batumi without realising what they are missing.

The coast at Ureki and Shekvetili offers unusually gentle beaches of dark magnetic sand, popular with families and for their reputed therapeutic effect. Inland, Ozurgeti and Chokhatauri lead up to the highland resort of Bakhmaro, a summer village of wooden houses at two thousand metres, famous for its clean air and sunsets over a sea of cloud.

Guria is a region for slowing down: a tea-house tasting, a walk among the hills, a village lunch of corn bread and cheese. It fits naturally between Kutaisi and Batumi on a west-Georgia itinerary.