By David Kiknadze, Transport & Openings Reporter · 09/11/2026
- Plan on a day trip or one night, basing yourself in Kutaisi or Batumi and arranging a private driver rather than relying on marshrutka transfers through Samtredia.
- Book a winery visit in advance, since cellars like Zurab Topuridze operate as working family businesses rather than drop-in attractions, and November suits tasting the fresh Chkhaveri after the harvest.
- Leave Bakhmaro for a summer trip: the mountain road above Chokhatauri is generally closed or impassable from November through spring, so this season is for the lowland valleys and wine, not the high resort.
Chokhatauri is not a place that announces itself with monuments. It is the administrative center of its own municipality in Guria, a region of western Georgia better known abroad for Batumi’s seafront than for its inland towns, and most travellers pass through rather than stop. In November, that is exactly the point. The steep road up to Bakhmaro, the high-altitude resort that gives Chokhatauri its summer importance, is effectively closed once the cold sets in, so the town’s quieter, lowland character comes forward instead: terraced hazelnut and tea plantations along the Supsa and Natanebi river valleys, modest family wine cellars, and village guesthouses that keep running whatever the season.
What there is to do
The main reason to come to Chokhatauri in November is wine. Guria is one of the traditional homes of Chkhaveri, a pink-skinned grape fermented in qvevri clay vessels to produce a light, slightly sparkling red or rosé, usually semi-sweet, that is rarely exported and mostly kept within the region. The grape harvest, or rtveli, falls in September and October, so a November visit catches the cellars in the weeks just after pressing, when the new wine is settling and producers have time to talk through the process rather than rush a tasting between harvest tasks. Visits can be arranged to the Zurab Topuridze Winery, a verified family cellar near the town, for tastings paired with home-cooked food.
Beyond the wine, the appeal is the drive itself and the slower rhythm of rural Guria. The valleys around Chokhatauri are gentler and greener than the high mountain landscapes of Svaneti or Racha further east, and in November, with the region’s characteristic rain keeping the hills saturated and the hazelnut groves bare, the scenery has a different, muted mood that suits a day of unhurried travel rather than hiking. For travellers who want to stay overnight and experience village routines directly, the cottage known as Skijis Sakhli offers a base for home cooking and garden produce typical of Guria households, rather than a formal sight in itself.
Chokhatauri suits independent travellers with a car, or those arranging a private driver, more than anyone relying on fixed-schedule public transport, since marshrutka connections from Tbilisi usually require a change in Kutaisi or Samtredia. It works well as a stop between the Imereti lowlands and the Black Sea coast, built around wineries and village life rather than museums or monuments, and makes most sense combined with Kutaisi, around 1 hour 20 minutes away, or Batumi, around 1 hour 55 minutes away, since accommodation directly in the town itself is limited.
Read more on gtour.ge: Chokhatauri
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Source: Georgian National Tourism Administration — Chokhatauri (georgia.travel)
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Source: Georgian National Tourism Administration — Chokhatauri (georgia.travel). Reported by the GTour desk; updated 9 November 2026, 15:45 (Tbilisi).
