Places to Visit With a Day Trip from Kutaisi, Georgia

Despite how much I wanted to visit Georgia, it’s amazing how little I knew about it. I never knew much about the western city of Kutaisi but ended up loving my time there. After spending a couple of days sightseeing there though, it was time to look a little further afield. That meant finding out what there was to do with a day trip from Kutaisi. Turns out quite a lot when you look at the rest of the Imereti region that surrounds the city.

Now Georgia isn’t a huge country and by the time I reached Kutaisi, I’d already spent a bit of time in Tbilisi. Thankfully, Kutaisi is far enough from Tbilisi that there isn’t much overlap with Tbilisi day trips. Making day trips from Kutaisi opens up a whole new side of the country for visitors, especially showing you some natural attractions you won’t see elsewhere in Georgia. Here’s a look at what a day trip from Kutaisi can look like if you have the time.

Martvili Canyon

Kicking off the day was one of the more popular stops on this list, Martvili Canyon. A reasonable drive out of Kutaisi, this canyon is quite well-known in these parts for its natural beauty. Stretching 2.4 km along and getting as deep as 30 metres in some parts, the canyon is no small thing.

While it may look a little underwhelming upon arrival, follow the trail and soon it all becomes clear. First you see little waterfalls trickling off its rocky cliffs and that seems nice. But once you get into the cool, moss forest and see the canyon ripple through the stone it becomes quite impressive. Several bridges join the two sides of the canyon, which of course make for great photo opportunities.

It’s even possible to take a boat ride through parts of the canyon but it wasn’t something we were interested in paying extra for. Ultimately, it doesn’t take too long to fully visit Martvili Canyon but it is a striking landscape to look at.

Okatse Canyon

The next stop in our tour of the beautiful natural scenery around Kutaisi was Okatse Canyon. This huge canyon is home to some wonderful scenery given that it can get to depths of 50 metres. While at one end you can find the Kinchkha Waterfall, we didn’t go as it’s further to the north.

There are two parts to a visit to Okatse Canyon. First, there’s the matter of reaching the canyon from the car park, then there’s the Okatse Canyon skywalk. When you arrive at the visitor centre and car park, you’re arriving at one side of the Dadiani Forest Park.

To reach the canyon, you need to walk through the forest for around 40 minutes. It’s mostly quite easy as you’re heading downhill in this direction, worth keeping in mind on the return trip. Still, the open fields between the trees are a nice place for a walk.

Walking down to the canyon’s edge, you find yourself at the start of an elevated boardwalk just off the cliff. As you go, you’ll alternate between stretches of the skywalk and returning to the cliff to climb some stairs to gain elevation. For those who struggle with vertigo or heights, I’d say it may induce a little anxiety.

The endpoint is a floating panoramic viewpoint that lets you look down and along the canyon. Decked out in its early autumn colours, Okatse Canyon was quite something.

Prometheus Cave

Despite my troubles with caves and claustrophobia, one of the places outside Kutaisi I wanted to see was the Prometheus Cave. Maybe it was because it was one of the few places here that I’d heard of before. Of our tour group, I was the only one interested in heading down so it was a bit of a wait before there was an English tour group that I could tack on to. Still, it was worth the wait.

The Prometheus Cave was only discovered back in 1984 but was almost immediately designed to support tourists coming through. Interestingly, the name comes from the local legend that says the figure Prometheus of ancient Greek mythology was chained to the mountains near here.

Despite that info, you need to know next to nothing to enjoy the incredible rock formations of this karst cave. During a visit you’re taken through six distinct halls and get to see plenty of petrified stone, plus the usual stalactites and stalagmites. Photos hardly do it justice.

Gelati Monastery

By far the most popular and closest place to visit from Kutaisi is the Gelati Monastery. Since it’s only a few kilometres outside the city, I included it in my Kutaisi guide. But as I only visited as part of this day tour from Kutaisi, it should be included here too. It’s certainly somewhere you’ll want to see while you’re in Kutaisi that’s for sure.

Gelati Monastery may be one of the important attractions in all of Georgia. With a history that stretches back to 1106, this monastery has long had an important place in the Georgian Orthodox church. It was both an important place religiously but also for education in other disciplines as well.

Inside its churches, you’ll find remarkably well-preserved murals dating back centuries and even a mosaic ceiling. I was honestly stunned by the frescoes in here and they seemed to be the thing our driver was most excited to share with us throughout the whole day.

Coupled with the fact that the beloved ruler King David IV is buried here, is it any surprise that the monastery is UNESCO world heritage listed?

Tip for Making a Kutaisi Day Trip

If you want to visit these places from Kutaisi, you have a few options open to you. With your own wheels, reaching these places won’t be a problem. Trying to get to them by marshrutka may be possible but likely challenging – I never looked into it. Doing a day tour seems the easiest for travellers short on time.

I went with Kutaisi Tripstation whose office in town is just by the Opera Theatre. Their tour boards advertised a few different tours none of which had all the stops listed above. Instead, because there were only 3 of us that day, a custom tour was drawn up based on what we each wanted to see.

To give you an idea of prices, their advertised rates were around $10US or 30 GEL. In reality, we each paid around $17US or 50 GEL for this custom tour, not including the Prometheus Cave tour which itself was another 50 GEL. Still pretty reasonable if you ask me. Of course, if you prefer a private tour from Kutaisi, they are possible too.

Have you heard of any of these spots around Kutaisi before? Which of these Kutaisi day trips most appeals to you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.