The best running trails in Georgia

A nice wide promenade, excellent for morning exercise. There are many outdoor gyms freely accessible and drinking water dispensers. You can see and enjoy a lot of the beach and the skyline. Really recommended 👍

A pleasant walk along the entire city on the promenade. You will reach the Marina, the harbor. From here you can go back through the old town of Batumi.

Batumi, with its 123,000 inhabitants, is Georgia's third-largest city after Tbilisi and Kutaisi. It is also the capital of the autonomous republic of Adjara. The local inhabitants, the Ajars, are ethnically and linguistically the same as Georgians, but they mostly profess Islam. Batumi lies on the coast of the Black Sea, has a warm subtropical climate, and citrus fruits and tea are grown in its surroundings. Above all, however, it is a major centre for summer holidays.

Such a beautiful bridge, but unfortunately full of vendors offering boat tours and photos.

Anyone strolling along the waterfront in Batumi will at some point encounter two steel figures moving slowly – toward each other, through each other, and away from each other. Their names are Ali and Nino. And although they consist of nothing but horizontally layered steel ribs, they tell one of the most touching stories this city has to offer. The sculpture was created in 2010 by the Georgian artists Tamar Kvesitadze and Paata Sanaia and is based on the novel of the same name by Kurban Said. It is about an impossible love: He, a Muslim Azeri from Baku. She, a Georgian Christian from Tbilisi. Between them: history, religion, war. And yet also closeness, tenderness – and the attempt to build bridges. That is precisely what this sculpture does: It brings the two together – and then separates them again, in an endless mechanical cycle. The spectacle lasts around ten minutes, but in motion, it feels like an entire film. A visit at dusk is particularly impressive: the sculpture then glows in changing colors, while behind it the Black Sea slowly disappears into the darkness.

In the middle of Batumi's waterfront promenade, a structure stretches into the sky, oscillating somewhere between a space radar, a DNA double helix, and an LED art object: the Alphabet Tower. Anyone approaching the 130-meter-high steel giant must first orient themselves – and perhaps ask themselves: Is this art, science, or an oversized jumble of letters? The tower is indeed a homage to the Georgian alphabet – one of the oldest and most independent writing systems in the world. The 33 illuminated letters spiral around the tower's skeleton, reminiscent of a DNA helix. A clear message: language and identity are inextricably linked. The fact that this message is presented here in neon and glass is typical of Batumi – a place that likes to make everything a bit more colorful, garish, and spectacular. At the top of the tower is a glass sphere with an observation deck and – at least temporarily – a café. The elevator takes visitors comfortably to the top, but service is not guaranteed. Those who dare to climb (and are lucky with the opening times) will be rewarded with a magnificent panoramic view of the Black Sea coast, the promenade and the playful urban chaos of the city.

Whoever enters Europaplatz finds themselves in the middle of a postcard motif. Playful facades, a striking clock tower, water features, and in the middle of it all, a stone column with a golden Medea high above – that's Batumi in a nutshell: dramatic, detail-loving, and somehow proud. This is where the city's tourist heart beats. The square is surrounded by cafés, hotels, and historic buildings, including the fairytale-like Astronomical Tower House with its green tiled peaks. During the day, there's a lively promenade, children play in the fountain, tour groups gather under the statue; in the evening, everything lights up in vibrant colors – a bit of Las Vegas, a bit of Belle Époque. Those seeking tranquility should come in the early morning. Those who want to people-watch should stay until evening. Those who are hungry can take a stroll around the square – everything from fast food to fine dining is represented.

In the middle of Tbilisi, where the city unfolds its breathless rhythm between the fortress and the river, suddenly stands a piece of Berlin. Not a copy, not a replica, but a genuine, raw concrete testimony to history – a segment of the Berlin Wall, rough, painted, and scarred. The location: Europaplatz. The occasion: friendship. The context: remembrance. In 2017, Germany presented this piece of the Wall to the Georgian Prime Minister – not as a nostalgic souvenir, but as a symbol. Not of what was, but of what is to come. On the metal plaque, one reads in sober English: "All such walls fall." A sentence like a political warning, simple yet full of dignity.