9 Best Things to do in Batumi, Georgia

Batumi is a city close to the Turkish border on the Black Sea in Georgia. There are plenty of things to do in Batumi. Here’s what we got up to as a family during our month-long stay in Batumi.

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1. Candy Land for kids

If you’re looking for things to do with kids in Batumi on a rainy day, check out Candy Land.

There was enough to keep our two entertained here for a couple of hours, including trampolines, spinning rides, slides, and Duplo.

Although it’s best for under 10’s, the age limit is 15. Our almost 9-year-old liked it enough, although she generally only likes these places now if she goes with friends (not including her sister?). The trampolines weren’t bouncy enough for her to work on all the tricks she wanted to!

Candy Land is also a possible birthday venue for little ones. Check it out if you’re looking for rainy-day fun in Batumi for little ones. (We’ve noticed there are quite a few rainy days here in the fall!?️)

2. Take a trip up the Argo Cable Car

The Argo cable car is a fun, family-friendly activity, perfect for clear-sky days in Batumi.

It’s just a short walk from the old town to the cable car’s base at the port. This is not a huge cable car, it goes up a hill 250m above sea level. I believe you could walk up there or could drive if you choose.

The cable car ride is about 10 minutes long. On the ride up, and from the top, you’ll get to enjoy lovely panoramic views of Batumi, with the Black Sea stretched beyond.

There’s a tiny quaint church at the top, some excellent street art spanning around the car park, and a restaurant serving food and drinks.

3. Batumi Ice Rink

Check out the ice rink if you’re looking for things to do on a rainy day in Batumi (of which there appear to be many in the autumn?).

Don’t do what we did and arrive at 1:15 pm. They take a break from 1:30 pm-2:30 pm every day, although we did find a playground with little climbing walls across the road, which filled our time until we could go back.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let Romy skate. It was a strict minimum age of four, even though she’s a demon on rollerblades.

Frustrations while preparing to skate!

Honestly, getting set up to skate was a little stressful, but we persevered because we really wanted Ayla to be able to skate. Also, challenging experiences in new countries help us grow and keep life interesting?.

If you go there, getting the help you need to get your skates and get on the ice may be tricky. (The staff didn’t speak any English and seemed too busy to help much via Google translate).

I can tell you that you need to get a ticket from the ticket machine, not the counter. It’s all in Georgian, so either ask someone to help or try Google translate?.

It was kinda funny, we had to enter Ayla’s name using the Georgian alphabet, so who knows what it really said. Then we had to enter a fake passport number because, apparently, passports can only have numbers and not letters?.

And you must have cash for the machine, and it must be the correct change?.

Once we got past all that, we’d paid six Lari for Ayla to skate for an hour, and she was off. Romy and I watched from the bleachers. Ok, so I let her watch cartoons because I was sorry she didn’t get to skate.

A group class was on at the same time, so Ayla edged her way around it, copying the moves and practicing some new skills!

4. Hang out along the massive Batumi seafront promenade

The Batumi seafront is full of a diverse mix of attractions. You could spend days exploring all that’s on offer. Seeing as there’s so much to do and so many interesting landmarks, I’m going to split this one into sections.

Port area, near the old town

Take a stroll around Miracle park, just along from the seaport and cable car.

Try some of the wide variety of delicious fruits and juices available at various stalls and take a ride on the big Ferris wheel for views of Batumi and its surroundings on a clear day.

Don’t miss the Ali and Nino statue, the statue of love. This sculpture constantly moves – the statues gradually move away from each other and then back together and pass through each other. It represents eternal love and understanding between people of different nationalities.

Take a look at the Chacha tower, a pretty clock tower, and also the unique alphabet tower. It displays the unique Georgian alphabet with its 33 letters and looks like a DNA molecule. You can pay to go up it to enjoy panoramic views of Batumi.

If you feel like exploring the area by bike, then pick up one of the family-sized bikes for an hour and meander around the seafront.

Batumi Boulevard East side

Heading west from the port area and Miracle park, you’ll reach the start of Batumi Boulevard and all the magnificent things it offers.

You can sit or play on the pebble beach or walk/ ride along the concrete path behind the beach.

Just behind the path is a long stretch of green park with different paths running through it. It’s very green, perhaps because it rains so much?.

There’s plenty to do here, and you could spend ages exploring. The area is dotted with fountains, lots of trees, and various statues (this is definitely a city of statues!).

You’ll find:

⭐ Outdoor billiard and table tennis tables. It looks like you can rent the equipment for these too.

⭐A bird aviary, including an open-air space with various ducks, geese, and peacocks wandering around.

⭐A decent playground in the middle of the park. Like all the good playgrounds we’re finding here, it has some awesome climbing wall structures.

⭐Colonades behind the playground, plus tennis courts, a summer theatre, and more.

⭐An awesome bamboo grove and a smaller area growing bamboo❤️.

⭐ Little places to grab a snack or drink. It seems that every corner store in Batumi also sells alcohol, including plenty of vodka. So even in the middle of the park, you can grab a cheap bottle of vodka, a beer, or a hard seltza?. I haven’t noticed a problem with people rolling around drunk, but alcohol is clearly an integral part of the culture.

The boulevard is lovely and clean and a fantastic place to hang out for a little time or a long time.

It stretches a long way, so stay tuned to see what you’ll find in the next section!

Nuri Lake and Central Park

Near the end of the main Batumi Boulevard park, you’ll come to a really awesome octopus cafe… How cool is this place?! I couldn’t stop looking at this mosaic-style work of art; it’s very fun?.

Just behind the cafe, cross over the main road (Rustaveli), and you’ll find Nuri Lake and Central Park, another fab green space in the city to hang out (and it’s still very close to the seafront).

There’s a little playground and a kids’ amusement park next to it, presumably open in the evenings.

The lake is a perfect hang-out spot in the city, so check it out if you’re looking for things to do in Batumi.

Skate park and dancing fountains

The next part of the Batumi seafront is where you’ll find the skate park. There are some other little sports fields next to it and the dancing fountains in front.

You won’t notice there are fountains there by day, but at night there’s loud music, and they dance up in time to the music.

Across the road is a fantastic new playground next to McDonald’s.

Next to the skate park is a bouncy castle, which our girls love. And then you’ll reach the theme park, open in the evenings.

A little further along is the Batumi Aquapark, with its slides and pools that look like they’d be a heap of fun in the summer.

All in all, this is another stretch of the seafront where you’ll find plenty to do!

Batumi Boulevard park – West side

The final main part of Batumi Boulevard also has a lovely long green park with paths running through it.

Again, you’ll find unique and interesting features throughout the park, such as the flip-flops on eggs structure?.

The playground in this section is possibly our favorite, with plenty of climbing structures for the kids and some cartoon character statues to add to the fun. There’s also a little coffee kiosk there for mum and dad.

Other than that, enjoy the endless opportunities to stroll or ride along the paths or step onto the beach and play with pebbles. The boulevard does look like it continues, although I’m not sure how far! There’s more than enough in the huge stretch we’ve covered to keep us occupied for a few weeks?.

5. Visit the Ethnographic museum

The Ethnographic museum is a good choice for a family-friendly museum in Batumi.

Here you’ll get insights into traditional Georgian culture and living before the life of cities and high rises.

One man, the founder, made everything in the museum, from the mannequins to the small carvings. In the end, you finish up in his shop, where you can meet him in person and see a photo board display of him creating the different parts of the museum. The first photo was dated 1986, and he’s still working on new carvings now.

The museum isn’t huge, but it’s a neat place to spend an hour. In the outdoor area, you’ll see models of Batumi mosques, churches and synagogues, plus sections showing traditional farm life. There’s even a waterfall they might switch on for you. Inside, you can wander past rooms showing families working together in the kitchen and displays of traditional clothing.

We recommend visiting if you’re looking for things to do in Batumi and are interested in learning about traditional Georgian culture.

6. Enjoy an afternoon at the Batumi Botanical garden

If you’re looking for things to do in Batumi, we highly recommend the Batumi botanical gardens. On our travels, we’ve seen several botanical gardens, but never one on a hillside with sweeping coastal vistas like this.

The park is extremely beautiful and very vast. We only explored a small part of it over three or four hours, but that was primarily because Romy was having a “don’t want to move” day, so we were meandering at her pace.

Our kids simply love being in nature, and so do we. The infrastructure makes the journey comfortable for all, with paved paths and a motorized cart that can take you through the park if you wish.

This is a very International garden, with sections from all over the world, including New Zealand!

The Batumi botanical gardens would also be a nice place for a brisk hill walk that’s not overly steep (it goes up around 200 meters above sea level). Overall, it’s the perfect place to take a break from the city. Catch a taxi or minibus from town, and you’ll be there in about 25 minutes.

7. Hang out at the beach next to the Botanical gardens

If you’re looking to hang out at a beach just out of the city, try Mtsvane Kontskhi pebble beach. It’s next to the botanical gardens, so you can team the two together like we did or go to the beach on its own.

There’s a traditional Georgian restaurant on the corner, perfect for enjoying a meal or a glass of wine while watching the sunset.

The pier is fun to explore too. You can climb down the ladder and sit with the people fishing or just enjoy looking out to the sea.

The kids enjoyed climbing the tree next to the restaurant, and we also walked along the rocks (not quite a cave) at the start of the beach, so there are plenty of opportunities for nature play here.

8. Visit the Sameba (Holy Trinity) church

The Sameba (Holy Trinity) Church is a beautiful place to visit in the hills behind Batumi.

Long winding roads take you up to the Orthodox church at the top of the hill, the perfect place for sweeping panoramic views of Batumi and its surroundings.

The church rules are very strict, perhaps more so than any other church or mosque we’ve visited.

Even at age 8, Ayla had to wear a long skirt over her jeans and a hood to cover her head. The paintings inside the church are very beautiful and intricate, but there’s absolutely no photography allowed inside.

The church is small, so you don’t need too long to visit. Rather than catching a taxi back, we decided to walk down the hills toward Batumi.

We spent about an hour meandering down, tasting overhanging mandarins, pears, grapes, and persimmons, and watching and listening out for the odd car going up or down the hill.

After it was clear the little one had had enough, we jumped on a bus to take us the rest of the way to town (it was the only bus that came while we were in the hills).

We definitely recommend visiting the church and spending some time roaming the hills for a taste of village life if you’re looking for things to do in Batumi.

9. Petra Fortress and beach

The Petra Fortress is another gorgeous hilltop location just up the coast of Batumi.

The entry fee is very small, and the supporting infrastructure is excellent. Terraced wooden paths with overhanging greenery wind around the hillside up to the fortress, and there are clean, modern toilets, which is always a bonus!

The fortress is fun for the kids to explore, and the views across the sea are spectacular. Exploring the fortress doesn’t take long, so afterward, you can head down the path to Petra beach, a lovely spot to chill out.

Other things to do in batumi

As you now know, there are plenty of things to do in Batumi. Some of the other attractions we would have visited if time, energy, and weather allowed were:

• Nearby waterfalls such as the Zeda Tkhilnari waterfalls and waterfall Mirveti
• Mtirala National Park, which also has a rope park and zip line course
• Machakhela National Park
• The Gonio Fortress (we can see there’s also a geocache located here!)
• Kintrishi nature reserve and Tbikeli Lake
• Kobuleti nature reserve
• Shekvetili Dendrological Park (I believe they have some animals in cages here, so I was planning to boycott it. However, I understand that most of the park is about wide open spaces and nature, and there is also wildlife roaming free).

We hope you’ve now got some great ideas about what to do in Batumi. Please feel free to leave any questions and comments in the box below. We’d love to hear from you!

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