Borjomi is Georgia's great mountain spa: a small, leafy town set in a deep green valley of the Kura River, whose name is known throughout the former Soviet Union for one thing: its water. 'Borjomi', a fizzy, slightly salty mineral water that rises from springs of volcanic origin, has been bottled since the 19th century and is exported to dozens of countries; for many people it is the most famous Georgian brand in the world. But Borjomi is much more than a bottle: it is fresh air, endless forests, open-air hot springs and the nostalgic charm of an old summer retreat for tsars and commissars.
The heart of a visit is the Central Park or Mineral Water Park, a lovely tree-lined promenade that winds into the valley, where you can drink the warm, salty water for free straight from the Ekaterina spring, ride an old cable car up to a viewpoint with a Ferris wheel, and walk through the forest to some open-air thermal pools for a dip surrounded by nature. All around stretches Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, one of the largest in Europe, with hundreds of kilometres of trails through forests, mountain meadows and wildlife habitat.
Borjomi is also the gateway to Bakuriani, the classic ski and mountain resort, once reached by a picturesque little narrow-gauge train. And it lies on the way to Vardzia and Georgia's deep south, so it is often part of multi-day routes. This guide helps you make the most of its waters and forests, understand what to see and what it costs, get around the area and discover why this water town, so modest at first glance, has a history and a natural setting that make it unforgettable.
Borjomi rose to fame in the 19th century, when the Russians, who had annexed Georgia, 'rediscovered' its mineral springs (which locals had in fact been using for centuries). Legend has it that a sick Russian soldier was cured by drinking from the spring. The water became celebrated when the Viceroy of the Caucasus and later the Russian imperial family, the Romanovs, adopted it: Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov built his summer residence here, bottled the water and turned Borjomi into an elegant spa for the aristocracy. In Soviet times, 'Borjomi' became the most popular mineral water in the whole USSR, a status symbol, and the town a mass summer destination with large sanatoriums. After Georgian independence in 1991, the water remained a star export. That story of springs, tsars and sanatoriums is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Georgia's west and deep south: Kutaisi, the old capital with Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati, the spa town of Borjomi and the cave city of Vardzia, carved out under Queen Tamar.
Read the history of Imereti and the south: caves and hot springs →They depart from Mtskheta, 111 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Long before its name travelled in bottles across half the world, the Borjomi valley was already a settled and strategic place. Squeezed between forested mountains along the Kura (Mtkvari) river, this narrow gorge has linked central Georgia with the lands to the south since ancient times, and it was dotted with fortresses and monasteries that kept watch over the pass. The remains of old medieval fortifications, such as Gogia fortress and Petra fortress, still peek out from the greenery on the slopes, evidence of a past when this valley was a route for both communication and defence.
The mineral springs, which bubble up fizzy and salty from the region's volcanic depths, had been known and used by local people for centuries: there are signs that their waters were already used in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and old stone baths have even been found in the area. But for a long time they were a local resource, without the fame that would come later. The valley was just another mountain district of southern Georgia, covered in forests, with villages devoted to herding and farming.
This whole southern region — today's Samtskhe-Javakheti — was a frontier land, fought over throughout Georgian history, exposed to invasions and to the influence of neighbouring empires, and for a time under Ottoman rule. That frontier character, and a certain isolation, stayed with the Borjomi valley until the 19th century, when a political change of hands would transform its destiny completely.
The big turning point came in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire, which had annexed Georgia, extended its control over this southern region. Official Russian history 'rediscovered' the Borjomi springs around the 1820s-1830s, at a time when imperial troops were stationed in the valley. A much-repeated legend says that a sick Russian soldier drank from the spring and was cured, and that this is how word of its healing properties spread; another version credits the discovery to the regiment's officers, who had the water analysed. Whatever the truth, from then on the imperial authorities began to study and exploit the springs.
Over the following decades, Borjomi was built up as a spa town in the European fashion, following the model of the famous German and Czech spas. The springs were developed, and pavilions, parks and the first facilities for 'taking the waters' were built. The place began to attract the aristocracy and officials of the Russian Caucasus, who came to heal and rest in this valley of clean air. The mineral water was bottled and began to be sold, gaining a reputation.
The decisive leap came when the Romanov imperial family itself set its sights on Borjomi. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich Romanov, the tsar's brother and Viceroy of the Caucasus, was granted these lands and became the great driving force behind the spa: he promoted the bottling of the water, improved the infrastructure and, at the end of the 19th century, had an elegant summer palace built in nearby Likani. With the backing of the Romanovs, Borjomi became a fashionable and prestigious destination, the 'pearl of the Caucasus'.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Borjomi enjoyed its first golden age as an elegant spa for the Russian aristocracy. The Romanovs' summer palace in Likani, built in the 1890s in a refined eclectic style beside the river, was the symbol of that splendour: the imperial family and high society spent long stays in the valley, drawn by the climate, the forests and the 'medicinal' waters. The park, the gardens, the hotels and a whole holiday infrastructure grew up, giving Borjomi the look of a period spa town that can still be felt in Central Park.
Bottling became industrialised, and 'Borjomi' began to be distributed throughout the empire and beyond, winning prizes at international exhibitions. The mineral water became the valley's great brand, and its fame spread beyond Russia's borders. At that time Borjomi was a place where the medical science of the day, the leisure of the upper classes and the commercial exploitation of a natural resource all met.
That golden world ended with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the fall of the Romanovs. Georgia had a brief period of independence (1918-1921) and then, with the Red Army occupation in 1921, it was absorbed into the Soviet Union. The Likani palace and the spa facilities passed into the hands of the new state, and Borjomi entered a different era — one that, curiously, would only make its water more famous.
In Soviet times, Borjomi reached the peak of its fame. 'Borjomi' mineral water became one of the most popular and prestigious in the entire Soviet Union: it was on tables, in restaurants and in hospitals all over the country, it was considered good for digestion and health, and it became something of a status symbol, a quality product everyone recognised. Millions of litres were bottled, distributed across the fifteen Soviet republics and exported to the Eastern Bloc countries.
At the same time, Borjomi established itself as a major holiday resort and a centre of mass 'health tourism'. The Soviet state built large sanatoriums and rest homes where workers spent their holidays and took water cures, as part of the organised holiday system typical of the USSR. The former Romanov palace in Likani became a retreat for the Soviet leadership: Stalin, among others, spent summers there. The valley lived off its waters, its forests and the holidaymakers who arrived from all over the country.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 hit hard, as it did across Georgia. The economic crisis, the breakdown of Soviet trade networks and the conflicts of the 1990s affected both tourism and production. The 'Borjomi' brand went through difficult times, and later, in 2006, it suffered a heavy blow when Russia — its biggest market — banned its import amid political tensions between the two countries, a ban that lasted for years. Despite everything, the water remained one of Georgia's star exports.
Today's Borjomi still lives off its two great treasures: water and nature. The 'Borjomi' brand recovered and is once again exported to dozens of countries, and the mineral water remains one of Georgia's best-known products internationally and a source of national pride. The bottling plants in the area are an important part of the local economy, and tasting the water straight from the Ekaterina spring, in Central Park, is still the must-do ritual for every visitor.
In recent decades, Borjomi has also bet heavily on ecotourism. In 1995, with international support (mainly from Germany), Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park was created. One of the largest in Europe, it protects the vast forests and mountains around the town and has become a leading hiking destination in Georgia. Together with the open-air hot springs, the cable car, the clean air and the nearby Bakuriani ski resort, this has renewed the valley's appeal for travellers.
Today Borjomi is a quiet, charming destination that combines the weight of its history — the ancient springs, the tsars' spa, the Soviet fame of its water — with the exceptional nature around it. For the traveller, it's a refreshing and different stop on a trip through Georgia: a mountain valley where you can drink the country's most famous water at its very source, walk through endless forests and take a hot bath under the trees. A modest-looking place, but with a history that flows, like its water, from deep within the earth.
