Batumi Botanical Garden

The Batumi Botanical Garden covers more than 100 hectares of hills and ravines on Mtsvane Kontskhi, the Green Cape, 9 km north of Batumi. Its paths climb from the shore to about 220 m above the sea through sections planted with the flora of different parts of the world, including East Asia, the Himalayas, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Mexico, the Mediterranean and the local Colchic forest. The collection holds more than 2,000 kinds of trees and shrubs, from bamboo groves, palms and eucalyptus to magnolias, camellias and rhododendrons.

Give yourself at least half a day. The paths are steep in places, so wear proper shoes, and use the viewpoints along the way to rest: the Seaside Panorama looks straight down the coast toward Batumi. Spring brings rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias into flower, and autumn is mild and quieter. Birders come for Krüper's nuthatch, for which this is one of the best sites near Batumi, and for the raptor migration overhead in autumn.

Exotic planting on the Green Cape began in the late 19th century, and the Russian botanist and geographer Andrey Krasnov turned it into a scientific garden, officially opened on 3 November 1912, with help from the gardeners Michel d'Alphonse and Jason Gordeziani. Krasnov died in 1914 and is buried here, where his statue now stands. Run for decades by the Georgian Academy of Sciences, the garden became an independent institution in 2006 and still keeps a herbarium, experimental plots and seed collections.