Rioni
Georgia · Other
About Rioni
Rioni Region is a lush, green, mountainous region in western Georgia along the Rioni River.
Rioni travel guide
Understand
Rioni coincides with the Imereti. and Racha. administrative regions of Georgia.
Getting there
All traffic towards Kutaisi will bring you into Rioni.
Getting around
By thumb, marshrutka and taxi, as always. Rioni's cities and towns are well connected. Checkout Kutaisi, which is the main transport hub of the region and has many connections to remote regions and villages like Chiatura and Oni.
See
1 Katskhi Pillar (on the way to Chiatura). A must-see church on top of a 40-m-high rock. Just a single monk is living there, Maxim, who comes down its ladder from time to time. (updated Sep 2019)
Do
2 Hot Springs (Sulfur pools) (close to Bzvani village; take any marshrutka to Vani, get off at the right point along the highway and walk the last 1 km). The pictures look very promising. Bring a bottle of tab water to clean yourself afterwards, if you do not want to try the semi-clean river. The sulphur smell of the hot spring is very strong. Free. (updated Sep 2019)
Go next
Georgia's principal east-west highway passes through Kutaisi, and you can get to pretty much anywhere from there. To the east, past the highway junction at Khashuri are the Kartli cities of Gori and Tbilisi to the east and Borjomi to the south. There is a road leading north from Lentekhi that is the principal route into the high mountain villages/fortresses of Svaneti. And lastly, there is a road leading east from Oni towards Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, but this route is susceptible to highway banditry, carjacking, and kidnapping and is not recommended.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.