Exploring Borjomi Central Park: A Deep Dive into Georgia’s Famous Spa

💰 Click here to see Georgia Budget Breakdown

💰 Prices updated: June, 2026. Budget figures are estimates — always verify before travel.

Exchange Rate: $1 USD = ₾2.66

Daily Budget (per person)

Shoestring: ₾80.00 – ₾130.00 ($30.08 – $48.87)

Mid-range: ₾150.00 – ₾300.00 ($56.39 – $112.78)

Comfortable: ₾500.00 – ₾1,000.00 ($187.97 – $375.94)

Accommodation (per night)

Hostel/guesthouse: ₾20.00 – ₾45.00 ($7.52 – $16.92)

Mid-range hotel: ₾150.00 – ₾240.00 ($56.39 – $90.23)

Food (per meal)

Budget meal: ₾15.00 ($5.64)

Mid-range meal: ₾40.00 ($15.04)

Upscale meal: ₾100.00 ($37.59)

Transport

Single metro/bus trip: ₾1.00 ($0.38)

Monthly transport pass: ₾40.00 ($15.04)

Borjomi Central Park sits at the top of almost every Georgian domestic travel list, yet many foreign visitors still arrive without knowing what they’re actually walking into. It’s not a manicured city garden. It’s a sprawling, forested mineral-spring complex that mixes Soviet-era spa infrastructure, sulphur bathing pools, cable cars, and dense Caucasian forest into one genuinely strange and rewarding afternoon. In 2026, after a phased renovation of the balneological facilities completed in late 2025, the park has never been more accessible — but it also draws bigger crowds on weekends than ever before. Plan around that or prepare to queue.

What Makes Borjomi Central Park Worth Your Time

Borjomi the town exists almost entirely because of its water. The mineral springs here were “discovered” by Russian officers in the 1820s (locals knew about them long before), and by the late 19th century the town had become one of the most fashionable resorts in the entire Russian Empire. The Romanovs maintained a summer palace here. The bottled water brand — that green-labelled bottle you’ve seen across Eastern Europe and Central Asia — comes from these exact springs.

The park itself was established around the main spring sources and has operated continuously, through Soviet rule and Georgian independence, as a public wellness destination. What you get in 2026 is a layered experience: a lower park with formal walkways, fountains, a small amusement zone, and the famous open mineral spring tap; a mid-section with the thermal bathing pools and balneological resort; and an upper park that most day-trippers never reach, where the forest takes over completely and the trails climb into real Caucasian woodland.

The park’s personality is unhurried and slightly theatrical. Pensioners fill small cups from the mineral spring tap at 9am. Georgian families set up elaborate picnics by the river by noon. Couples ride the cable car in the evening light. It rewards time and curiosity more than it rewards rushing.

Navigating the Park Layout

The main entrance is on Meskheti Street in central Borjomi, directly accessible from the town’s main square. There is a secondary entrance further up the valley, but almost everyone enters from the bottom. At the gate you pay the entry fee, receive a wristband, and walk into a long, straight central promenade flanked by old plane trees and small vendor stalls.

The promenade runs roughly 600 metres before it forks. Left takes you toward the mineral spring pavilion and the river. Right leads toward the amusement zone and the cable car station. Straight ahead, past the spring, a dirt path climbs into the upper forest park.

The cable car — a two-cabin gondola system — runs from near the spring pavilion up to a viewing platform above the treeline. The ride takes about five minutes. From the top, on a clear day, you can see across the Mtkvari valley and the forested ridges beyond. The cable car has its own ticket, separate from the park entrance.

The park map is available at the entrance gate and is also posted on large boards at the main fork. In 2026, a QR-code version links to a basic Georgian and English language digital map — useful since mobile signal inside the upper forest is inconsistent.

The Mineral Springs Experience

This is the core of the whole visit, and it smells exactly like you’d expect: a sharp, eggy sulphur note hangs in the air around the spring pavilion, softened by the surrounding pine resin from the forest above. The pavilion itself is a covered rotunda structure, recently repainted in its original cream and green colours as part of the 2025 renovation.

A continuous flow of warm mineral water pours from a single ornate tap at the centre of the pavilion. The water is genuinely warm — around 38–41°C depending on the season — and it has a very distinctive taste: slightly fizzy, strongly mineral, with a flavour somewhere between salty and metallic that takes most people by surprise the first time. Small ceramic cups are sold at stalls nearby for a few lari if you haven’t brought your own. Most Georgians bring a one-litre bottle and fill it to take home.

The standard local advice is to drink slowly and not to drink more than 200–300ml on an empty stomach, especially if you’re not accustomed to high-mineral water. Some visitors feel mild digestive effects. Across the small river, a second, cooler spring tap — less visited — offers slightly different mineral composition and no queue at all.

Below the pavilion, along the riverbank, a series of open-air sulphur bathing pools sit in a shallow gorge. These are the balneological pools distinct from the indoor spa facilities. The water here is a murky, pale greenish-grey and steams visibly in cooler months. Sitting in the pools while cold air rolls off the Caucasian forest above is a genuinely peculiar and memorable sensation — the kind of thing that lodges in memory in the way generic tourist sights don’t.

The Spa and Balneological Resort

Separate from the open-air pools, the Borjomi balneological resort facility sits on the eastern side of the park, a short walk from the spring pavilion. This is the enclosed spa complex with individual mineral baths, treatment rooms, and a changing area. The renovation completed in late 2025 upgraded the bathing cabins, improved the changing facilities, and added two new treatment rooms for massage and physiotherapy.

Booking in 2026 is strongly recommended for weekends and Georgian public holidays. You can book directly at the resort reception or through the park’s official website, which added an English-language booking interface in early 2026. Walk-in slots are usually available on weekday mornings.

The standard offering is a private mineral bath in a tiled cabin for 20–30 minutes. The water is drawn directly from the park’s mineral source and piped into individual tubs. Attendants manage the temperature and timing. Longer treatment packages — combining a mineral bath with massage — are available and need to be booked at least a day in advance on busy weekends.

The atmosphere inside the spa is functional rather than luxurious. Don’t expect a five-star wellness hotel aesthetic — this is a working balneological facility with a clinical undertone that feels entirely appropriate for what it actually is. Bring your own flip-flops and a towel; rental is available but limited.

Amusement Zone and Family Attractions

The right-hand branch of the park’s main fork leads to what Georgians call the “amusement zone” — a compact area with a small lake, paddleboats, a few carnival-style rides, and a children’s play area. It’s old-fashioned in a charming way. The rides are not thrilling by any modern standard, but the lake is genuinely pretty, ringed by willows and old plane trees, and the paddleboats are popular with families on warm afternoons.

The cable car station is at the edge of this zone. Even if you skip the rides, the cable car is worth taking once, particularly in autumn when the forest below turns amber and copper and the ride feels like something from a different era entirely.

A small zoo enclosure near the amusement zone houses a handful of animals, mostly birds and a few deer. It’s modest by any standard and included in the park entry. Children under about ten tend to enjoy it; adults tend to walk past quickly.

Wildlife, Forest Trails, and the Upper Park

Past the mineral spring pavilion, the paved path gives way to gravel and then to forest track. This is where the park transitions from managed attraction into something wilder. The upper park covers a significant area of Caucasian mixed forest — oak, hornbeam, and pine — climbing the valley sides above the town.

Several marked trails branch off the main track. The most accessible loop takes about 45–60 minutes at an easy pace and gains around 120 metres of elevation. The longer trail continues to a ridge viewpoint approximately two hours from the entrance. Both trails are signposted in Georgian and English, though some of the English signs are faded and the 2026 QR map is more reliable.

Wildlife in the upper park includes a variety of bird species — listen for woodpeckers in the older stands of hornbeam — and the occasional deer track in muddy sections of the path. The forest is dense enough that you genuinely lose sight and sound of the town within the first fifteen minutes of walking.

After rain, the trails above the mid-section become slippery. Proper footwear matters here. The upper park is free once you’ve paid the general park entrance; there are no additional gates or fees.

Eating and Drinking Inside the Park

The food situation inside the park is better than it used to be, but you should still set realistic expectations. The main promenade has a string of kiosks selling churchkhela (the walnut-and-grape-juice candy strings hanging in clusters of dark brown and red), fresh-pressed fruit juices, and packaged snacks. Prices here are park-tourist-level, so roughly 30–50% higher than in town.

Near the amusement zone, two sit-down café structures serve mtsvadi (grilled pork skewers), lobiani (bean-stuffed flatbread), and the standard Georgian soft drinks including tarkhuna, the sweet tarragon-green soda that every Georgian child associates with summer. The grills usually fire up around 11:00 and wind down by 18:00. The food is simple and cooked to order — the mtsvadi arrives genuinely hot with raw onion and pomegranate seeds on the side, the smoke from the grill drifting across the picnic tables.

There is also a larger restaurant building near the spa facility, reopened as part of the 2025 renovation, with a more formal menu and table service. It’s a reasonable option for lunch if you want to sit down properly. Coffee is available here and is better than the kiosk instant coffee on the promenade.

One practical note: the spring water is free and flows continuously. Bring a reusable bottle. The park sells Borjomi branded glass bottles at the entrance kiosks, but filling your own bottle at the tap is what locals do.

2026 Budget Breakdown

Prices below reflect the 2026 fee structure following the renovation and a modest entry fee increase introduced in spring 2026.

• Park entrance (adult): 5 GEL
• Park entrance (child under 12): 2 GEL
• Cable car (single ride): 5 GEL per person
• Open-air sulphur pool (per session): 10–15 GEL
• Private mineral bath, balneological resort: 40–60 GEL for 20–30 minutes
• Mineral bath + massage package: 120–180 GEL depending on duration

Food inside the park (per person):

• Budget (kiosk snacks, churchkhela, juice): 15–25 GEL
• Mid-range (grilled food at the amusement zone cafés): 35–60 GEL
• Comfortable (full lunch at the spa restaurant with drinks): 70–120 GEL

A full day covering entrance, cable car, one open-air pool session, lunch at a café, and a few snacks costs a single traveller roughly 80–120 GEL. Adding a private mineral bath brings that to 130–180 GEL. These figures are meaningfully lower than equivalent spa experiences in Western Europe — one of the genuine advantages of visiting now.

Getting to Borjomi Central Park

Borjomi is 150 kilometres west of Tbilisi, sitting in the Borjomi Gorge where the Mtkvari River cuts through the southern range of the Lesser Caucasus. Getting here is straightforward in 2026 across several options.

By train from Tbilisi: Georgian Railway runs direct services from Tbilisi Central Station to Borjomi-Likani station. Journey time is approximately 2.5–3 hours depending on the service. In 2026, the morning departure times were adjusted as part of the broader Tbilisi–Batumi schedule update; check the Georgian Railway website or the mTicket app for current departure times as these shift seasonally. The Borjomi-Likani station is about 2 kilometres from the park entrance — a flat, walkable distance or a short taxi ride for 8–12 GEL.

By marshrutka from Tbilisi: Shared minibuses depart from Didube Bus Terminal in Tbilisi throughout the morning. Journey time is 2–2.5 hours and costs around 12–15 GEL per person. Marshrutkas drop passengers in central Borjomi, a short walk from the park.

By marshrutka from Kutaisi: A direct marshrutka service connects Kutaisi (and by extension Kutaisi International Airport, which expanded its direct route network significantly in 2025–2026) to Borjomi. Journey time is approximately 1.5–2 hours. Useful for travellers arriving into western Georgia.

By car: The S1 highway from Tbilisi via Gori is the standard route. Road condition is generally good. Parking near the park entrance is available but fills quickly on summer weekends — arrive before 10:00 or expect to park several hundred metres away on Meskheti Street.

When to Visit

Borjomi Central Park is open year-round, and every season has a genuine case for it.

Spring (April–May) is the local favourite for the forest trails. The upper park is carpeted in wildflowers, the air is cool and clean, and crowds are lighter than summer. Rain is common, especially in May, so pack accordingly.

Summer (June–August) is peak season. Families, domestic tourists, and an increasing number of international visitors fill the park on weekends. The open-air pools are most popular in July and August. Book the balneological spa well in advance if visiting on a summer weekend. The upside: the town comes alive, the cafés are fully operational, and the evenings are warm enough to sit outside.

Autumn (September–October) is arguably the most beautiful time. The forest above the park turns extraordinary shades of amber and red. The cable car ride in mid-October, with the valley lit up below, is one of the better views in the Borjomi region. Crowds thin noticeably after the first week of September.

Winter (November–March) brings a quieter, more atmospheric version of the park. The mineral spring steam is visible from a distance in cold air. Snow on the upper trails requires proper boots. The spa facilities operate normally and are popular precisely because stepping from cold air into a hot mineral bath is particularly satisfying in January.

The Borjomi–Bakuriani local narrow-gauge railway, which departs from near the park, runs a special New Year service in late December that draws large crowds — a reason to visit and a reason to book accommodation very early if you plan to.

Practical Tips

What to bring: Reusable water bottle (fill it at the spring tap). Comfortable walking shoes if you plan to do any trail beyond the main promenade. Flip-flops for the spa and pool areas. Swimwear for the open-air pools and balneological baths — the park does not provide swimwear but does sell cheap options at the entrance kiosks.

Dress code: There is no formal dress code for the park itself. The balneological resort asks that you wear appropriate swimwear (no shorts or underwear) in the bathing cabins.

Language: Park staff at the entrance and at the balneological resort speak functional English in 2026, especially younger staff. At food kiosks, basic Russian or Georgian words go further than English. A translation app handles everything else.

Water safety: The tap water in Borjomi town is safe to drink. The mineral spring water is safe in moderate quantities. Do not drink directly from the river.

Mobile signal and Wi-Fi: The lower park and spa area have reasonable 4G coverage. The upper forest trails drop to weak signal. The park entrance has a free Wi-Fi zone near the gate.

Safety: Borjomi is a quiet, low-crime town. The park itself is well-maintained and staffed. The upper forest trails are safe for solo hikers during daylight hours. After dark, stick to the lit lower promenade.

Accessibility: The main promenade and spring pavilion are wheelchair accessible following the 2025 renovation. The spa facility has an accessible entrance. The upper forest trails are not accessible for wheelchairs or pushchairs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the mineral spring water in Borjomi Central Park free to drink?

Yes, the water from the main spring tap in the park pavilion is free to drink and flows continuously. You pay only the park entrance fee. Small ceramic cups are sold nearby for 2–3 GEL if you haven’t brought your own bottle. Locals routinely fill one-litre bottles to take home. Drink slowly and in moderate quantities if you’re not used to high-mineral water.

How long do you need to spend in Borjomi Central Park?

A minimum of 2–3 hours covers the main promenade, the mineral spring, and a cable car ride. A full day — including a balneological bath, lunch at the park café, and a walk in the upper forest — takes 5–6 hours comfortably. Most visitors from Tbilisi do a single-day trip and find that sufficient for a first visit.

Do you need to book the Borjomi spa facilities in advance?

On weekdays, walk-in appointments are usually available at the balneological resort. On weekends between June and August, and during Georgian public holidays, advance booking is strongly recommended. The park’s official website added an English-language booking interface in early 2026, or you can call the resort directly. Package treatments need at least one day’s advance notice year-round.

What is the best way to travel from Tbilisi to Borjomi?

The train from Tbilisi Central Station is the most comfortable option at roughly 2.5–3 hours, dropping you at Borjomi-Likani station about 2 kilometres from the park. Marshrutkas from Didube Terminal are faster on good traffic days and cost around 12–15 GEL. Driving is straightforward via the S1 highway. Check Georgian Railway’s mTicket app for current 2026 departure times.

Is Borjomi Central Park suitable for children?

Yes, it works well for families with children of most ages. The amusement zone with its paddleboat lake, carnival rides, and small animal enclosure suits younger children. The cable car is popular with all ages. Older children enjoy the forest trails in the upper park. The mineral spring and open-air pools fascinate curious children, though the sulphur smell surprises some. Children under 12 pay reduced entry at 2 GEL.

---

📷 Featured image by David Kapanadze on Unsplash.