Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park covers roughly one percent of Georgia and is among the largest protected forest areas in Europe. Founded in 1995, it was the first Georgian park set up to international standards: waymarked trails, mountain huts, designated campsites and compulsory registration at a visitor centre.

This is not a drive-up viewpoint. The park is walked, on routes ranging from a couple of hours to eight days.

The usual options:

• short Likani and Atskuri trails — two to four hours from the visitor centre
• day routes — a full day through beech forest into subalpine meadow
• multi-day treks with hut nights, including the Romanov trail, over two or three days

Bears, lynx, red deer and eagles still live in this forest, and higher sections of the trail network cross 2,000 metres, where snow often lingers into June. Even on a short walk the change is obvious: within an hour you go from spa-town parkland into genuinely wild, thickly wooded country with almost no phone signal.

The visitor centre in Borjomi handles registration, maps, trail-condition updates and guide bookings.