Khashuri
A rail and road junction at the western edge of Shida Kartli, where the routes to Borjomi and to western Georgia divide.
- Time needed
- 1 h
- From Tbilisi
- 128 km · 1:40
- Road
- Paved
- Car needed
- Economy class
- Season
- All year
- Entry
- free
Khashuri is not a sight and does not pretend to be one, but almost any road trip in Georgia passes through it. The town sits at the point where the main road splits: west over the Rikoti pass towards Kutaisi and the sea, or south through Borjomi towards Akhaltsikhe and the Turkish border.
That junction is the town's history. The station opened in 1871 on the Transcaucasian railway under the name Mikhailovo, and the branch line to Borjomi still leaves from here. In the Soviet period Khashuri was a place of locomotive depots, warehouses and light industry. Today the population is around 25,000 and the town is visibly emptier than it was.
What you see: a broad central street, Soviet administrative buildings, a market, the station, and a row of roadside eating places. There is no monument or museum you would drive out from Tbilisi for.
What makes it worth a stop is practical. This is the last substantial town before you commit to the Borjomi valley or the Rikoti pass: a full supermarket, cash machines, tyre repair, a pharmacy, and three or four decent canteens. Surami and its fortress are five kilometres away, Borjomi thirty. Giving Khashuri a day would be a mistake; giving it an hour, on the right day, is exactly right.
Gallery
Practical advice
An hour is enough for a practical stop. The supermarket, cash machines and pharmacy in the centre sit within a block of each other. Fuel is available at both entrances to town and on the Borjomi road. The roadside canteens are plain but the khachapuri and lobio are good. Toilets at the fuel stations are cleaner than those near the market. In winter the streets are muddy and pavements ice over. For an overnight stop, Borjomi or Surami are better choices.
How to get there from Tbilisi
Head west from Tbilisi on the E60 past Gori — 128 km, about an hour and forty minutes. The road is asphalt throughout and mostly dual carriageway. Khashuri has two exits, both clearly signed. From here you turn south for Borjomi or continue west onto the rebuilt Rikoti sections. Fuel and rest stops exist in both directions. An economy car is entirely sufficient.
Click a marker for details. Coloured lines are ready-made road trips.
Nearby places
FortressSurami Fortress
A medieval fortress on a rocky knoll at the foot of the Likhi range, and the setting of the best-known legend in Georgian literature.
MonasteryTsromi Church
A church of 626-634 near Khashuri, a pivotal monument of Georgian architecture and today a partial ruin.
Spa resortBorjomi Central Park and Mineral Springs
The historic spa park where you drink warm Borjomi water free, straight from the source.
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