Day Trips from Kutaisi by Car: 127 Places Within Three Hours

How far a day from Kutaisi goes

Kutaisi is the geographic centre of everything west of the Likhi range, and the numbers show it. On 1 September 2026 we sorted all 267 places in our database by estimated drive time from the city. Four are in Kutaisi itself, which leaves 263 places outside the city.

127 places within three hours, 92 of them rated for an economy car. That is more than Tbilisi manages inside the same radius, and the mix is different: within 1:30 of Kutaisi there are 15 monasteries, 9 museums, 8 towns, 6 fortresses, 4 spa towns, 3 caves, 3 canyons and 3 waterfalls. Of the 64, 57 are open all year and 45 carry an all-season rating.

How these times are made - read this first. Our records carry a measured road distance and drive time from Tbilisi only. For every place we divide the two: road distance over straight-line distance tells us how much that place's road winds, and road distance over drive time tells us the average speed its road allows. We then apply those two numbers to the straight line from Kutaisi. It is an estimate from each place's own measured road speed, not routed directions: it knows how the last stretch to a place behaves, not which highway you take. Where a mountain ridge sits between Kutaisi and the place, the real road goes around it and the estimate runs short - the Samtskhe rows below (Borjomi, Rabati) are the ones to treat as optimistic. On Tbilisi we use the exact measured fields.

Twenty day trips from Kutaisi

Picked from the 127 by rating and variety. Hours on site are from the record.

The ring within twenty minutes

No other city in our database has this many rated places this close. Motsameta is an estimated 0:04, Gelati - UNESCO-listed, free, rated 5.0 - is 0:07, and Sataplia with its dinosaur footprints is the same. Geguti Palace is 0:09, the spa town of Tskaltubo 0:11, the Tsutskhvati and Navenakhevi caves 0:14, Prometheus Cave 0:17 and the Ajameti reserve 0:19. All of it is economy except Tsutskhvati, which is mostly paved, rated SUV and a May to October place. The Kutaisi monasteries and caves day is 85 km, economy.

Canyons and waterfalls, 30 to 50 minutes

Three canyons and three waterfalls sit inside 1:30. Okatse at 0:30 and Martvili at 0:32 are the famous pair and both are economy. The next three are where the car category changes: Kinchkha waterfall at 0:35, Oniore waterfall at 0:45 and Balda canyon at 0:46 are all gravel, rated SUV, May to October and not open year-round. The Martvili and Nokalakevi day is 165 km and economy; the three-day Imereti caves and canyons is rated SUV because it takes in the gravel ones.

Racha: an hour up the road

Racha-Lechkhumi is the region Tbilisi visitors rarely reach and Kutaisi visitors can reach before lunch. The Khvamli massif is 0:37 (SUV), Nikortsminda Cathedral 1:01 on asphalt, Tsageri 1:04 (SUV), Muri Fortress 1:06, the Shaori reservoir 1:16 (SUV, rated 5.0), the Khvanchkara wine zone 1:18, Ambrolauri 1:31 and Barakoni 1:43. Racha's high end - Shovi 4:25, Udziro lake 4:55 - is not a day trip and is June to September only. The Racha family weekend is two days, SUV.

Samegrelo and the coast

West, the estimates stay under two hours all the way to the sea. Nokalakevi is 0:52, the Salkhino residence 0:50, the Dadiani Palace in Zugdidi 1:19, Kolkheti National Park - UNESCO-listed, rated 5.0 - 1:35, the Enguri dam 1:34 and Anaklia 1:50. The Guria beaches are closer than most people think: Grigoleti 1:26, Ureki 1:31, Shekvetili 1:32. Every place in this paragraph is paved and economy; the beaches are June to September. The Guria coast day is 135 km, economy.

Guria's mountains: where the off-road ratings start

Five of the 127 places within three hours are rated off-road, and two of them are here. Bakhmaro at 1,950 m is an estimated 1:46 - gravel, off-road, June to September, rated 5.0. Gomismta at 2,100 m is 1:44, gravel, SUV. The other three off-road places inside three hours are the Tobavarchkhili lakes 1:50, the Goderdzi Pass 2:25 and Beshumi 2:26. The Guria mountain spa weekend is the only route we rate off-road in western Georgia.

East and south: the optimistic rows

Ubisa 0:51, Katskhi Pillar 0:52, Sairme 0:56 and Chiatura 1:04 are on or near the highway and the estimate is a fair guide. Borjomi at 1:26, Rabati Castle at 1:35 and Bakuriani at 2:20 are the rows to read with the caveat above: a ridge separates Imereti from Samtskhe-Javakheti, and the road is longer than the line. Gori at 2:07 and Uplistsikhe at 3:07 are back on the highway.

Svaneti and the three-to-five-hour band

44 places sit between 3:00 and 5:00, and this is the only band where economy is a minority: 16 economy, 20 SUV, 8 off-road. Mestia is 3:14 on a paved road, rated SUV; Hatsvali 3:15 (December to March); the Chalaadi glacier 3:39; the Koruldi lakes 3:44, 4x4 only; Ushguli 4:01, gravel, off-road. Thirteen of the 44 are June to September places. Start the Svaneti expedition from Kutaisi rather than trying to do it in a day.

Which car, and where to start

• 92 of the 127 places within three hours are economy. An economy car in Kutaisi covers Gelati, Prometheus, Okatse, Martvili, Racha's cathedrals and the whole coast.
• 30 need an SUV: Kinchkha, Oniore, Balda, Khvamli, Shaori, Tsageri, Gomismta and Mestia among them.
• 5 need an off-road 4x4: Bakhmaro, Tobavarchkhili, Goderdzi, Beshumi and the Green Lake.

107 of the 127 are open all year; 78 carry an all-season rating, 34 are May to October and 14 June to September. The day-trip finder runs the same estimate live for any starting point; the category question is answered in Do you need a 4x4 in Georgia?.

Economy class — Price from 75 ₾/day