Explore Imereti: Kutaisi, Gelati and the Canyon Country

Kutaisi is Georgia's third city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the country, an unhurried river town of leafy streets and a large covered market that is a genuine working one rather than a tourist attraction. It is not a polished destination and does not pretend to be, which is much of its appeal: prices are lower than the capital's, the pace is slower, and the food scene reflects Imeretian cooking rather than a national menu. The Bagrati Cathedral stands on the hill above the centre, an eleventh-century building reconstructed in the modern era — a reconstruction thorough enough that it was removed from the World Heritage list, so what you are looking at is substantially new work on an ancient footprint, which is worth knowing before you climb up. The city is also the practical base for everything else in the region, and arriving at its airport and routing west-to-east makes far better sense than the long transfer east that most people book on landing.

A short drive above Kutaisi, Gelati Monastery is the single most important thing in the region and one of the most important in Georgia — a twelfth-century foundation that operated as an academy as well as a monastery, and which holds a mosaic in the main church apse that stands comparison with anything of its period. The complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right and remains active. Nearby Motsameta is smaller, less visited and arguably more atmospheric: a church on a rock spur in a bend of a gorge, reached by a short road through woodland, with a drop on three sides. The two work naturally as one half-day together, and doing them in the late afternoon when the tour groups have gone is worth arranging deliberately. Modest dress applies at both, as at every working church in the country.

The limestone country north and west of Kutaisi is what makes Imereti more than a stopover. Okatse Canyon is crossed by a metal walkway fixed to the cliff face and cantilevered out over the gorge, a genuinely dramatic and entirely accessible walk. Martvili Canyon, just over the boundary in the neighbouring region and usually visited on the same circuit, is travelled by inflatable boat between mossy walls with waterfalls coming in from above. Prometheus Cave is the large one: a lit walking route through chambers of stalactites, ending with an optional boat ride out along an underground river, and cool enough year-round to be a relief in high summer. Sataplia, closer to the city, is smaller but pairs its cave with preserved dinosaur footprints and a glass viewing platform. Access to the canyons in particular depends on water levels and weather, so check locally before committing a day to them.