Hiking in Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park

5 selected trails

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (BKNP) is one of the largest national parks in Georgia. It was the first national park in the Caucasus that was established according to international standards and joined Pan-Parks Network of European Protected Areas in 2007.

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park offers 12 official hiking trails. Hiking trails in Samtkshe-Javakheti are not always clearly marked and easy to follow like in Europe. The marks are mostly painted signs on trees. We strongly recommend using reliable maps and a GPS device or, if available, a professional guide who knows the area.

Before entering the park, you must register at one of the visitor centers: either at the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park Visitor Centre in the western part of the city of Borjomi, at Meskheti 23, or at the other visitor centre in Kharagauli, at King Solomon 19.

Permits to enter the park are free of charge and you can ask for a permit for a single day or for several if you intend to go on a multi-day hike. The visitor center staff is multi-lingual and will gladly help you with whatever you need. You can also rent equipment like sleeping bags or tents. Also, if you want to arrange for a taxi to take you to your desired park entrance and pick you up once you are finished – this is the place to do it.

Opening hours of the Visitor Centre are Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm and on weekends 9am to 4pm.

In Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park there are no settlements apart from a few shepherds' huts and the so-called "tourist shelters", which are simple wooden cabins with even simpler wooden beds. As the forest in the national park is one of the largest contiguous forests in Europe, you might hike through untouched nature for days without meeting anyone. Especially during off-peak season from mid-March to mid-May or from the end of September until the end of October.

But that also means that you have to bring everything you need: food, water, sleeping bag, tent, cooking devices, etc. There are a few "tourist shelters" for an overnight stay, but these are simple wooden cabins with simple wooden beds. No mattresses, no sheets. There are a few water stations along each hiking route and the tourist shelters usually have an outside toilet.

And as you are hiking through more or less wild nature, there is most probably no mobile phone connection in case of emergency. Therefore, once again, please register at one of the visitor centers before entering the park.

It goes without saying that it is forbidden to throw away rubbish, but the beauty of the Georgian forests also goes hand in hand with potential hazards such as wild animals (bears, snakes, shepherd dogs), the facts that you cannot buy food on the way and the possible lack of mobile phone connection in case of emergency. But don't worry: , if you are well prepared and don't try anything crazy, your hike will be a fantastic experience.

The Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park Administration plans to install one big path system in the future, where all trails will be combined, instead of separated by name, complexity and route. In addition, new trails and new shelters should be built within the next two years.

We have selected and described 5 hiking trails in Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ranging from the fairly easy 13-km Footprint Trail to the challenging 54-km, four-day hike on the Saint Andrew Trail according to the path system that was still in use in spring 2022.

Picture credits: Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park Administration

Project “Increased regional added value in the tourism sectors of Georgia by Digital Heritage Tourism Guides” was funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) with funds of Austrian Development Cooperation.