Where to stay in Batumi

Old Batumi is the centre around the Piazza, an Italian-style square of cafés, hotels and shops about four blocks from the sea. The Boulevard runs along the beach, with the lighthouse and the 130 m Alphabetic Tower on the seafront. Both sit about 9 km from the airport by road.

South of the centre, the New Boulevard along Lech and Maria Kaczynski Street is a row of tower blocks by the sea, about 6 km from the airport. Further south, Gonio and Kvariati are resort villages near the Turkish border, about 13 to 16 km from the Piazza, with the Roman fortress at Gonio.

North of the city, Makhinjauri is a small resort 5 km out, and Green Cape beyond it holds the 108-hectare Batumi Botanical Garden. Kobuleti, a separate resort town about 27 km from the Piazza by road, is the quiet option for a beach week.

Batumi's parking rules, a city council resolution of 2010, require the fee to be paid at the start of parking; otherwise the parking counts as unpaid. The same rules ban parking on pedestrian crossings, marked bike lanes and bus stops.

The city's tourist information centre describes a system paid by period with the car's plate number, at banks, online, at pay boxes or at meters: 1 GEL a day, 5 GEL a week, 10 GEL for 30 days and 40 GEL a year. It also warns that cars parked against the rules are towed and their drivers face administrative penalties. The centre does not date the tariff, and the city's own tariff decision could not be read, so treat the prices as a guide.

Makhinjauri and Kvariati have been part of the city of Batumi since 2011, and Gonio lies in the city's Gonio-Kvariati district, so the same rules cover them. Kobuleti is a separate municipality, and its parking rules could not be confirmed as of September 2026.

The Turkish border at Sarpi is close to Gonio and Kvariati, but the car stays in Georgia. GetCar's guide Batumi to Turkey by Car: Can You Take a Georgian Rental Car Across Sarpi? explains why, and how to cross on foot instead.

There is no tourist tax. The Tax Code of Georgia lists property tax as the only local tax and says no tax outside the Code may be imposed, and the law on local fees lists no accommodation or tourist fee. The Code is national, and no Adjara-level fee was found.

Georgia's Law on Tourism requires tour operators, travel agencies and guides to register, but not accommodation providers, and no rule requiring a registration number on a rental listing was found; that is unverified as of September 2026. The platform's own reviews and terms carry more weight here than a number would.

What the law does require of a guest is insurance. UK travel advice puts the minimum health and accident cover at 30,000 GEL for the whole stay, including the arrival and departure days, and says an airline or immigration officer can ask for proof. The tourist information centre adds that an ambulance call is not free for foreigners.

Arrange the insurance before the flight, since proof can be asked for at check-in. Then choose the area by what the car will do: for a car used every day, ask for a building or house with its own parking, wherever the base is, and remember that the city's fee is due at the start of parking.

A first visit on foot: Old Batumi.

Beach days on the promenade: the Boulevard.

An apartment in a tower by the sea, near the airport: the New Boulevard.

A quiet base with the botanical garden: Makhinjauri and Green Cape.

Beaches near the border and the fortress: Gonio and Kvariati.

A smaller resort town: Kobuleti.