Cave · Tskaltubo Municipality, Imereti
Tetra Cave
თეთრა მღვიმე · Tetra Cave Natural Monument
A karst show cave just outside the spa town of Tskaltubo, opened to visitors in 2021, with stalactites, stalagmites and helictites and a wine store kept at the cave's steady temperature.
Where it is
42.3295, 42.6172
Why go
Wine is what sets Tetra apart. The cave holds a constant 13–14°C, so part of it is used to age wine, and visitors can taste it underground; the Agency of Protected Areas also offers speleotherapy sessions, a use the cave had before it opened to tourists, when its air was used to treat bronchial asthma, cardiovascular problems and hypertension. Archaeologists have recovered about 15,000 artefacts here, some of them Palaeolithic, including a copper arrowhead. The agency places it between the Prometheus and Sataplia caves, so it fits into a day of caves from Kutaisi or a stay in Tskaltubo.
Near Tetra Cave
Cave
Sataplia Cave
A karst cave and a set of fossil dinosaur footprints in a wooded reserve on the edge of Kutaisi, with a glass viewing platform out over the Imereti hills.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Cave
Prometheus Cave
Georgia's principal show cave: a lit walking route of about 1.4 kilometres through six halls of stalactites and flowstone, ending with an optional boat ride on an underground river.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
Bagrati Cathedral
Bagrat III's cathedral on Ukimerioni Hill in Kutaisi, left in ruins after an Ottoman attack in the late 17th century and rebuilt in 2010.
9 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Motsameta Monastery
A small monastery on a rock promontory in a bend of the Tskaltsitela river, a few kilometres from Kutaisi and usually visited on the way to Gelati.
13 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ