Riding the Kukushka: The Bakuriani Train

The Kukushka is the narrow-gauge railway that has run 37 kilometres from Borjomi up into the mountains to Bakuriani since 1902, climbing through the Borjomi Gorge on a line originally built to move timber. The ride takes roughly two and a half hours one way, passes through Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park forest and a string of small spa and mountain settlements, and ends at Georgia's oldest ski resort — best ridden in summer for the forest and gorge scenery, or in winter as a scenic approach to Bakuriani's slopes.

Borjomi Station and the ritual before departure

Best for setting up the whole day properly

The Kukushka leaves from Borjomi's own small station, a short walk from Borjomi Central Park, and the smart move is to arrive with time to spare rather than sprinting for the platform. Borjomi Central Park dates to 1850, built up by Imperial Russian administrators around the naturally carbonated springs that made the town famous, and the Ekaterina Spring pavilion still dispenses warm, sulphurous mineral water free to anyone who walks up with a cup. Drink some before you board — it's the same water that reportedly graced the Russian imperial court and later Soviet officials, and it sets the historical tone for everything the line climbs toward. The station itself is unassuming, easy to miss if you're not looking, with departures running to a fixed daily timetable rather than a constant shuttle, so check the board or ask locally before planning your morning around it.

The climb through the Borjomi Gorge

Best stretch for scenery and for understanding why the line exists

Once out of town, the track follows the Borjomi Gorge upward, threading terrain that belongs to Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park — at 85,000 hectares, Georgia's largest protected area and home to one of Europe's last significant stretches of old-growth temperate forest, thick with Colchic boxwood, yew, and fir that has stood largely untouched for centuries. This is the part of the ride that explains the nickname: the narrow-gauge carriages roll and clatter at a genuinely unhurried pace, closer to a cuckoo's call than an express, through switchbacks and short tunnels with the gorge walls closing in on both sides. The line was built in 1902 primarily to move timber and, later, spa visitors between Borjomi and the mountains — it was never designed for speed, and riding it today means accepting that slowness as the point rather than a flaw. Keep a window seat on the uphill side for the best views down into the valley.

Likani halt and the Romanov palace above the tracks

Best stop for imperial history without a detour

A few kilometres up from Borjomi, the line passes Likani, home to Likani Palace, the neo-Gothic summer residence built in 1892–95 for Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, a cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, by German architect Jacob Otto using stone quarried locally. The Romanov family used it as a retreat during their annual visits to take Borjomi's mineral waters; after 1921 it became a sanatorium for Soviet officials, and today parts of it operate as a museum with original 1890s furnishings, carved oak ceilings, and the Grand Duke's own hunting trophies still on display. The palace's terraced park, laid out by German landscape architect Arnold Regel, includes a 1895 sequoia plantation and a small ornamental lake. It's reachable directly by the railway's Likani stop, making it one of the only Romanov-era residences in Georgia you can genuinely arrive at by train rather than by road.

Tsagveri, the unvarnished spa stop

Best for an authentic, unhurried mineral-water break

Further up the gorge sits Tsagveri, a modest spa town at 1,020 metres that has drawn Georgians for prescribed sodium-bicarbonate baths since the 1950s without ever acquiring Borjomi's polish or crowds. Its very name is said to mean 'place of wine vessels' in Georgian, though it's the carbonated mineral water rather than wine that made the town's reputation. The springs emerge naturally at 32–34°C, and the town's faded Soviet-era sanatoriums still administer treatments to visitors willing to book ahead, often in Georgian or Russian rather than English. A drinking pavilion in Tsagveri's central park dispenses free carbonated water straight from the source, much as Borjomi's does, but with a fraction of the foot traffic. This is the stop for travellers who want to see what the Borjomi Gorge's mineral-water culture actually looks like away from the postcard version — concrete promenades, pine air, and a slower, more local rhythm than the main spa town below.

Akhaldaba and the waterfall detour

Best for hikers wanting to extend the trip

Near the village of Akhaldaba, still within the gorge the railway climbs, a marked trail leads roughly six kilometres to Akhaldaba Waterfall, a multi-tiered cascade dropping about 20 metres into cold, swimmable emerald pools inside Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. The walk in follows an old logging road past abandoned Soviet-era forestry structures, with the Lesser Caucasus ridgeline visible through gaps in the fir and beech canopy — and unlike the mineral-water parks below, this remains a genuinely local spot, with families picnicking and shepherds passing through with their flocks rather than tour groups. It's not a stop the train itself makes a feature of, but travellers riding the Kukushka who want to break the journey with a few hours on foot can plan around Akhaldaba deliberately; the trail takes one and a half to two hours each way and needs sturdy footwear, since there are no facilities along the route.

Arrival at Bakuriani and the first view of the Trialeti Range

Best moment on the whole ride

The gorge opens out as the train approaches Bakuriani, sitting at 1,700 metres on the northern slopes of the Trialeti Range, and the pine-scattered valley that appears is the payoff for two and a half hours of switchbacks. Bakuriani was purpose-built in 1932 as the USSR's premier family ski destination, its volcanic subsoil and gentle, rolling terrain earning it the nickname 'the nursery of Georgian skiing' — a deliberate contrast to the steeper, more rugged Gudauri further north. Arriving by train rather than by road makes the transition obvious: you leave a national park gorge and step directly into a mountain resort town, wooden cottages from the old Pioneers' Camp and rusted Soviet-era cable-car relics still visible among the newer lift infrastructure. However you plan the rest of the day, arriving this way is worth building the itinerary around rather than treating as incidental.

Bakuriani town, Kokhta Mountain and the Alpine Botanical Garden

Best way to fill the rest of the day at the top of the line

Once in Bakuriani, the obvious extension is Kokhta Mountain, rising to 2,155 metres as the resort's backbone, where a chairlift to the summit gives panoramic views over the Trialeti Range and the distant Paravani Lake basin, and the 90-metre ski jump above Kokhta-Mitarbi still launches national team hopefuls in winter. In summer, when the lifts run at reduced capacity or not at all, the better use of an afternoon is the Bakuriani Alpine Botanical Garden, founded in 1910 by Georgian botanist Giorgi Kolakovski — an 18-hectare research station turned living archive of more than 1,000 alpine and subalpine species, one of only three such gardens ever built in the former Soviet Union. Between skiing on the Didveli slopes in winter and walking the botanical garden's altitude-zoned plots in summer, Bakuriani gives the Kukushka ride a genuine destination rather than just a scenic dead end, before the same train — or a quicker marshrutka — carries you back down.

Practical information

Trains run from Borjomi's own station, with departures typically twice daily and the one-way climb to Bakuriani taking around two and a half hours; a marshrutka covers the same route by road in about 45 minutes if the rail schedule doesn't fit your day. The line is at its most scenic from May through October, when the gorge forest is full and Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park's trails around Akhaldaba and Likani are open; from December through March the ride doubles as a scenic approach to Bakuriani's ski season, though winter weather can affect timetables. Tickets are inexpensive and bought at Borjomi station rather than online, so build in time before departure rather than assuming advance booking is available or necessary. Borjomi itself is roughly two and a half hours from Tbilisi by marshrutka or private transfer, making a Kukushka day trip realistic from the capital for anyone with an early start.

Frequently asked

Quick answers before you pack the walking shoes.

Is the Kukushka a real working train or a tourist attraction built for visitors?

It's a real narrow-gauge line that has operated since 1902, originally built to move timber and later mineral-water traffic through the Borjomi Gorge, now running as a scenic passenger service. It carries genuine local and visitor traffic rather than existing purely as a novelty ride.

How long does the ride from Borjomi to Bakuriani actually take?

Around two and a half hours one way for the roughly 37-kilometre climb. That's considerably slower than the 45-minute road journey by marshrutka, which is the trade-off for the gorge scenery.

Can I get off partway at Likani or Tsagveri and continue later?

The line does serve stops along the gorge, including Likani, but departures run on a fixed daily timetable rather than a frequent shuttle, so breaking the journey requires checking the schedule in advance rather than assuming you can simply catch the next train through.

What's the best time of year to ride the Kukushka?

May through October gives the fullest forest scenery through the Borjomi Gorge and open access to the national park trails at either end. December through March turns the same ride into a scenic way of reaching Bakuriani's ski season, though winter can bring timetable disruption.

Do I need to book train tickets in advance?

No — tickets are bought in person at Borjomi station and are inexpensive, but the timetable is limited to a couple of departures a day, so the planning that matters is arriving at the station on time rather than reserving a seat ahead of time.