Why go
Rukhi Fortress rises from the Enguri river plain as a restored 17th-century stronghold of the Dadiani princes, who ruled Samegrelo from the 12th century until Russian annexation in 1867. The castle commanded the strategic crossing where the historic coastal road between Zugdidi and Abkhazia forded the Enguri—making it a chokepoint for trade, diplomacy, and military tension across centuries. After damage and partial collapse, careful state restoration has returned its crenellated towers and stone walls, letting visitors walk the same ramparts where Dadiani sentinels once watched for Ottoman, Russian, or Abkhaz threats. It remains one of the few accessible examples of western Georgian feudal military architecture, tangible proof of how this small principality survived between empires.