GeorgiaOfficial tourism
Tkibuli Reservoir

Where emerald waters meet misty ridges

Tkibuli Reservoir

Why go

Tkibuli Reservoir spreads across a folded valley of the Imereti foothills, created in the Soviet era when the Tkibuli River was dammed to regulate water flow for the region's coal mines and agriculture. Today it has transcended its industrial origins to become a sanctuary of stillness. The water shifts through impossible greens—jade, celadon, bottle-glass—reflecting forests of chestnut and beech that climb the surrounding slopes. What draws the purposeful traveler is precisely its unscripted quality: no ticket booths, no curated viewpoints, just the soft plash of carp rising at dusk and trails that dissolve into wild blueberry thickets. This is Georgia before the guides arrived.

On the ground See

  • The submerged forest at the reservoir's eastern edge, where drowned trunks create a ghostly sculpture garden visible when water levels drop in late summer
  • The Tkibuli-Okriba hiking trail, which climbs from the dam wall through abandoned Soviet-era sanatorium grounds to ridge-line views of the Racha-Lechkhumi ranges
  • Dawn fishing with local anglers along the northern shore, where traditional bamboo rod techniques persist and the morning mist burns off to reveal heron colonies

Practical Know before you go

Best visited May through October; marshrutkas run hourly from Kutaisi to Tkibuli town, from where the reservoir is a 3km walk or negotiable taxi ride on rough unpaved roads.

Last reviewed 25 August 2026 · reviewed quarterly