Why go
Tskaltubo is a fading masterpiece of Soviet hydrotherapy architecture, where radon-carbonate mineral springs—discovered in 1870 and scientifically validated by 1950—drew some 125,000 annual visitors at the USSR's peak. Stalin himself bathed here in private quarters, and the town's 19 ornate sanatoriums once hosted workers from across the empire. Today, bathhouses 6 and 8 still operate, offering prescribed radon treatments for arthritis and circulatory conditions in marble-clad immersion pools. The abandoned halls—crystal chandeliers, peeling Soviet murals, colonnades overtaken by subtropical vegetation—create an unparalleled atmosphere of utopian decay. This is not nostalgia tourism; it is functional history, where elderly Georgians and curious travelers share the same curative waters.