You will hear the name Borjomi everywhere in Georgia — it is the brand that made the country's mineral water famous, and like Spa in Belgium, the town's name has become a generic term. The actual town sits in a narrow gorge in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, surrounded by pine-forested hills and criss-crossed by the Mtkvari River.
The main draw is Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, one of the largest national parks in Europe, with hiking trails ranging from a half-day walk to a full week's traverse. In town, the Central Park contains a spring where you can drink the famous mineral water straight from the source — it tastes noticeably sulphurous and warm, nothing like the bottled version. The eccentric Villa Firuze, with its Persian and Moorish facade, and the imperial Likani Villa, once the Romanov summer palace, are worth seeking out. Borjomi also serves as the natural base for visiting Bakuriani, the nearby ski resort reached by the charming Kukushka narrow-gauge railway.