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Zugdidi
ℹ️Practical info — Zugdidi
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🌤 Weather — 5 days
📍 Nearby
Sights nearby
💡 Tips
- Visit the Dadiani Palace, known for its museum which allegedly houses one of Napoleon Bonaparte's death masks.
- Use the city as your primary gateway for taking a marshrutka up to the high mountain region of Svaneti.
- Be prepared for the summer climate here, which is famously very hot and extremely humid.
- Take a stroll down the wide, tree-lined boulevards which give the city an unusually grand feel for its size.
🍽 Food
Unlike other versions, this one is topped with an extra, thick layer of melted cheese. Very rich and filling!
An incredibly stretchy cornmeal dish blended with huge amounts of Sulguni cheese. Eat it hot at a traditional tavern.
Fresh cheese rolls served in a refreshing mint-infused yogurt sauce. First-rate for the hot Zugdidi climate.
🛍 Shopping · 🧘 Quiet spots
A huge, bustling market. This is the absolute best place to find the famous, heavily smoked Sulguni cheese.
Warning, it's spicy! The region is known for this fiery paste; buy it freshly made from vendors at the market.
Originally created by the Dadiani family, it now features beautifully restored walkways and rare trees.
Located just outside town, these old ruins provide a quiet, uncrowded historical spot to explore.
Water temperature…
Zugdidi, with about 42,000 inhabitants, is the historic capital of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region in Georgia's western lowlands, lying close to the unrecognised boundary with the breakaway region of Abkhazia. The town grew around the seat of the Mingrelian princely Dadiani family and remains deeply tied to their legacy. The expansive 19th-century Dadiani Palace and its surrounding botanical park today house the Zugdidi Historical and Architectural Museum, where, alongside Mingrelian princely treasures, visitors can see one of the three surviving original death masks of Napoleon, brought to Georgia after a Dadiani heiress married a descendant of Marshal Murat. A rectangular grid of broad streets, a neoclassical theatre and avenues of century-old plane trees give Zugdidi an elegant provincial-capital feel. Economically the town is a centre of tea, hazelnut and citrus farming and serves as the gateway to the spectacular mountain region of Svaneti, home to the UNESCO-listed defensive towers of Ushguli and Mestia.
- Location: Georgia
- Top sights: Zugdidi Cultural Center · Icon of Theotokos, mother of God.
- Nearby: Senaki (30 km)
- Population: ~40.067 (2025)
Best time to visit & climate
The most pleasant time to visit is Jun, Jul, Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °C | 4 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 6 |
| Rain mm | 101 | 86 | 108 | 74 | 65 | 76 | 69 | 68 | 111 | 121 | 119 | 112 |
Geography
Facts
- Population of approximately 42,000 inhabitants
- Dadiani Palace houses a death mask of Napoleon I
- Botanical Garden was established in the 19th century
- Capital of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region
- Major starting point for travels to Mestia
- Centre of Georgian hazelnut production
Explore nearby
Notable places around
Route planner — Car & Motorhome
Where do you start? We build the route here, with stops and country notes along the way.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenRouteService
Sights in the town Zugdidi (2)
Frequently asked questions
What is the main attraction in Zugdidi?
Is Zugdidi the gateway to Svaneti?
What local specialty should I eat?
Is there a Botanical Garden?
How to get from Tbilisi to Zugdidi?
Zugdidi: where is it located?
Zugdidi: what is there to see?
Zugdidi: when is the best time to visit?
Zugdidi: why is it worth visiting?
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