The Best Hotels in Bakuriani, Georgia

You can hop out of bed and almost straight onto the ski-lift at this comprehensive complex with a bar and restaurant, big ice rink, small playground, decent-sized pool, jacuzzi, sauna and gym. Balconies have views across the colourful apartment blocks to the wooded hills beyond and the giant-chalet-style hotel is close to walking trails through snow-covered pines or golden beeches, depending on the season. Rooms vary from the bargain economy category to executive suites, ideal for families.

With more than 200 rooms and a cavernous, brick-walled restaurant, this modern cliff of a hotel towards the southern end of Bakuriani’s sprawl can pack in the visitors in season. Alas, if you book one of the cheaper rooms then you’ll miss out on a balcony, but the upper levels can look out over the woods, which are spectacular in autumn. Climb up to the ski lift or walk from the door into the trees that surround Bakuriani. This is a wildly beautiful corner of the world.

Welcome to gorgeous Georgia at this fine space: well-equipped chalets, backed by pines, have balconies and floor to ceiling windows overlooking a gentle valley that is grassy in summer and snow-loaded in winter. What’s great for families is that the beginners’ slope is nearby and you can rent gear for skiing or bikes for cycling into the acres of rural Georgia on the doorstep. Each property is similar – and, it must be said, lacking in much character – with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and living room with a fireplace. Cosy, though, when the snow blows.

The newest addition to Rooms Hotels, an exciting Georgian design-hotel group, opened at the end of 2019 on the eastern edge of the resort, where a winding track leads up through woods and over the hilltop pass to a neighbouring village. The elegant rooms in this ski-in, ski-out hotel have mesmerising views of the pine expanses; the innovative designers have chosen stylish, natural furnishings (hand-woven rugs and local ceramics, wooden floors, salvaged oak furniture, pale tawny walls) that throw the focus on to the landscape outside. There’s a log fire in the lounge and the terraced restaurant features floor-to-ceiling windows and a locally sourced trad-with-a-twist menu.

All gleaming floors, smart colours and long sofas, this hotel takes its name from grassy Amirani’s Park nearby with its candy-bright fairground rides for kids. Expanded in 2019, the property now rolls out spacious rooms, comfortable beds and, happily enough, an underground bar with a pool table and billiards – Bakuriani apres-ski, if you will. An energetic 10-minute walk from Bakuriani’s train station, it also has free parking and an airport shuttle.

With seven restaurants, an indoor pool and spa, playground and games rooms, football, basketball and volleyball pitches, and walking trails in the gardens, you barely need to leave the Bakuriani Inn for a sporting holiday. From breakfast under the restaurant’s mirrored ceiling to high tea in the chandelier-hung dining room and cocktails in the plant-filled winter garden, there are plenty of places to refuel, too. So once you’re here, you’re sorted.

An easy stroll from both the beginners’ slopes and the Joyland park, this family-run option is a four-storey modern block with wrought iron balconies in the middle of town, next door to a supermarket. It’s kid-friendly with a trampoline, playground and bunk beds in the family rooms. There’s also homemade Georgian food, including delicious fresh salads and chicken cutlets, a smouldering log fire in winter and crisp linen sheets on the beds; the breakfast spread favours cold meats and cheeses, pastries and cereals: perfect sustenance for a day on the slopes.

Backing onto the lawns of Amirani’s Park, with its red squirrels and tree-lined paths, the rooms in the Hotel Villa Park have wooden bedsteads and simple décor. The chalet-style modern building centres on a fire-lit lounge and there’s an unfussy indoor swimming pool. In the light-filled restaurant look out for Georgian cream cheese and yoghurt with honey and home-stewed fruit compotes.