Borjomi Likani Health & Spa Centre

A Tsarist Summer Palace Turned Spa Valley

Likani sits at the quiet western edge of Borjomi, where the Kura River cuts through a valley of oak and conifer that has drawn Georgians to the mineral springs since the nineteenth century. In 1892 the architect Leon Benois built a summer palace here for Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of the Russian imperial family, and the surrounding park later hosted Soviet officials, including Stalin, before Georgia's independence turned the residence into the president's own summer house. The spa and hotel complex that grew up around that history took the name Borjomi Likani, and a wave of investment rebuilt it into a 151-room resort without losing the private-park feel that made the address worth protecting in the first place.

Why It Works

The hotel's spa draws directly on Borjomi's mineral water, piped in for hydrotherapy rather than sold in bottles at the gift shop, and the treatment menu reads like a clinic's rather than a wellness-menu cliché: mud wraps, a Turkish bath, and Russian and Finnish saunas running side by side, with a medical team on hand for guests who come for a genuine cure. Add a private park that keeps the resort's 151 rooms from ever feeling crowded, two restaurants rather than one catch-all buffet, and a Kids' Club that lets parents actually use the spa, and the selection explains itself: few addresses in Georgia combine scale, therapy and quiet this well.

Why This Location

Likani is a hamlet of its own, stitched to Borjomi's western edge and separated from the town centre by the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park boundary rather than by any real distance, the railway station is under five kilometres away, about nine minutes by car. The setting is pure spa-town: oak and conifer groves, mineral springs with the same composition as the bottled water sold under Borjomi's name, and a valley quiet enough that the loudest sound most evenings is the Kura River below the old palace grounds. Tbilisi is roughly 160 kilometres east, close enough for a weekend, far enough to feel like a genuine retreat rather than a day trip with a spa attached.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€ (Premium)

• Vibe: Imperial-era calm, clinical wellness, private park

• Rooms: 151, from Economy doubles to a Presidential Suite, with 43 connecting rooms

• Best For: Spa-focused long weekends, families travelling with a Kids' Club in tow, travellers after a genuine water cure

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: A hydrotherapy programme built entirely on Borjomi's own mineral water rather than imported spa products

• Dining: Two restaurants, one with an outdoor terrace, plus a bar and an open-air café

• Amenities: Outdoor and indoor pools, jacuzzi, Russian and Finnish saunas, Turkish bath, steam room, Kids' Club and playground, five conference halls

• Attractions: Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park on the doorstep, Borjomi town and its mineral-water park a short drive away, hiking and horseback riding from the hotel grounds

A Park That Outlasted an Empire

The private park is as much the draw as the spa itself, mature oak and conifer cover that has had well over a century to establish itself, crossed by paths that once served a single aristocratic household and now serve a few hundred guests without ever feeling it. It's this park, more than any room category, that explains why Soviet officials kept returning after the Romanovs left and why Georgia's own presidents chose it as a summer address: short of staying inside a national park itself, there's no easier way to sleep under real tree cover a few minutes from a full-service hotel.

Rooms, Families and Before You Book

Room categories run wide for a single property, plain Economy doubles for a solo spa week, Standard and Superior rooms for most bookings, and a Presidential Suite for anyone who wants the top of the house, with 43 rooms built to connect for families or small groups. The Kids' Club and playground mean the spa doesn't have to be an adults-only proposition, though the hotel's own rhythm, treatments booked by time slot, a medical team on site, two restaurants running set hours, rewards travellers planning a proper stay over a one-night stopover. Book the spa package before arrival if the mineral-water treatments are the point, since slots fill around the groups using the five conference halls.