Top 10 Lighthouses in Georgia
Georgia's eastern Black Sea coast has been a crossroads of maritime trade since antiquity, when Colchian oarsmen navigated these waters long before any lighthouse stood on shore. The modern era of Georgian lighthouses arrived largely under Tsarist Russian administration in the nineteenth century, when systematic buoyage and fixed lights were installed along the coast from Anaklia in the north to Batumi near the Turkish frontier. Several towers survive from that period, their cast-iron lanterns and cylindrical masonry shafts characteristic of the Russian Imperial Lighthouse Service's engineering standards. Today these lights operate under the Maritime Transport Agency of Georgia, most automated and solar-powered, standing at ports still busy with grain, oil, and container traffic. For the lighthouse traveller, the Georgian coast offers a compact and rewarding itinerary combining history, dramatic mountain backdrops, and the unhurried atmosphere of the South Caucasus.
1. Poti Lighthouse, Poti
The port of Poti at the mouth of the Rioni River has carried a lighthouse since at least the 1880s, when Russian engineers erected a masonry tower to guide vessels into this shallow, sand-choked harbour. The current white round tower stands approximately 19 metres tall and displays a white flashing light visible for around 10 nautical miles, helping masters navigate the tricky approach across the river bar. Poti is Georgia's principal commercial port, handling significant grain and general cargo traffic, and the lighthouse remains active and integral to port operations. The tower is not generally open to the public, but it is visible from the port's outer breakwater. The surrounding town retains a Soviet-era industrial character softened by proximity to the Kolkheti National Park wetlands just to the south.
2. Batumi Lighthouse, Batumi
Batumi's lighthouse sits on the northern breakwater of the harbour, a compact cylindrical tower of about 17 metres rising above a busy port that handles petroleum products from the Baku–Tbilisi–Batumi pipeline. The original light was established in the late nineteenth century after Russia took Batumi from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and rapidly developed the town as an export terminal. The white tower is reinforced concrete of mid-twentieth-century construction, replacing an earlier structure, and shows an isophase white light with a range of roughly 12 nautical miles. Batumi itself is one of the Caucasus's most visited resort cities, with an extraordinary mix of Art Nouveau architecture, modernist towers, and a Black Sea promenade that brings thousands of visitors past the port each summer evening.
3. Anaklia Lighthouse, Anaklia
Anaklia stands at the northern end of Georgia's coast, close to the administrative boundary with Abkhazia, and its lighthouse guards the Enguri River delta — a stretch of coast that shifts seasonally with sediment discharge. The whitewashed masonry tower dates from the Russian imperial period, likely the 1890s, and rises around 16 metres. The light character is a white flash, useful for mariners approaching from the open sea. The area around Anaklia gained international attention in the 2010s as the site of a proposed deep-water port project intended to compete with Poti, though that project stalled. Access to the lighthouse is straightforward from the small coastal town; the beach is open and the structure visible from the shoreline, though the interior is secured.
4. Sukhumi Lighthouse, Sukhumi
Sukhumi — now the de facto capital of Abkhazia, a breakaway territory whose status is disputed internationally — was formerly a significant port on Georgia's Black Sea coast. Its lighthouse, a slender white cylindrical tower of approximately 20 metres, was built under Tsarist administration and overlooks the bay from a prominent headland near the harbour entrance. The light character is flashing white, providing guidance for vessels calling at Sukhumi's modest commercial port. Access for Georgian and international visitors is restricted by the political situation, and travellers should check current entry requirements carefully before any attempt to visit. The tower is maintained by Abkhazian authorities and remains active.
5. Gagra Lighthouse, Gagra
Further north along the Abkhazian coast, the Gagra Lighthouse stands on a rocky promontory that the Greeks once called Nitika. The tower is a late-imperial Russian construction, painted white, approximately 18 metres tall, and shows a flashing white light with a range of around 10 nautical miles. Gagra was a fashionable Black Sea resort under the Soviet Union, favoured by Stalin's Politburo, and the lighthouse sits amid subtropical vegetation — palm trees, cypress, and eucalyptus — that gives the setting an almost Mediterranean character. Like Sukhumi, access is subject to the complex political situation in Abkhazia; the same visitor caveats apply.
6. Ochamchire Lighthouse, Ochamchire
Ochamchire was once a functioning cargo port midway along the Abkhazian coast with a lighthouse guiding vessels to its quays. The white tower is of standard Russian Black Sea design, roughly 15 metres, active with a flashing white character. The port itself declined severely after the 1992–1993 war and subsequent blockades, but the light continues to function as a navigational reference for coastal traffic. This is one of the least visited of Georgia's lighthouses in the broadest geographic sense, and reaching it requires careful advance planning given the political circumstances of Abkhazia.
7. Cape Pitsunda Lighthouse, Pitsunda
Cape Pitsunda juts into the Black Sea as a distinctive low sandy spit covered in a famous grove of ancient Pitsunda pines — a relict species protected as a nature reserve. The lighthouse at the cape tip is a white round tower of moderate height, established in the Soviet era, showing a flashing light that marks the cape as a hazard for northbound vessels hugging the coast. The reserve and its associated Soviet-era sanatorium complex have long attracted visitors; the lighthouse is visible from the beach walks through the pine forest. The cape is administered by Abkhazia, so the same access considerations apply as for other sites in this territory.
8. Kulevi Lighthouse, Kulevi
Just south of the Abkhazian boundary on Georgia's undisputed coast, Kulevi is home to a petroleum terminal that has operated since the early 2000s, handling crude oil transshipped from tankers in the deeper offshore anchorage. A light tower at the terminal approach marks the loading berths and the offshore single-buoy mooring system. The structure is utilitarian rather than historic, a functional navigation aid of modern construction, but it represents the contemporary role Georgia's Black Sea coast plays in the energy infrastructure of the wider Caspian region. The terminal's operations mean public access to the immediate vicinity of the tower is restricted.
9. Poti Range Lights, Poti Approaches
The approaches to Poti harbour across the shallow delta of the Rioni require a system of range lights — two towers aligned to give pilots a safe bearing into the river mouth channel. The rear range tower is a skeletal steel structure of perhaps 25 metres, the front a shorter post, both displaying fixed red or white lights depending on alignment. Range lights of this type are among the most practically critical in Georgian waters, given the Rioni delta's tendency to shift its bar channel. The port authority manages and maintains these structures, and the range is visible from the beach road running north from Poti town.
10. Batumi Pier Head Light, Batumi Harbour
Distinct from the main Batumi Lighthouse, the pier head light at the entrance to the inner oil terminal quays is a compact steel lantern on a short post, showing a red sector light to indicate the danger zone of the breakwater head. Such pier head lights are often overlooked by lighthouse enthusiasts focused on tall towers, but they perform a critical function in a busy port where large tankers manoeuvre in confined waters. The Batumi harbour area is visible from the city's popular seafront boulevard, and the pier head light can be seen from the promenade — active every night as the city's nightlife plays out along the beach behind it.
Visiting Georgia's Lighthouses
The accessible towers on Georgia's undisputed coast — principally Poti, Batumi, Anaklia, and Kulevi — are reachable by road in a comfortable day's drive from Tbilisi or as stops on the coastal route between Tbilisi and Batumi. The best visiting season is May to September, when the Black Sea coast is warm and largely dry; winters can bring heavy rain and fog. None of the main active towers is regularly open to the public for interior visits, but exteriors are easily viewed. For the Abkhazian sites, current political circumstances make visits genuinely complicated; consult up-to-date travel advisories before planning. Open the map to explore the full distribution of Georgian lighthouses along this historically rich coastline.