Martvili Canyon, Georgia: Visitor Guide & Scams to Avoid

Plan your visit to Martvili Canyon from Kutaisi with up-to-date ticket and boat prices, the best way to get there, what to see inside, and the roadside scams to avoid.

I visited Martvili Canyon on a day trip from Kutaisi with a rental car. The canyon is a narrow gorge on the Abasha River in western Georgia, around an hour’s drive from Kutaisi, and it’s one of the most visited natural sights in the country.

I liked the gorge. What I didn’t expect was the mess outside. Fake "official" parking lots start a couple of kilometers before the entrance, aggressively trying to lure you in, and once you park and walk toward the gate, more scammers come up to sell you unofficial tours and tickets at higher prices. On top of that, the boat ride was closed due to high water, which I discovered is actually pretty common.

So I wrote down everything I’d want to know if I had to go again, from what to pay and who to ignore on the way in, to what you can still see on foot inside.

• • Where it is: Martvili Canyon is in Samegrelo, a region of western Georgia, near the village of Gachedili. It’s about 50 km (31 mi) from Kutaisi and around 280 km (174 mi) from Tbilisi.

  • Getting there: The drive from Kutaisi takes about an hour on a paved road. There’s no easy public transport, so most people go by car, taxi or group tour. More options in the chapters below.

  • How long you need: The walking trail took us about 45 minutes. Add roughly 20 minutes if the boat rides are running.

  • Where to buy tickets: Only at the official ticket office, a dark wooden kiosk with the National Parks of Georgia logo, right next to the car park at the entrance. It takes cash and cards.

  • The boat ride: It needs a separate ticket and only runs when the river is calm. I wouldn't buy the ticket online: after heavy rain, or when there wasn't enough rain, it’s often closed, and nobody answered when I tried calling ahead.

  • Watch out for: Fake “official” parking lots on the main road and people near the gate selling tours or tickets. You don’t need any of them.

  • Best time to arrive: At opening time, 10 am. It was quiet until about 10:30, then the paths filled up fast.

Prices at Martvili went up twice in two years, on April 1, 2025 and again on April 1, 2026, so a lot of the numbers you’ll find in older reviews are wrong. These are the prices posted at the ticket office when I visited in summer 2026.

Entrance Ticket

The basic ticket gets you onto the walking trail, the bridges and the viewpoints over the gorge. It doesn’t include the boat.

• Foreign adults: 40 GEL (about $15)
• Kids from 6 to 18: 5.50 GEL; Kids under 6: free
• Georgian citizens and residents: 16 GEL

In theory, you can also buy tickets in advance on GURU.GE, the official booking site for Georgia’s protected areas, but the website doesn't work particularly well. I bought my tickets directly at the ticket office.

Combo Tickets With Okatse, Kinchkha and Prometheus

If Martvili is part of a longer day, buy a combo ticket here. It covers other parks nearby and costs less than paying at each entrance, plus you skip the ticket queue at the next stops.

These are the combos currently offered:

• Martvili + Kinchkha Waterfall: 50 GEL
• Martvili + Okatse Canyon + Kinchkha Waterfall: 80 GEL
• Martvili + Prometheus Cave + Navenakhevi Cave: 85 GEL
• Martvili + Prometheus Cave + Kinchkha Waterfall: 90 GEL

The boat ride is never included in a combo. You pay it separately at the same window, when the option is available (20 to 30 GEL).

We bought the combo ticket for Martvili, Okatse Canyon and Okatse (Kinchkha Waterfall), for 80 GEL. Okatse is a canyon about 40 minutes away with a metal walkway hanging off the cliff, and Kinchkha is a tall waterfall 15 minutes past it. All the details are in my guide to Okatse Canyon and Kinchkha Waterfall.

The Boat Ride (and Why It Often Doesn’t Run)

The boat is the reason Martvili is famous. The walking trail goes south, high above the river, while the boat heads north into a section of the gorge you can’t reach on foot, where the walls close in and small waterfalls run down the rock. It’s a short trip, around 300 m (985 ft) up the river and back, about 15 minutes.

• Price: 20 or 30 GEL per person, on top of the entrance, depending on the season
• Boats: inflatable rafts for up to six people, with a staff member usually on board (not always)
• Gear: life jacket and helmet, given out at the pier
• Age limit: kids must be at least 5 years old and over 1 m (3.3 ft) tall

The problem is that the boats only go out when the river is calm. When the water is too high, or too low, or the current is strong, everything stops, which happens a lot. That’s what happened to us. The woman at the ticket office told us straight away the boats weren’t running, so we didn’t pay the extra.

I tried calling the official number several times on the drive there, and nobody picked up. So you can’t really know in advance. Ask at the ticket window before you pay for the boat, and if it’s closed, buy only the entrance ticket.

Kutaisi is the closest city and the easiest base for Martvili. The canyon is about 50 km (31 mi) away, roughly an hour by road. If you’re comfortable driving, go by car. If not, a group tour is the simplest way, because public transport only gets you halfway.

By Car

Best for anyone who wants to combine Martvili with Okatse, Kinchkha or Prometheus Cave at their own pace. This is how we did it.

• Time: about 1 hour each way
• Where to book: local rental sites like Localrent and Parent.ge, or the big international companies at Kutaisi Airport

The road is paved all the way and easy to follow. The thing to watch is animals. Cows walk down the middle of the road, pigs graze on the verges and nobody seems in a hurry to move, so drive slowly through the villages. Near the canyon, ignore every car park before the ticket office.

On a Group Tour

Best for anyone without a car who wants a full day around Kutaisi without planning anything.

These are the three best options on GetYourGuide at the moment, depending on what else you want to see that day. None of them includes entrance fees, so budget the extra price for a combo ticket, and the boat tour (which still depends on the river):

• • Okatse, Martvili, Kinchkha & Georgian Food: small group, about 8 hours, includes the waterfall and a khachapuri tasting.
  • Martvili & Okatse Canyons & Prometheus Cave: group tour, about 9 hours, adds a cave and a photo stop at the Tskaltubo sanatoriums, no waterfall.
  • Private Tour from Kutaisi: Martvili, Okatse and Prometheus: private car for up to 4 people, about 9 hours. Ask the operator before booking if you want to add the waterfall.

By Private Driver or Taxi

Best for small groups who don’t want to drive but want to choose their own stops.

• Time: about 1 hour each way, with the driver waiting while you visit
• Cost: from about 100 GEL per car for the round trip from Kutaisi
• Where to book: ask your hotel to arrange it

By Marshrutka

Best for travelers on a tight budget who don’t mind a slower day. A marshrutka is a shared minibus, the main public transport between towns in Georgia.

• Time: about 1.5 hours to the town of Martvili, then 10 more minutes of taxi to the canyon
• Cost: around 5 to 8 GEL for the minibus, plus a local taxi for the last 5 km (3 mi)
• Where to book: no booking, just go to Kutaisi Central Bus Station, where minibuses to Martvili leave about once an hour between 8 am and 6 pm

Some drivers will drop you at the canyon if you ask, others stop in town. It works, but you lose most of the day and it’s hard to add Okatse.

This was the part of the visit I liked least, and it’s the only place in Georgia where I saw anything like it.

Martvili Canyon has an official ticket office next to the entrance. Right next to it, there's also an official, large and cheap parking space. However, outside of that area,  several locals are selling fake entrance tickets and parking tickets to tourists.

It actually starts on the main road, before you even reach the turnoff for the canyon. About a mile before that point, there are improvised car parks with signs saying “Martvili Canyon” or “official parking”, and men in the middle of the street waving you in. They charge more than the real car park, and from there you still have to walk a long way to the entrance.

Then, once you manage to avoid them and park near the canyon and start walking toward the gate, people come up to you offering “official” tours and tickets with all kinds of excuses. What they sell is, at best, the same entrance you’d buy at the ticket office, just at a higher price. 

How to get in without paying extra:

• Drive past every car park on the main road. Set your GPS to the Martvili Canyon visitor center and keep going until you see the dark wooden ticket office with the National Parks of Georgia logo. The real car park is right in front of it.
• Parking price (even in the right location) is still confusing. A man without any uniform or badge asked us for 5 GEL. From what I saw on a sign, the official price is 2 GEL, but I didn't want to argue for too long over a couple of lari.
• Buy tickets only at the official ticket office. Nobody walking around the car park or the road sells anything you need. The entrance, the boat, the zipline and the combo tickets are all sold at the official ticket office.

The walking trail is a loop of about 700 m (0.4 mi) that starts and ends at the visitor center. It’s paved with stones the whole way, with railings, two metal bridges over the gorge and three viewing platforms. It took us about 45 minutes, walking slowly and stopping for photos.

Visitor Center and the Pier

After the ticket office you go through the visitor center, a white building with turnstiles where staff scan your ticket. Just past it, yellow signs point two ways: the Dadiani Trail, which is the walking loop, and the pier, where the boats leave. There’s also a café.

The Dadiani Trail, Bridges and the Narrow Gorge

The loop is named after the Dadiani family, the princes who ruled Samegrelo until 1867. They used the canyon as their private bathing spot, and the old staircase they took down to the water, about 30 steps cut from big limestone blocks, is still along the trail.

The best part on foot is the stretch with the two bridges. From above, you look straight down into one of the narrowest sections of the gorge, where the Abasha River has cut a crack through the rock only a few meters wide, with moss and ferns growing all over the walls.

The stone steps going down to the bridges are quite slippery, so wear shoes with some grip.

The Main Waterfall Viewpoint

The last viewing platform looks onto the main waterfall, about 12 m (39 ft) high, where the river drops over a ledge of rock and splits into a few smaller streams on the sides. With all that water, it was loud and full of spray, and around midmorning a small rainbow showed up in the mist at the bottom. This was my favorite view of the whole visit.

Martvili is beautiful, I won’t pretend otherwise. But inside it’s very commercial, with the café, the corn dog stand, the zipline and paths that fill up quickly. Plus the chaos outside with the fake car parks and the touts left me with a bad feeling before I’d even bought a ticket. So here's my take

With the Boats Running

Yes, I’d go. The boat takes you into the part of the gorge that nobody sees from the trail, and it's truly a unique scenery. It’s short, but that stretch between the walls is what Martvili is known for.

The catch is that you only find out at the ticket window. So I’d plan it on a dry day, ideally after a few days without heavy rain, and keep a backup plan in case the river is too high.

Walk-Only

Here I’m less sure. The trail is pretty, and the waterfall is worth seeing, but an hour’s drive each way from Kutaisi and the hassle at the entrance are a lot for what you get.

I’d only do it if Martvili is one stop in a longer day. With the combo ticket for Martvili, Okatse and Kinchkha, it makes sense: it’s the first stop of the morning, you’re in and out in under an hour, and the rest of the day is spent somewhere quieter. I wouldn’t drive out from Kutaisi just for the walk.

Martvili or Okatse: Which One I’d Pick

If you only have time for one, I’d pick Okatse Canyon. It’s a longer loop, with a metal walkway hanging off the side of the cliff and a platform out over the gorge, and it felt less like a theme park, although it’s still somewhat commercial.

Martvili wins only when the boat is running, because nothing at Okatse compares to being down on the water between the rock walls. If you can do both, do both on the same day with the combo ticket. They’re about 40 minutes apart by car.

Can you swim at Martvili Canyon?

No, swimming is banned inside the protected area, and staff do check. If you want to get in the water, Balda Canyon, on the same river about 15 minutes’ drive further north, has spots where swimming is allowed. Rocks there are slippery and there are no railings, so be careful.

Can you visit Martvili Canyon on a day trip from Tbilisi?

You can, but I wouldn’t. Martvili is around 280 km (174 mi) from Tbilisi, which means 4 to 5 hours each way, and you’d spend most of the day in a car for less than an hour at the canyon. Several tours from Tbilisi do it anyway, usually with Prometheus Cave. It makes much more sense to sleep at least one night in Kutaisi.

Is Martvili Canyon good for kids?

Yes, the trail is short and fenced all the way, and kids under 6 enter free. It’s not stroller-friendly, though, because of the stone stairs down to the bridges, so bring a baby carrier for small children. Keep in mind the age and height limits for the boat if that’s what you’re promising them.

Is Martvili Canyon the same as Martvili Monastery?

No. Martvili Monastery, also called Chkondidi, is a medieval monastery on a hill above the town of Martvili, about 10 minutes’ drive from the canyon. Its main church dates back to the 7th century, and from the top you can see a good part of the Samegrelo region. I didn’t have time to go up, but it’s an easy addition if you have a car.

Can you visit Martvili Canyon in winter?

Yes, it’s open all year and stays green even in December, with far fewer people than in summer. Hours are shorter, the boat often doesn’t run because of rain and high water, and Okatse Canyon nearby can close in bad weather, so check before planning a combo day.

Do you need a guide for Martvili Canyon?

No. The trail is signposted, paved and easy to follow on your own, and there are signs along the way in English and Georgian. A guide only makes sense as part of a tour, if you also want transport and company for the rest of the day.

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