# Gomismta
- URL: https://explore-georgia.ge/en/places/gomismta
- Type: place to visit
- Region: Guria
- Coordinates: 41.824167, 42.158333

Gomismta is a township and high mountain climatic summer resort in Ozurgeti Municipality on the northern slope of the Meskheti range at the head of the Bzhuzhi valley, 2,100–2,755 metres above sea level and 33 kilometres from Ozurgeti, the nearest railway station; unlike Bakhmaro, which sits in a hollow, Gomismta stands on the edge of the mountain, open towards the lowland. The climate is that of the middle mountains, with cold snowy winters and moderately cool summers: the mean January temperature is −5 degrees and August's 13–18, 1,600–1,700 millimetres of precipitation fall a year, humidity is 75 per cent, and the sun shines 2,000–2,060 hours. To the south-west the resort is bounded by spruce and fir forest and springs, to the north-east by alpine meadows; Lake Chinchao lies nearby at 2,500 metres, and from Gomismta a path crosses the Meskheti mountains to Shuakhevi in Adjara. The resort is prescribed for passive climatotherapy in non-tuberculous diseases of the respiratory organs, chronic bronchitis, lymphadenitis, rickets, secondary anaemia and mild forms of bronchial asthma.

The picture of Gomismta is of wooden cottages scattered over the slopes, 1,500 of them by the 1980s, and of clouds: Gomismta is known as a resort above the clouds, and its best-known image is the sun setting into them. Infrastructure long remained sparse: even in the 1980s there was no piped water, electricity or transport.

## History

The shepherds of Guria and Adjara used Gomismta as summer pasture for their livestock; the pastures belonged to the Shemokmedi monastery, the animals were driven up from the Chvanistskali valley, and the toll was paid in sheep, pressed cheese and bread. After the Russo-Turkish war of 1828–1829 and the annexation of Guria to Russia, the Russo-Turkish border ran along the watershed of the Meskheti range until 1878, today's border of Guria and Adjara. By legend a shepherd named Tumanov brought his daughter, seized by an incurable illness, up to Gomismta, and she was healed there; the spot where the resort arose was called Napatskhvari, and in 1902 some twenty houses and three shops stood here, with more than two hundred holidaymakers. In 1931 Filipp Makharadze climbed to the resort and had a doctor brought from Bakhmaro to study its properties; the Second World War halted building.

The motor road from Ozurgeti was laid in 1955, when some 500 cottages stood at the resort and 4,500–5,000 holidaymakers came up each year; by 1970 the houses had grown to 1,000 and the holidaymakers to 7–8 thousand, in the 1970s a club, a medical post and a pharmacy were set up, and by the 1980s there were 1,500 cottages but still no piped water, electricity or transport; electrification was attempted in 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the resort emptied, and from 2010, with the growth of tourism in Georgia, interest returned: from that year the annual festival Gomismtoba was established, and from 1 January 2021 Gomismta is a township.

## Visit info

Gomismta is 33 kilometres from Ozurgeti; the motor road, laid in 1955, climbs through Shemokmedi and the Bzhuzhi valley. It is a summer resort; check the state of the road, transport, lodging and services before going.

## Tips

Sunset into the clouds is the best-known sight of Gomismta. Lake Chinchao is nearby, and Bakhmaro can be reached on horseback. The Gomismtoba festival is held in August, on a date that changes from year to year. The mean August temperature is 13–18 degrees, so bring warm clothes.

## Safety

At 2,000 metres fog comes down fast and the paths vanish, so return before dark. The mountain road can be slippery after rain.

## Sources

- [Gomismta — Georgian Wikipedia](https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/გომისმთა)
- [Gomismta — English Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomismta)
- [Gomismta — Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12863340)

## This page in other languages

- [ქართული](https://explore-georgia.ge/ka/adgilebi/gomismta)
- [Русский](https://explore-georgia.ge/ru/mesta/gomismta)