Field note 02 · Kareli
Bateti Lake
A small green lake in a bowl of autumn beech, up a forest track from Kareli.
Visited
- Level
- Easy
- Drive from Tbilisi
- ~2.5 h
- Hike
- None
- Highest point
- 1,313 m
The walk
What it’s like.
Bateti sits at the top of the Dzama valley, south of Kareli, where the road gets narrower and rougher until it gives out in the forest. The last stretch is a steep forest track, passable in a high-clearance SUV or with one of the local cars that take visitors up. In the middle of October the whole slope above it is beech gone gold and orange, with dark pines standing in among them.
Then the trunks open up and the lake is right there below you: small, still and green-turquoise, with the hillside upside down in it. On the Sunday we went there was a little pedal boat out on the water, a Georgian flag by the spot that rents it, and families with picnics spread along the shore under the pines.
There is no cafe and no shop, so bring water and food and take the rubbish back down. Swimming isn't allowed, and the south end is marshy - that is where the banded newt lives, so keep to the firmer shore.
Colour notes
What it looked like.
Matched by eye on 18 October 2026, from the walk down to the shore.
Beech, turning
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Most of the slope above the water, gold from top to bottom.
Rust
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Patches of orange and red among the gold.
The water
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Green-turquoise, still enough to hold the hillside.
Pine
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The dark trunks along the shore - the only green that stays.
The flag
White & red
By the pedal boat, the brightest thing on the shore.
Getting there
The drive, and a bed at the end of it.
From Tbilisi
About 135 km
The highway west past Gori to Kareli, then about 23 km south up the Dzama valley toward Kodmani. The last stretch is a steep forest track, soft after rain: take a high-clearance SUV, or hire one of the local cars at the end of the road to run you up to the lake. There is no walk at the other end - they drop you at the shore.
Where to stay
A day from Tbilisi
How most people do it, and it makes a good picnic day: bring food and a blanket, spread out under the pines by the water, and you are back in the city by dark.
Gori
The nearest real choice of hotels and guesthouses, about an hour and a half from the end of the road.
Tent by the lake
People camp on the shore in summer and early autumn. There is nothing up there, so carry everything in and everything back out.
When to go
Best seasons.
- Jan: not recommended
- Feb: not recommended
- Mar: not recommended
- Apr: not recommended
- May: possible
- Jun: possible
- Jul: possible
- Aug: possible
- Sep: possible
- Oct: best
- Nov: not recommended
- Dec: not recommended
Late May to October, and October above all, when the woods round the lake turn. In winter the lake freezes and the track is mud or snow; after any rain it is mud anyway, so go after a few dry days.
While you’re there
Nearby.
- Dzama valley churchesSmall monasteries and old towers line the valley on the way up - Mzovreti, Sarkineti, Ortubani. Easy stops on the drive in or out.
- KintsvisiA monastery near Kareli known for its medieval frescoes, Queen Tamar among them. A short detour on the way home.
- UplistsikheThe rock-cut town just east of Gori, right by the road back to Tbilisi. Go late in the day, when the sandstone warms up.
Gallery
Down at the water.
End of note 02
Gori, Uplistsikhe and the rest of Shida Kartli are back on the region page.