Utsera

Utsera is a mountain village and small spa resort in the upper Rioni valley, about 20 km north-east of Oni, at roughly 1,100 m. Wooded slopes close in on both sides, and several carbonated mineral springs rise near the river, each with its own taste and traditional use. In Soviet times the village had sanatoriums and holiday homes, and Georgian families still come for a week or two in summer to drink the water, breathe the forest air and escape the heat of the lowlands.

Facilities are modest: a few guesthouses and small hotels, cafés in season and pavilions over the springs where you can fill a bottle. Utsera works well as a base for the Mtaracha villages of Chiora, Ghebi and Glola further up the valley and for short forest walks. It is also a quieter alternative to Oni if you are heading into Upper Racha to hike.

Local people used Utsera's springs long before the resort existed, and the village grew into a spa in the 20th century, when Soviet health authorities promoted mineral-water cures across Georgia. Like the rest of Upper Racha, it suffered in the 1991 earthquake and lost many residents in the decades that followed. In recent years guesthouses have reopened near the springs.