Borjomi, Georgia

Borjomi has been Georgia's cure for a century and a half. The mineral water that made the town famous still runs free from taps in the central park, and the gorge around it is a national park of beech and spruce that turns gold in October. It is a place people come to breathe.

The park holds more than two hundred square kilometres of forest, with marked trails, hot springs and the old Likani palace at its edge. Bakuriani, half an hour up the road, is Georgia's oldest ski resort and, in summer, a base for easy ridge walks and horse riding. Between the two there is more walking than most people expect.

We plan Borjomi as a slow stop — two or three nights, no long transfers, a guide who knows the park trails and a table booked at the one restaurant in the gorge worth the drive.