Tskhaltubo

Tskhaltubo is a spa resort in west-central Georgia. It is located at around coord|42|20|23|N|42|35|57|E. It is the main town of the Tskhaltubo district of the Imereti province. It is famous for its radon-carbonate mineral springs, whose natural temperature of 33-35°C enables the water to be used without preliminary heating.

The resort's focus is on balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculo-skeletal, gynaecological and skin diseases, but since the 1970s its repertoire has included "speleotherapy", in which the cool dust-free environment of local caves is said to benefit pulmonary diseases.

Tskhaltubo was especially popular in the Soviet era, attracting around 125,000 visitors a year. Bathhouse 9 features a frieze of Stalin, and visitors can see the private pool where he bathed on his visits.

Currently the spa receives only some 700 visitors a year, and since 1993 many of the sanitorium complexes have been devoted to housing some 9000 refugees, primarily women and children, displaced from their homes by ethnic conflict in Abkhazia.

References

* [http://www.mfa.gov.ge/files/62_62_745988_TOURISM.DOC Georgian government tourism document]
* [http://tskhaltubo.iatp.org.ge/samkurnalotvisebINGL.htm Medical properties and directions of a resort] Overview at Tskhaltubo town website.
* [http://www.perekrestok.am/english/features2005/0802.htm Tskhaltubo] Crossroads Project feature
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E7D61739F935A25754C0A964948260&sec=travel&pagewanted=print Russians seeking sun, sea and cures] "New York Times"
* [http://www.womenscommission.org/reports/s_caucas.shtml Women Displaced in the Southern Caucasus] Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.