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How to get to Abkhazia: why we removed these instructions
Editorial Position
Updated:9 min1,807 words

How to get to Abkhazia: why we removed these instructions

The two articles that used to live at this address are gone: a guide on how to get to Abkhazia and a piece about what to bring back from there as a gift. Along with them, the entire section has been removed: the "Abkhazia" category has been deleted across all language versions of the site, and all of its URLs now redirect here.

Abkhazia (part of Georgia under international law) is occupied by Russia. The standard route there goes through Russia, and that specific direction of entry is criminalized by Georgia's law on occupied territories. By publishing the guide, we were explaining to readers how to commit a criminal offense in a country that is a candidate for EU membership. That is why there is no route in this text.

💡 At a glance:

  • which two articles and which section have been removed
  • what the European Court of Human Rights established in Georgia v. Russia (II)
  • how the ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia is documented in OSCE documents and UN resolutions
  • what Georgia's law on occupied territories says and why we do not describe the route
  • Last updated: 09/2026

Why we deleted these guides

Both texts were practical. The first explained the route, the second described which goods were worth bringing back. Neither of them mentioned the legal status of the territory, nor how the 2008 war ended, nor what happened to the people who lived there before it.

We did not add warnings to them. A guide without a warning and a guide with a warning remain equally a guide: the reader gets a route, and the editorial team remains its author. That is why both articles and the entire section have been removed, and the old URLs now redirect to this explanation.

The overall framework for the decision across our entire section is described separately. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, and as of January 1, 2026, a person from the European Union may not provide or advertise services directly related to tourism activities in Russia (EUR-Lex, Regulation 2025/2033 of 23.10.2025). Here this rule matters not on its own, but because the usual route to the Abkhaz coast goes through Russian territory, and Germany's Federal Foreign Office warns against travel to the Russian Federation (Auswärtiges Amt). The main legal argument in this text is different, and it is Georgian.

What the European Court of Human Rights established

The war between Russia and Georgia took place in August 2008; the active phase of hostilities lasted from August 8 to 12, after which a ceasefire agreement entered into force (Grand Chamber judgment, HUDOC database).

On January 21, 2021, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Georgia v. Russia (II) held by sixteen votes to one that there was an administrative practice contrary to Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1: unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, looting and destruction of villages (text of the judgment, HUDOC database). These findings mainly concern South Ossetia and the "buffer zone," not Abkhazia. By the same majority, the court held that the events after the cessation of hostilities fell within the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention, meaning that Russia bears responsibility for what happens in these territories.

This is not a journalistic assessment or one side's position. It is a judgment of an international court, delivered by the Grand Chamber and published with its full text.

Ethnic cleansing in OSCE documents and UN resolutions

The ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population in Abkhazia is documented in the final documents of OSCE summits: Budapest 1994, Lisbon 1996, Istanbul 1999. The Budapest Document expresses deep concern over ethnic cleansing, the mass expulsion of people, predominantly Georgians, from their places of residence, and the deaths of a large number of innocent civilians (CSCE Budapest Document 1994).

Since 2008, the UN General Assembly has adopted an annual resolution on the status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region: it condemns forced demographic changes and affirms the right of displaced people to return home in safety and dignity regardless of ethnicity (UN press release GA/12507, 2023). In June 2025, 107 states supported this resolution; in 2024, 103 did (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia).

This is precisely the context that was entirely absent from our previous texts. The resort genre is structured in a way that cannot accommodate it, and that is the main criticism of our own articles.

Georgia's law on occupied territories

In October 2008, Georgia adopted a law on occupied territories, which declares the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region to be occupied (text of the law, official registry matsne.gov.ge). The law prohibits entry into these territories from the Russian side; entry by foreign nationals and stateless persons from any direction other than those specified by law is prohibited and punishable under the Criminal Code of Georgia by a fine or imprisonment for up to four years (ibid.).

We do not describe checkpoints, directions, or exceptions. The legal consequence is enough: the route that our previous text presented as an ordinary road to the sea means, for the reader, the risk of criminal liability in a country with which the European Union has an association agreement.

The same applies to the second deleted article. We will not describe a product brought from an occupied territory subject to this legal regime as a souvenir: a vacation gift and an item whose origin is tied to the consequences of people being driven from their homes are different things, and we will not mix them in a single text.

What this means for you

Item

Status 09/2026

Source

Legal status of the territory

Part of Georgia, occupied by Russia

ECHR, HUDOC

Entry from Russia

Prohibited by Georgia's law on occupied territories, punishable by up to four years in prison

matsne.gov.ge

Rights of displaced persons

Annual UN General Assembly resolution, supported by 107 states in 2025

UN, GA/12507, Georgian MFA

Tourism-related services in Russia

Prohibited by Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033, transition period expired 01.01.2026

EUR-Lex, Skadden

German Foreign Office recommendation on Russia

"Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt"

Auswärtiges Amt

We write nothing about consular assistance or insurance: that is trip preparation, and we do not cover it.

Where to go instead

The most accurate replacement geographically and in spirit is Georgia. Batumi and the entire Black Sea coast of the country to which Abkhazia belongs under international law are accessible legally and without legal consequences for the traveler. We have active sections on Georgia and Armenia, and for a long beach season on Turkey, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, and Cyprus.

The general explanation of the editorial decision for the entire section is collected in the section hub. Related text: our position on Gagra hotels and Abkhazia resorts.

Where we stand

We believe a travel guide cannot be neutral when it describes a territory from which a significant part of the former population was expelled. After the 2008 war, an international court established an administrative practice of unlawful killings, torture, and destruction of villages, mainly in South Ossetia and the "buffer zone." In our assessment, publishing a road guide in this situation means not informing but normalizing, and we decided not to do that.

We also will not describe the route even to explain why it is illegal. The legal consequence is enough, and everything else becomes a hint.

We write about a state and its policies, not about people based on their passport. There are people in Russia who came out against the war and received prison sentences for it. Our decision not to publish guides to Russia is about money, sanctions, and reader safety, not nationality.

Publication date: September 3, 2026. Last updated: September 3, 2026.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

Isn't Abkhazia considered independent?

Its independence is recognized by a very small number of states, and international law treats it as part of Georgia occupied by Russia. This is the basis of the annual UN General Assembly resolutions on the rights of displaced persons.

Is it possible to enter legally from the Georgian side?

We do not provide entry consultations and do not describe any route. The legal consequences are covered above, in the section on Georgia's law on occupied territories.

Why was the text about souvenirs also deleted?

Because it suggested bringing home goods from the territory discussed in this text. We do not consider it acceptable to describe such items in the format of a gift list.

Is this a position against the residents of Abkhazia?

No. The subject of this text is the decisions of states and international bodies, as well as our own editorial decision. We write nothing about the residents of the territory as a group and make no accusations against them.

What is now in place of the old section?

The section has been deleted, and all its URLs in all language versions redirect to this page and to the related text about hotels.

In short

The guide to traveling to Abkhazia, the text about souvenirs, and the entire section have been deleted. On January 21, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights established an administrative practice of unlawful killings, torture, looting, and destruction of villages, mainly in South Ossetia and the "buffer zone," and held Russia responsible. Ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population is documented in the OSCE summit documents of 1994, 1996, and 1999. Georgia's law on occupied territories prohibits entry from the Russian side under threat of imprisonment for up to four years. As an alternative, we name Georgia and Batumi.

How you can help

We do not collect money and receive nothing from the links below. These are official websites of organizations working with the consequences of the war:

  • UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, unhcr.org
  • UNICEF, unicef.org
  • International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Sources

Link check date: 03.09.2026.

tourism.com.de Editorial Team
tourism.com.de Editorial TeamTravel editorial team: research, fact-checking, updates→ All publications

A small editorial team writing guides for independent travel. We travel ourselves, but we haven’t been everywhere, so we check prices, opening hours and how to get there against official sources.