I often joke that I love everything about air travel except for actually flying. Airports are one of my favorite parts of traveling, and I get excited whenever my travels take me to a new airport I’ve never flown through before. I still haven’t seen any of the world’s crown jewel airports (Singapore, Seoul-Incheon, Dubai, etc.), although I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. However, before I take a trip to any of those, I want to go to Queen Tamar airport in Georgia, because it’s one of the most bonkers architectural structures I’ve ever seen.
I first read about Queen Tamar airport in a new book about fancy airports, and unlike the bustling transportation hubs that take up most of the book, this one is more or less dormant (it doesn’t even have a three-letter airport code). It doesn’t currently have any commercial flights and is only accessible by seasonal charter flights. It was originally built to spur tourism in the area, but that hasn’t really panned out yet, based on what I’ve read.
Something about an ultra-modern curvy glass airport plunked down into a remote mountain village just seems too crazy to ignore. It would be a hell of a trek to get out there, but this has to be one of the coolest avgeek sites in the world.
The airport is located in Mestia, a small town that’s home to a UNESCO world heritage site and some jaw-dropping mountain scenery. It definitely looks like a place I’d want to spend a few days hiking around, so it’s not as if I’d only want to go for the airport. That said, there are hundreds of jaw-dropping mountain villages in the world and this is the one I want to go to the most, so clearly the airport is a major draw.
Has anyone been here before? Got any tips on the best way to access it? Are there other crazy airports like this that should be on my radar?
Windbag Miles 