The municipality covers an area of 356.4 km2 (138 sq mi) and has 64 villages spread over 11 administrative units in the relatively densely populated hills around the city of Batumi.

[1] Khelvachauri is the most southwestern municipality of Georgia and the area has been of great importance due to its strategic location with a rich historical past and a lot of cultural heritage.

The modern municipality has 3 kilometers of coastline with the Black Sea in the extreme southwest and borders Turkey in the south.

The highest mountains of the municipality are in the Shavsheti Range, reaching over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level, while the Meskheti Range in the northeastern corner of the municipality reaches heights around 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) meters above sea level.

Despite the relatively small difference in height near Batumi, the hilly area crammed with villages means that this bypass will consist almost entirely of bridges and tunnels.

After the Russian takeover of Adjara in 1878, the territory of the present-day Municipality of Khelvachauri was incorporated into the Batum Oblast until 1917.

Due to border changes in 2009 and 2011, the municipality lost a total of more than 50 km² of territory to Batumi, both to the north, east and south of the city, including an important part of the coastline.

[6][7] This area also included the dabas Makhinjauri and Khelvachauri (the administrative center of the municipality), a dozen villages, but also the famous Batumi Botanical Garden at the Green Cape (Mtsvane Kontskhi) and the historic Fort Gonio and Black Sea beaches at Kvariati.

This is the most important of three border crossings with Turkey, with 1.36 million incoming foreign travelers in 2019, and the 2nd most popular point of entry into Georgia after Tbilisi airport.