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Tbilisi

With its dramatic valley setting, picturesque Old Town, eclectic architecture and superb eating and drinking opportunities, Tbilisi is the vibrant, beating heart of Georgia and home to more than one in three of its citizens. Add to that the pull of the city's hipster culture, its techno scene and general air of cool, and Tbilisi is confidently sealing its reputation as the South Caucasus' most cosmopolitan city.

While at first glance Tbilisi can seem both crowded and chaotic, many neighbourhoods retain a village-like feel with their narrow streets and small shops, while the Old Town is still redolent of an ancient Eurasian crossroads, with its winding lanes, balconied houses and leafy squares, all overlooked by the 17-century-old Narikala Fortress. Whichever side of the city you're looking for, you'll discover both on any exploration of Georgia's capital.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Tbilisi.

  • Fortress

    Narikala Fortress

    Dominating the Old Town skyline, Narikala dates right back to the 4th century, when it was a Persian citadel. Most of the walls were built in the 8th century by the Arab emirs, whose palace was inside the fortress. Subsequently Georgians, Turks and Persians captured and patched up Narikala, but in 1827 a huge explosion of Russian munitions stored here wrecked the whole thing, and today it's a rather picturesque ruin, with only its walls largely intact.

  • Gallery

    National Gallery

    For most visitors the highlight here is the hall of wonderful canvases by Georgia’s best-known painter Pirosmani (Niko Pirosmanashvili, 1862–1918), ranging from his celebrated animal and feast scenes to lesser-known portraits and rural-life canvases. There’s also a good selection of work by other top 20th-century Georgian artists Lado Gudiashvili and David Kakabadze. Enter from the park beside Kashveti Church.

  • Cable Car

    Cable Car

    Tbilisi's most exhilarating ride is its massively popular cable car, which swings from the south end of Rike Park high over the Mtkvari River and the Old Town up to Narikala Fortress. To ride it, you need a Metromoney card, available at the ticket offices if you don't have one. Expect to wait in the summer months, though the line moves fairly quickly.

  • Architecture

    Abanotubani

    The brick domes rising here are the roofs of subterranean bathhouses, the Abanotubani. Alexanders Dumas and Pushkin both bathed in these sulphurous waters, the latter describing it as the best bath he’d ever had. Outwardly more impressive than the others, the above-ground Chreli Abano thermal baths have a Central Asian feel to their blue-tile facade.

  • Historic Building

    Parliament Building

    The impressive high-arched Parliament building has seen many momentous events, including the deaths of 19 Georgian hunger strikers at the hands of Soviet troops on 9 April 1989, and the Rose Revolution on 22 November 2003, which saw Eduard Shevardnadze abruptly forced from power. In 2012 Mikheil Saakashvili moved Georgia's parliament to Kutaisi, but it returned here in 2019 and this building is now once again home to the Georgian legislature. As such it is not open to the public.

  • Museum

    Open-Air Museum of Ethnography

    This collection of traditional, mostly wooden houses, from all around Georgia, is spread over a wooded hillside with good views, and makes for an enjoyable visit. The most interesting exhibits are in the lower section (near the entrance), where the buildings are kitted out with traditional furnishings, rugs and utensils, and the attendants can often explain things in English.

  • Museum

    Georgian National Museum

    The major highlight of the impressive national museum is the basement Archaeological Treasury, displaying a wealth of pre-Christian gold, silver and precious-stone work from burials in Georgia going back to the 3rd millennium BC. Most stunning are the fabulously detailed gold adornments from Colchis (western Georgia). On the top floor, the Museum of Soviet Occupation has copious detail on Soviet repression and local resistance to it.

  • Church

    Metekhi Church

    The landmark Metekhi Church, and the 1960s equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali beside it, occupy the strategic rocky outcrop above the Metekhi Bridge. This is where Vakhtang Gorgasali built his palace, and the site’s first church, when he made Tbilisi his capital in the 5th century. The existing church was built by King Demetre Tavdadebuli (the Self-Sacrificing) between 1278 and 1289, and has been reconstructed many times since.

  • Museum

    MOMA Tbilisi

    This beautiful conversion of the former Tbilisi Cadet Corps building has been given over to displays of work by the museum's founder, Zurab Tsereteli, the Moscow-based Georgian who is one of Vladimir Putin's favourite artists. The sculptures and paintings here are characteristic of his grandiose, larger-than-life work found in many countries, though this space also hosts very good temporary exhibits, which are arguably worth more of your time than the permanent collection.

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Discover Tbilisi, Georgia

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