Old Tbilisi Georgia

Old Tbilisi, Georgia

Tbilisi has been the capital of Georgia for 1,500 years, and the old city (Dzveli Tbilisi) carries its history visibly: carved wooden balconies overhanging narrow streets, pastel-coloured plaster facades in varying states of decay and restoration, the clifftop fortress of Narikala above, and the sulfurous hot springs that gave the city its name. “Tbili” means warm in Georgian, a reference to those springs. The founding myth says a 5th-century Iberian king was hunting, found hot springs where his prey had been boiled alive, and decided to build a capital here. The story is almost certainly embellished. The springs are real.

Georgia received citizens of most European, North American, and many Asian countries visa-free for up to 365 days, a policy that has made Tbilisi a significant digital nomad and long-stay destination over the past five years. This has changed the city’s cafe culture considerably: you now find excellent specialty coffee in the Vera and Saburtalo neighbourhoods alongside the traditional chaichanas. It has not changed the old town materially.

Key Sites

Narikala Fortress occupies the ridge above the sulphur bath district. The cable car from Rike Park provides easy access; the walk up from the baths area takes 15 minutes and is worth doing. The ruins date mainly to the 17th century with much earlier sections; the view covers the old city, the Kura River below, and the modern city extending north.

Abanotubani (the Sulphur Bath District) is identifiable by its domed brick rooftops with circular skylights. Orbeliani Baths, with its intricate Persian-tiled facade, is the most photographed but also offers private bath rooms by the hour at reasonable prices. Bringing your own shampoo and towel is sensible; the baths are genuinely therapeutic if you can tolerate the strong sulfur smell.

Metekhi Church on the cliff above the Kura: a 13th-century Georgian Orthodox church on a 5th-century site. The equestrian statue of King Vakhtang I Gorgasali before it is one of the city’s defining silhouettes.

Sioni Cathedral in the Sioni district has dark, heavily frescoed interiors with services throughout the day. Open to visitors who behave respectfully.

Eating and Drinking

Georgia’s culinary tradition is specific and consistently good. Khinkali, the large dumplings, are eaten by holding the top knot and biting through the bottom: the soup inside the dumpling is the point, and eating them any other way produces contempt from anyone Georgian watching. Georgian wine, made using the qvevri (clay pot) fermentation method going back 8,000 years, is the most ancient winemaking tradition still in commercial practice. The natural wine movement internationally was heavily influenced by what Georgian producers have been doing for millennia.

Barbarestan on Davit Aghmashenebeli Street (15 minutes from the old town) sources its recipes from a 19th-century Georgian cookbook and is one of the most original restaurants in Tbilisi. The wine list is Georgian-focused and the kitchen makes combinations you have not encountered before. Worth the trip from the old town.

Cafe Leila on Shardeni Street does khinkali and other Georgian standards at fair prices in an informal old-town setting. Good for a quick lunch between sights.

Churchkhela (walnuts threaded on string and dipped in thickened grape juice) and mtsvadi (meat skewers cooked over vine cuttings) are the street food encounters. Gomi (cornmeal porridge with suluguni cheese) is the comfort food baseline and is better than it sounds.

Staying

Rooms Hotel Tbilisi in the Fabrika development (a converted Soviet sewing factory) is the most stylish option, about 20 minutes’ walk from the old town. Several boutique guesthouses occupy the restored balcony buildings on the narrow streets of Kala and Abanotubani; Old Metekhi Hotel and Hotel Dzveli Ubani are reliable in that category.

Getting There

Tbilisi International Airport is 17 kilometres from the old town, connected by metro (Isani station) and rail link. Direct flights arrive from Istanbul, Riga, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, and several European cities. Connections via Istanbul cover most major departure points.