Old town and the sulphur baths
Houses with carved wooden balconies, and bathhouses under brick domes.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Tbilisi was founded, so the legend goes, when a king hunting a pheasant saw it fall into a hot spring and come out cooked: the name comes from tbili, warm. The sulphur springs are the origin of the city, and they still flow.
The old town sits between the Kura river and the fortress: houses with fretted wooden balconies, often leaning and in poor repair, lanes that climb, and the Abanotubani district recognisable by its brick domes — those are the roofs of the baths, half buried to hold the heat.
Getting there
Metro to Avlabari or Liberty Square, ten minutes on foot. The whole quarter is walked, and it climbs.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Mask and snorkel
- Swimsuit
Rules on site
Many of the balconied houses are lived in and in poor condition: do not go up into private courtyards uninvited. The cobbles are uneven and the slopes steep.
Other places in Tbilisi
Narikala FortressA fourth-century citadel above the whole city and the Kura valley.
- Dezerter BazaarTbilisi's raw market: cheeses, Svan spices, tkemali and churchkhela hanging in rows.
Gergeti and Mount KazbekA fourteenth-century church at 2,170 m facing the glacier. Three hours' drive from Tbilisi, then the climb.
- Abanotubani sulphur bathsThe sulphur baths under brick domes, at the foot of the old town. A private room by the hour, scrub optional.