Where to Stay in Tbilisi, K'alak'i T'bilisi

What is Tbilisi known for?

Tbilisi is best known for the sulphur baths that gave the city its name, set in a domed quarter beneath the fortress hill on the Mtkvari River. Balconied houses lean over the lanes of the old town, threaded with churches, a mosque, and a synagogue that mark its long mix of peoples. The Metekhi church stands on a cliff above the river bend, watched by the mounted statue of the founder Vakhtang Gorgasali.

Museums gather the country's past. The Georgian National Museum holds the Simon Janashia collection, and the gold-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral rises across the water.

What are the main landmarks in Tbilisi?

Tbilisi's landmarks cluster along the Mtkvari and the slopes above it. The Metekhi church crowns a cliff over the river bend, and beside it rides the statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali, the king remembered as the city's founder. Down the water stands the gold-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, while the older Norashen Holy Mother of God Armenian Church and the Kashveti Church mark the mix of faiths in the streets.

Manuscripts and art fill the museums. The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts guards early Georgian writing, and the National Gallery of Georgia hangs the country's painters.

What is the history of Tbilisi?

Tbilisi was founded by Vakhtang I of Iberia in the fifth century, on the warm springs that later named it. Legend ties the choice to a hunt whose wounded quarry healed in the hot water, and the king moved his seat down to the Mtkvari to build the new town. It rose at a natural crossing between the empires that ringed the Caucasus, and that position made it both a prize and a target.

Persian, Arab, Mongol, and Ottoman armies each took their turn. The city was sacked and rebuilt many times over, its layers left along the river banks. Between 1801 and 1917 Tbilisi lay within the Russian Empire, serving as the seat of the Caucasus Viceroyalty that governed the lands on both sides of the mountains.

Grand avenues and stone facades from that century still frame the newer town above the old quarter. War and empire passed on. Tbilisi became the capital of an independent Georgia, holding the government and the largest share of the country's people.

The Metekhi church and the fortress hill survived it all, still anchoring the bend of the Mtkvari where the first town stood.

Where is Tbilisi?

Tbilisi sits in the valley of the Mtkvari River in eastern Georgia, where the water narrows between hills below the Greater Caucasus. The river splits the city into two banks, the old town rising on the western cliffs and the left bank spreading around the Metekhi church across the bend. Hills close in tight.

Wooded ridges wall the valley, and the fortress hill lifts steeply over the sulphur baths. Beyond the built-up floor the land climbs quickly toward the mountains.

What is the climate of Tbilisi?

Tbilisi has a moderate inland climate shaped by its sheltered valley. The Greater Caucasus to the north blocks the coldest air, so winters stay mild along the Mtkvari, with only occasional snow on the valley floor. Tbilisi summers run hot and parched.

The basin traps the heat through long, bright afternoons under a strong sun. Rain falls mainly in spring and autumn, greening the ridges above the old town.

How do you get to Tbilisi?

Tbilisi is the main entry point for Georgia. Its international airport lies east of the centre and handles most of the country's air traffic, linking the capital across the region and the wider Caucasus. Trains run from here.

Rail lines head west toward the Black Sea coast and south into the highlands, while the old road between the sea and the Caspian still follows the Mtkvari through the city. Highways climb north over the mountains toward the rest of the country.