Christmas and New Year in Tbilisi: Dates, Alilo and New Year's Eve

Tbilisi is known for doing the holidays twice: New Year's Eve on 31 December is the big night, and Orthodox Christmas follows on 7 January with a carol procession through the center. Here's what you need to know about the dates, the fireworks, the food on the table, the Alilo parade and what stays open between them.

When are Christmas and New Year in Tbilisi?

Georgia runs its church year on the old Julian calendar, which sits 13 days behind the Western one. That single fact moves Christmas, called Shoba, to 7 January, and it gives the country a second New Year a week later. New Year itself stays on 1 January, so the order is flipped from what most visitors are used to: the party first, then Christmas.

In practice the holidays run as one long season. The lights go up and the main market opens in mid-December, New Year's Eve is the peak, Christmas on 7 January is the quieter religious high point, and everything winds down after Epiphany on 19 January. It's the calendar the festivals in Georgia all hang on, and winter is the stretch that packs the most into a few weeks.

Christmas lights and markets in Tbilisi

The city switches on its lights in mid-December. The main tree and the official Christmas market sit at First Republic Square, right outside Rustaveli metro, and in recent winters that's where the season's big events have been held. Lights also go up around Freedom Square and its St George column, Orbeliani Square, and the streets of Vera and Sololaki such as Atoneli, Kostava and Melikishvili.

The city also builds smaller "New Year villages" for about two weeks around the holiday, at spots that have included Orbeliani Square, the 9 April Garden, the Dry Bridge area and Dedaena Park. Daytime is for kids, with costumed characters and shows; at night there are bands and DJ sets for adults. The exact sites move from year to year, so check what's on the week you arrive.

The market stalls are wooden huts selling handmade gifts, tree decorations, sweets, churchkhela and hot mulled wine. My favorite holiday market is the Christmas fair at Fabrika, the old sewing factory in Chughureti, which fills the courtyard with local designers, food stalls and vintage finds for a weekend just before Christmas; last year it ran on 21 and 22 December. It has a younger, more local crowd than the city market, and it's a better place to buy gifts that weren't made for tourists.

If you're hunting for old Soviet tree ornaments, the Dry Bridge market is where they turn up, mixed in with the medals, cameras and enamel pins. The other markets in town, from the flea markets to the produce halls, carry on through the holidays too, and the best markets in Tbilisi all pick up a stall or two of holiday sweets in December.

New Year's Eve in Tbilisi

New Year's Eve is the night that matters. In Soviet times New Year replaced Christmas as the main family holiday, and it has stayed that way: it's when Georgians give presents, cook their biggest meal of the year and stay up until morning. If you're only coming for one date, make it 31 December.

The night starts at home. Families sit down to a long Georgian supra, a feast with a toastmaster leading toasts, at about 23:00, so dinner is on the table as midnight arrives. Everyone raises a glass of sparkling wine on the stroke of midnight, then the feasting carries on, the doors open, and people head out to visit neighbors and friends. Restaurants, bars and clubs fill up after 01:00 and run until morning; the techno clubs hold their biggest nights of the year.

For visitors, the free option is the city's own party. A New Year's Eve concert takes over First Republic Square, with stages, food and drink vendors and live music through the evening and past midnight. It's a crowd of locals and visitors together, and it's the easiest way to be part of the night without a booking.

Fireworks and where to watch them

Tbilisi has no official fireworks show, and it doesn't need one. At midnight, residents let off their own fireworks from balconies, rooftops, courtyards and street corners across the whole city, and for 20 or 30 minutes the sky over every neighborhood fills at once. It starts well before midnight, with rockets going up from dusk, and keeps going in bursts for an hour after.

The trick is to get high. From a hill you see fireworks across the whole bowl of the city at the same time, which you never get in a European capital with one central display. These are the spots I'd pick.

Narikala and the Sololaki ridge. The terraces at Narikala Fortress look straight down over the Old Town and the river, with fireworks going up on both banks. Walk up early and dress warmly, because the line for the cable car gets long well before midnight.

Betlemi Street and the Betlemi Church viewpoint. The stairs above Sololaki are lower than Narikala and much closer to the action, and a lot quicker to walk down from afterward.

Mtatsminda. The highest view in town, looking down on the whole city from beside the TV tower. Mtatsminda Park holds its own New Year events, and restaurants up there sell New Year's Eve tables for the panorama.

Your own balcony. If you're staying in an old house in Sololaki, Vera or the Old Town, a balcony is a front-row seat, and it's what most locals do.

Most of the best viewpoints in Tbilisi face the center, so any hilltop terrace you liked by day works at midnight too.

Where to spend New Year's Eve

The options come down to how much you want to spend and whether you want to eat or watch. My pick for a first visit is an early dinner booking, then a walk up to a viewpoint before 23:30.

Most restaurants switch to a fixed New Year's menu that night, so you won't be ordering à la carte. Ask what's included, and whether it covers wine and a seat until after midnight.

What Georgians eat at New Year

The New Year table is the most generous of the year, and it looks much the same in every home. The centerpiece is satsivi, turkey or chicken served cold in a thick walnut and garlic sauce, and the sweet everybody makes is gozinaki, toasted walnuts set in honey. Restaurants put the same dishes on their holiday menus, so even without an invitation home you'll eat the right things.

Gozinaki is the one to try. You'll find it homemade at the markets in December, in gift boxes at sweet shops and in every supermarket, and it's one of the few Georgian desserts tied so closely to a single season. If satsivi is new to you, it's the dish that shows why walnuts turn up in so much Georgian food: the sauce is rich, garlicky and spiced, and it tastes better the day after.

Georgian New Year traditions

A few customs still shape the holidays in most homes, and you'll see the signs of all of them around town.

The chichilaki, the Georgian Christmas tree

The chichilaki is a small tree made from a single hazelnut or walnut branch, shaved into long, curling white strips until it looks like a beard or a snowy fir. It's decorated with dried fruit, berries and sweets, and often topped with a cross. In December they're sold on street corners and at markets all over Tbilisi, stacked in rows next to the fir trees.

Most Georgian families now have a fir tree, real or plastic, and the chichilaki sits beside it or on the table. The old custom is to burn it on the eve of Epiphany, so the bad luck of the past year goes up in smoke with it. Some families now donate theirs to the Tbilisi Zoo instead of burning it. A small one makes a good souvenir, and it packs better than you'd think.

Mekvle, the first guest, and Bedoba

The mekvle is the first person to step into a home after midnight, and they're believed to set the luck for the whole year. Families choose their mekvle in advance: someone kind, healthy and lucky, traditionally a man, though now it can be anyone. The mekvle arrives with sweets, fruit or wine and a blessing for the house.

2 January is Bedoba, the "day of fate". The belief is that the way you spend it sets the tone for the year ahead, so people keep it calm and happy, eat well and avoid arguments. It's a public holiday, and the city is noticeably quiet.

Tovlis Babua and the candy swap

The Georgian Santa is Tovlis Babua, "Grandfather Snow", sometimes called Tovlis Papa. He comes down from Svaneti in traditional dress, with a white beard and sweets in a saddle bag, and he brings children their presents on New Year's Eve rather than at Christmas. On New Year's Day he has appeared at Mtatsminda Park handing out gifts.

Sweets are part of the season for adults too. Georgians carry individually wrapped candies through the holidays and hand them to friends, colleagues and sometimes strangers. If someone offers you one, take it with a smile.

Orthodox Christmas on 7 January

Christmas in Georgia is a religious holiday first. There's no shopping rush and no Christmas dinner out; it's a day for church, family and a quieter meal at home. Many Georgians keep a fast in the run-up to it, giving up meat and dairy until Christmas Day.

The big moment is the night before. On the evening of 6 January, churches across the country hold the Christmas Eve liturgy, which runs through the night and often finishes at 05:00 or 06:00. The largest is at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Sameba, where the Patriarch leads the service and the crowd spills out into the grounds. Kashveti Church on Rustaveli Avenue is a smaller and calmer choice. Visitors are welcome to come and go; nobody expects you to stay all night.

The Alilo procession

Alilo is the best thing to see in Tbilisi in winter. On Christmas Day, thousands of people walk through the center behind clergy, church choirs and banners, many in traditional dress, singing carols. Some carry flags, icons and crosses; children ride on floats or walk dressed as shepherds and angels, and they get sweets along the way.

The procession is also a charity drive. People bring food, clothes, toys and money along the route, and the church passes it on to orphanages, care homes and families in need. The name comes from the old carols sung door to door on Christmas morning, and you'll hear the Georgian polyphonic singing of the church choirs as the column passes.

In Tbilisi the procession starts at First Republic Square, by Rustaveli metro, at around 12:00 to 13:00, and walks through the center and across the river to Sameba Cathedral in Avlabari. It's free, anyone can walk along, and nobody minds visitors taking photos of the parade itself.

Old New Year and Epiphany

A week after Christmas, the New Year comes round again. The Old New Year is New Year by the Julian calendar, celebrated on the night of 13 to 14 January with another, smaller family dinner and a second round of fireworks in some neighborhoods. It's a working day, so offices and banks open as usual the next morning.

Epiphany on 19 January closes the season. It's a public holiday and a church feast, marking the baptism of Christ, and churches bless water that people take home in bottles. The night before is when the chichilaki traditionally goes on the fire, and after the 19th the trees and decorations come down. The city market usually packs up around the Old New Year.

What is open over the holidays in Tbilisi

Tbilisi never closes the way some cities do. Restaurants, cafes and bars stay open right through the season, though many open late on 1 and 2 January. The things that close are the official ones, and four public holidays fall inside the season: 1 January, 2 January, 7 January and 19 January.

Getting around is the hard part on 31 December. Traffic jams up around the markets and the center from the afternoon, and taxi apps surge after midnight, so the Tbilisi metro is the way to move. If you do need a car home at 02:00, book it through an app rather than waving one down, because taxis in Tbilisi without a set price are at their worst that night.

Weather, snow and day trips over the holidays

Tbilisi at Christmas is cold, damp and usually grey, with daytime temperatures between about 0°C and 8°C. Snow in the city is rare, and when it falls it rarely lasts more than a day, so don't come expecting a white Christmas in the streets. Pack a warm coat, a hat, gloves and shoes with grip for the polished stone lanes of the Old Town. The cold is the best excuse for a long soak in the sulfur baths, and the slow days between the holidays are when Tbilisi in winter is at its quietest.

For real snow, head to the mountains. Gudauri, about two hours north on the Military Highway, is Georgia's main ski resort and holds its own New Year parties.

Bakuriani is the family ski town on the other side of the country, a village of wooden chalets under snowy pine forest.

The quiet days after New Year are good for day trips. Mtskheta, the old capital, is about 30 minutes away, and its churches hold Christmas services too.

A Kazbegi day trip puts you under snowy peaks and Gergeti Trinity Church. Check the road over the Jvari Pass before you go, since snow can close it for a day or two.

Planning a Christmas and New Year trip to Tbilisi

If you can, come for both. Arriving on 29 or 30 December and leaving on 8 January gives you New Year's Eve, the quiet days after it, a couple of day trips and Christmas with the Alilo procession, all in 10 days. It's how I'd plan a first winter trip.

Book early. Hotels in the center fill for New Year's Eve, and the good restaurant tables go 3 to 4 weeks ahead. Stay somewhere walkable to both First Republic Square and the Old Town, in Sololaki, Vera or the streets around Rustaveli Avenue, so you can walk home after midnight instead of fighting for a taxi.