Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi: Bus, Train and Transfers in 2026

Kutaisi Airport is known as Georgia's budget gateway: Wizz Air and FlyArystan land here, 247 km west of Tbilisi. This is how to get from the terminal to the capital in 2026: the airport bus that meets your flight, the train from the airport station, private transfers and driving, what each one costs, where it drops you in Tbilisi, and which one I'd pick for your landing time.

Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi at a glance

Kutaisi International Airport sits in the countryside west of Kutaisi city, and Tbilisi is 247 km east along the E60, the highway that crosses the country. Every way across takes the best part of a morning or an afternoon, so I plan an arrival day around the journey rather than booking a dinner for the evening I land.

There are no flights between Kutaisi and Tbilisi. Your choice is between two airport bus companies, the train, a prebooked car or driving yourself, and here is how they compare.

Which option I'd take for your arrival

The right answer depends less on budget than on when you land and how many of you there are. This is how I'd decide.

• Flying solo or as a couple: take the airport bus. It is the cheapest ride from the terminal, it leaves after your flight lands rather than on a fixed clock, and it waits when your plane is late.
• Landing in daylight with a train leaving a few hours later: book the train. It is a little quicker than the coach, the double-deck Stadler carriages give you room to stretch, and first class at 71 GEL is an easy upgrade after a cramped budget flight.
• A group of 3 or 4: price the transfer. Four bus tickets cost 100 GEL before you pay for a Bolt from the drop-off, while a transfer from about 212 GEL takes all four of you to the door for 53 GEL each.
• Landing late at night: the bus still meets your flight, but it reaches Tbilisi in the small hours, after the metro closes. That works if you have Bolt set up and a room with late check-in; otherwise the transfer is the calmer choice.
• Not going to Tbilisi first: Georgian Bus also runs from the airport to Kutaisi town for 10 GEL and to Batumi for 20 GEL.

The case where I'd skip all of the above is a short trip that only covers the capital. If the fares are close, flying straight into Tbilisi's own airport puts you about 17 km from the center instead of 247 km, and gives you back half a day.

The Georgian Bus and Omnibus airport buses

Two companies run coaches from Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi: Georgian Bus and Omnibus. Both charge 25 GEL one way or 45 GEL return, both work to the flight schedule rather than a timetable of their own, and both wait when a flight comes in late. That last point is why the bus is my default. Budget flights run late often enough that a ride which waits for you is worth more than a few saved minutes.

The ride takes about 3.5 to 4 hours with one or two stops on the way. The coaches have free Wi-Fi and USB ports, so you can charge your phone, message your guesthouse and sort out dinner while western Georgia rolls past the window. There are no seat numbers: seats go in the order people board, so if you care about a window or a spot near the front, be quick through passport control.

Booking a seat on the Georgian Bus

You can book online before you fly or buy at the company counters in the arrivals hall, by card or in cash. I book online on the Georgian Bus website because it means one less queue after landing, but the counters are right there in arrivals and buying on the spot is just as reliable. Omnibus sells the same way, at its own desk in the same hall.

Both companies run the same price, so the choice between them comes down to where you're sleeping in Tbilisi, not to comfort or cost.

Where the airport bus drops you in Tbilisi

Georgian Bus ends at Pushkin Park, beside Freedom Square, a short walk from Liberty Square metro. If you've booked a room in the old town or Sololaki, this is the bus to take: Freedom Square sits on the edge of both, and you can often walk to your door with your bag.

Omnibus stops on Javakhishvili Street near the Radisson Blu, by the bicycle monument, close to Rustaveli metro. It suits a hotel along Rustaveli Avenue or in Vera, just uphill.

The train from Kutaisi Airport station

Kutaisi International Airport has its own railway station at Kopitnari, about 2 km from the terminal and linked to it by a shuttle. Since May 2022 every east-west train in Georgia stops there, including the fast Stadler trains between Batumi and Tbilisi. They run at least 3 times a day and reach Tbilisi in about 3 hours 25 minutes.

On paper it is the best ride across: a little faster than the coach, with more room to stretch out and no traffic to sit in. The catch is timing. The train runs on the railway timetable, not the flight schedule, so it only works when a departure lines up with your landing.

Tickets go on sale about 20 days ahead on TKT.ge, with a 1 GEL card fee, and the QR ticket arrives by email. Pick "Tbilisi-pass" as the destination, which is Tbilisi Central Station. Bring your passport on board. There is also a railway office in the arrivals hall if you'd rather buy in person, though on the fast trains I wouldn't count on seats being left.

The train pulls into Tbilisi Central Station, next to Station Square metro. Station Square is where the city's two metro lines meet, so you can ride to most central neighborhoods without changing. Georgian Railways runs the same double-deck trains all along the Batumi line, and booking any train in Georgia works the same way on TKT.ge.

Private transfer from Kutaisi Airport

A prebooked private transfer from Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi costs from about 212 GEL per car, takes about 3.5 hours, and you pay the driver in cash when you arrive. It leaves when you walk out of the terminal and drops you at your hotel door.

For one traveler it makes little sense: 212 GEL is more than 8 times the bus fare for a ride that is barely quicker. For a group the math turns around. Four people pay 53 GEL each, about twice the bus fare, and skip both the wait for the coach and the Bolt ride from the drop-off at the other end. With a toddler, a pile of ski bags or a flight landing close to midnight, I'd book the car without much thought.

A car also lets you stop when you want to. The coach makes its one or two stops on its own schedule, while a driver will pull over for food or coffee on a drive that takes most of a morning. Agree the stops when you book so the price doesn't change on the road.

Since the driver is paid in cash, get lari from an ATM in the terminal before you walk out to meet them.

Driving from Kutaisi Airport to Tbilisi

The drive is 247 km, almost all of it on the E60, and takes about 4 to 4.5 hours from the airport. It is a straightforward main-road route, the same one the coaches use.

I would only drive if you are renting a car for a longer trip that starts in western Georgia: Kutaisi, the canyons and caves around it, or the coast. Renting just to get to Tbilisi means paying for a car that then sits parked in a city where Bolt is cheap and parking is hard to find. If Tbilisi comes first and the road trip comes later, I'd take the bus in and pick up a car in the capital when you need it.

Heading to Kutaisi town or Batumi instead

Not everyone landing in Kutaisi wants Tbilisi straight away. Georgian Bus runs from the airport into Kutaisi town for 10 GEL, and if you spend a night or two there, the city of Kutaisi is worth more than a transit stop, with Bagrati Cathedral on the hill above the river.

From town, the onward trip from Kutaisi to Tbilisi works differently: the trains leave from Rioni station, about 10 km outside the center, and marshrutkas leave hourly from Kutaisi bus station for 20 GEL and end at Didube bus station.

Kutaisi Airport: cash, SIM cards and facilities

Kutaisi International Airport is small and easy to get through. Wizz Air and FlyArystan fly most of the routes, so the arrivals hall fills and empties in waves as the budget flights come in.

Everything you need for the ride sits in the terminal: ATMs, an exchange office, a pharmacy, SIM counters, and the bus and railway offices. The ATMs give lari and US dollars, and the Liberty ATM in departures also pays out euros. I'd use an ATM over the exchange office and take enough cash for the first day; money in Georgia mostly runs on cards in Tbilisi, but marshrutkas, small shops and transfer drivers still want lari.

The SIM counters are convenient, but I don't use them: a Georgian SIM card bought in town gets you the same Magti package for less.

Arriving in Tbilisi late at night

The Tbilisi metro runs from 6 am to midnight, and there is no night public transport. A flight that lands in Kutaisi in the evening puts you in Tbilisi well after that, whichever way you travel, so the last leg will be a car.

Order a Bolt from the drop-off point. Uber does not operate in Georgia, and Bolt shows the price before you get in, which saves any haggling with taxis in Tbilisi at 2 am. Freedom Square and Station Square are both easy pickup spots, and a ride across the center is short.

If you can choose, pick a place to stay within walking distance of your drop-off. A room near Freedom Square puts you a short walk from the Georgian Bus stop, and that matters more at 1 am than any view.

Getting back to Kutaisi Airport from Tbilisi

The airport buses run the same route in reverse. Each departure is matched to a flight, and the bus for yours leaves Tbilisi about 7 hours before take-off. That sounds early, but it covers the 3.5 to 4 hour drive, a stop on the way and the check-in queue, which at Kutaisi can be long when several budget flights leave close together. If you bought the 45 GEL return on the way in, you only need to turn up.

The train back works well because there is no flight to wait for. Book from Tbilisi-pass to the Kutaisi International Airport station on TKT.ge, then take the shuttle for the last 2 km to the terminal. I'd pick a train that gets you there with a generous margin rather than the one that cuts it fine, because the shuttle and the check-in queue both take time.

A transfer back is the easy choice for a group with an early morning flight, when the matching bus would leave Tbilisi in the middle of the night.