Old Tbilisi Walking Tour: A Self-Guided Route Through the Old Town

Old Tbilisi is a city you see on foot: the bath domes, the fortress ridge and the balconied lanes of Kala all sit inside one easy loop. Here's the self-guided route I'd give a friend, about 4 km and 3 to 4 hours, with the order I walk it in, how long each stop takes, what it costs and where to stop for coffee, lunch and a drink at the end.

The route at a glance

The loop is built so you climb the ridge once and spend the rest of the walk going downhill or along the flat. It starts in the low corner of Old Tbilisi at Meidan Square, climbs from the baths to the fortress, drops through Betlemi into Kala, and finishes on the river.

Before you start: timing, weather and getting to Meidan

Start at 09:00. The lanes are empty, the light is soft on the balconies and you reach the ridge before the heat and the tour groups. In July and August the hillside sections have no shade and the afternoon can pass 35°C, so either be up top before 10:00 or move the whole climb to after 17:00.

The best months for this walk are April to June and September to October, which line up with the best time to visit Tbilisi in general. Rain is the one thing that spoils it: the cobbles and the polished stone steps get slippery fast, and on a wet day I'd do the lower loop further down this page and skip the ridge.

To reach the start, take the Tbilisi metro to Freedom Square and walk 8 minutes down Kote Afkhazi Street to Meidan, or ride to Avlabari and cross the Metekhi bridge in about 10 minutes. A metro ride costs 1 GEL on a Metromoney card, a little more on a foreign bank card.

Meidan, the baths and the waterfall

The first hour stays low, along the river side of the Old Town, where everything sits within a few minutes of everything else.

Meidan Square

Meidan, also signed as Vakhtang Gorgasali Square, is the open square at the bottom of the Old Town, and standing in the middle of it shows you half the walk ahead: the fortress walls on the ridge, the green dome of the Armenian church of Saint George and the lanes running off toward the baths. A restored caravanserai on the square holds a museum and shops, and under it the Meidan bazaar runs through brick tunnels selling spices, jams, wine and knitwear. I'd note what you like and buy on the way back, not at 09:00 with a climb ahead.

Abanotubani and the sulfur baths

Turn the corner from Meidan and you're among the brick domes of Abanotubani, the bath district built over the hot springs the city grew up around. About ten bathhouses still run here. The one everyone photographs is Chreli Abano, the blue-tiled bathhouse, and the red-brick minaret of the Jumah Mosque rises just behind it.

On the walk you only pass through, which takes about 15 minutes. If you want to bathe, a private room at Chreli Abano starts at 130 GEL an hour, Gulo's charges 150 GEL and stays open until 03:00, and the public hall at Bath No. 5 costs 6 to 10 GEL a person. I'd book a sulfur bath in Abanotubani for the evening of the same day rather than mid-walk: you end the day sore from the stairs, and the hot water is exactly what your legs want.

Leghvtakhevi gorge and the waterfall

Keep walking past the bathhouses and the lane narrows into Leghvtakhevi, a short gorge with cliffs on both sides and a waterfall at its end. It's free and takes 15 to 20 minutes there and back, and it's the quietest corner of the whole route on a weekday morning.

Up to the Narikala ridge

This is the only real climb of the day, and once it's done the rest of the route runs downhill.

The climb from the baths

From Meidan, walk up Orbiri Street with the bath domes below you and the minaret beside you, and keep going as the lane turns into stairs and switchbacks. It joins the ridge path just below the fortress walls after about 20 minutes. It's steep, paved and shadeless. A steeper staircase climbs straight up behind Chreli Abano; I'd leave that one for going down another day.

If the climb is too much, the cable car from Rike Park does it for you: 2.50 GEL each way on a transit card and under 2 minutes in the air. It starts on the far side of the river, so riding it means crossing the Bridge of Peace first and doing this route in a different order.

Narikala Fortress and the view

The upper walls and towers of Narikala Fortress have been fenced off for restoration since late 2023, with no reopening date as of October 2026. The ridge path along the outside of the walls is open and free, and so are the terraces and the lower section around St Nicholas Church.

From the terraces you look straight down on the bath domes you just walked past, across the river to Metekhi Church on its cliff and the glass curve of the Bridge of Peace. Give it 20 to 30 minutes. It's the view I'd put first among all the viewpoints in Tbilisi, because the Old Town is right under your feet.

The Mother of Georgia

Follow the ridge path west for about 5 minutes and you reach the Mother of Georgia statue, a 20 m aluminum figure put up in 1958, holding a bowl of wine for guests and a sword for enemies. Up close she is plainer than she looks from the river. Allow about 10 minutes, then decide on the garden.

The Botanical Garden detour

The National Botanical Garden fills the gorge behind the fortress, with an entrance near the ridge. It costs 4 GEL, opens at 09:00 and takes 45 to 90 minutes, and on a summer day it's the only shade on the route. I'd add it in July and August and skip it on a cool spring morning when the streets are the better use of the hour.

Down the Betlemi stairs

From the ridge, take the path down toward Betlemi, the stepped quarter that hangs off the hill above Meidan. The 120 Betlemi stairs lead down past two small churches standing side by side, a tree growing through the walls of a ruined house and a terrace that looks back over the bath domes and the river.

This is my favorite stretch of the walk. It's residential, the cats own every second step, and I meet far fewer people here than anywhere else on the route. Allow about 15 minutes, longer if you stop at the terrace, then follow the lanes down and across toward Sioni Street.

Kala: Sioni, Shardeni Street, the clock tower and Anchiskhati

Kala is the oldest part of the Old Town, the knot of lanes between the ridge and the river, and the last hour of the walk threads through it.

Sioni Cathedral

Sioni Cathedral on Sioni Street is the Georgian Orthodox cathedral that holds the cross of Saint Nino, and it's free to step inside. It's a working church, so expect candles, quiet and people praying at any hour, and give it 10 minutes.

Shardeni Street

Shardeni Street is the short pedestrian street in upper Kala, once a narrow roofed lane called Dark Street and now named for the 17th-century French traveler Jean Chardin. A small bronze Tamada, a toastmaster raising a drinking horn, stands at its entrance. In the morning it's galleries, craft shops and empty terrace chairs; after dark it fills with bars and live music.

You pay for the address here: a beer runs 9 to 14 GEL against 5 to 9 GEL in an ordinary bar, and a cocktail 20 to 30 GEL against 14 to 20. I walk Shardeni for the look of it and eat a block away. Kote Afkhazi Street, which you came down in the morning, has about a dozen wine shops where tastings are often free and buying a bottle is the polite thanks, so it's an easy first wine tasting in Tbilisi on the walk back.

The leaning clock tower

A few minutes from Shardeni, the clock tower by the Gabriadze puppet theater leans over the lane in a jumble of brick, tile and carved stone. It opened in 2010. The puppet show at the top runs at 12:00 and 19:00, so time your walk to reach it at noon and give it about 15 minutes; otherwise it's a 5-minute photo stop.

Anchiskhati Basilica

Anchiskhati Basilica is 3 minutes further along the street from the clock tower, and it's the oldest church still standing in the city. It's small, plain and dim inside, and of the two churches on this walk it's the one I'd choose if you only go into one. Give it 10 to 15 minutes, and step in quietly.

The finish: the Bridge of Peace and Rike Park

From Anchiskhati, walk down to the river and cross the glass Bridge of Peace, a 156 m footbridge opened in 2010 and lit after dark. On the far side, Rike Park gives you the best view back over everything you just walked: the Old Town roofs, the ridge, the fortress walls and the Mother of Georgia on the skyline. Allow 15 to 20 minutes, and the cable car station is right there if you want a second look from above.

Shorter and alternative versions of the walk

The full loop suits most first days. These are the versions I'd pick when the weather, the heat or your legs say otherwise.

If the walk is your first day, the rest of a Tbilisi itinerary builds easily around it: Sameba and Avlabari across the river, or Rustaveli Avenue and the museums uphill from Freedom Square.

Detours worth adding

Three add-ons sit close to the route, for a day when you finish early and still want more of the city on foot.

Metekhi Church

Metekhi Church is the church on the cliff across the river from the baths, built in the 13th century and about 10 minutes on foot from Rike Park. It has one of the classic views back across to the Old Town and the fortress, and it leads on into Avlabari and the climb to Sameba.

The Dry Bridge market

About 15 minutes west along the river from the Bridge of Peace, the Dry Bridge flea market sells Soviet-era memorabilia and old household odds and ends, daily from about 10:00 to 17:00 and fullest at weekends from 11:00. Haggling is expected.

Sololaki

Sololaki is the quarter uphill from Kote Afkhazi Street, where the old houses hide painted hallways and carved staircases behind their front doors. A loop through a few streets of Sololaki takes you right past the bakery and the wine bar below.

Where to eat and drink along the route

Old Tbilisi has fewer good restaurants than its looks suggest, and the tables with a view on the main squares charge for it. These are the four I'd build the walk around: breakfast before, lunch in the middle, cake in Kala and a drink to finish.

Baba Bakery: breakfast before you start

Baba Bakery is at 4 Machabeli Street in Sololaki, a minute from Freedom Square metro, so it sits right where the walk begins if you come in that way. It's the breakfast in Tbilisi I'd pick before a long walk: croissants, cruffins and kouign-amann baked in house, and a cappuccino at 10 to 12 GEL.

The room is simple, with a cartoon pastry mural across one wall. One pastry and a coffee is the right amount before the climb, and from the door it's about 10 minutes down Kote Afkhazi Street to Meidan.

Chef Saradjeff: lunch below the baths

Chef Saradjeff is at 11 Gorgasali Street, just below the baths, so it's right on the route between Meidan and the waterfall. The kitchen cooks food from Meskheti in southern Georgia, which you rarely see on Old Town menus, including khinkali filled with apokhti, the region's dried meat.

It suits a lunch stop on the way back down, or a dinner after an evening bath next door. Exposed brick, a long wine shelf and a short chalkboard menu set the tone.

Matasse 1822: cake and coffee in Kala

Matasse 1822, at 40 Vertskhli Street in the Old Town, is a Tiffany-blue patisserie full of gilt mirrors, painted cabinets and portraits. Come for the honey cake and a cappuccino at 10 to 15 GEL, sit for 20 minutes, and carry on to the clock tower.

It's a place for a short sit-down rather than a laptop session, and one cake each is plenty before the clock tower.

Vino Underground: a drink to finish

Vino Underground is a brick basement at 15 Galaktion Tabidze Street in Sololaki, a few minutes from Freedom Square, and it's my pick of the wine bars in Tbilisi for the end of a long day on foot. A group of natural winemakers opened it as the city's first bar for natural wine, and the list leans on small producers making amber wine in qvevri.

A glass runs 10 to 20 GEL and a bottle 35 to 120 GEL, and the English-speaking staff also run tastings. It opens in the afternoon, so on a morning loop I'd rest after Rike Park and come back up to Sololaki for the evening.

What the walk costs

The walk itself costs nothing: the streets, the ridge, the gorge, the churches and the bridge are all free. These are the extras you might add.

Ride the cable car both ways and add the garden, and the extras still come to under 10 GEL a person.

Self-guided or a guided tour

Self-guided is the right choice for this walk. The route is short, the stops are signposted or obvious, and you set the pace around the heat, the churches and the cake.

If you'd like the stories behind the buildings, the free walking tour in Tbilisi leaves daily at 12:00 from Pushkin Park on Freedom Square, runs 2.5 to 3 hours and works on tips. Small-group architecture walks also start from Freedom Square, and the rest of the paid tours in Tbilisi run from food walks to day trips. My suggestion: walk the loop yourself in the morning, then join the noon tour on a later day once you know the streets.

Tips for walking Old Tbilisi

• Wear shoes with grip. Cobbles, steep steps and one big climb; sandals are a mistake here.
• Carry water. The ridge and the hillside lanes have no shade, and there's little to buy up top.
• Bring small notes. 20 to 30 GEL in cash covers the churchkhela and shotis puri sellers along the way.
• Plan your toilet stops. Public toilets are rare; use the cafes, and the Botanical Garden has decent ones.
• Know the access limits. The cable car and Rike Park are step-free; the ridge, Betlemi and most of Kala are not.
• Bring kids from about age 6. The distance is fine for them, but hold hands on the ridge, and the Tbilisi with kids favorites like the clock tower show fit right into the route.
• Watch your bag in crowds. The Old Town is safe day and night; just keep an eye on your bag in the evening crowds.