Swimming Pools in Tbilisi: Outdoor Pools, Lakes and Water Parks

Tbilisi is landlocked and hot, and from late June the city regularly passes 35°C. Locals cool off at the Tbilisi Sea reservoir, at Lisi Lake, at one big water park and at a handful of outdoor pools and hotel pools that sell day passes. Here's where to swim, what each place costs, how to get there and which one I'd pick for your kind of day.

Where to swim in Tbilisi: every option compared

Tbilisi gives you four kinds of swim: open water at the reservoir and the lakes, a water park, outdoor pools at sports clubs and hotels, and indoor pools built for laps. They're spread across the city, so pick by what you want from the day rather than by what's closest.

Swimming at the Tbilisi Sea

The Tbilisi Sea isn't a sea. It's a big reservoir on the northeast edge of the city, filled in 1953, and in July and August it's where much of Tbilisi goes to swim. Most of the shore is wild, with dirt tracks and pebble coves, and a few stretches have been kept up as proper beaches.

City Beach is the best-maintained of the free beaches, with marked swimming zones and lifeguards in season. The Temka side of the reservoir has a couple of other spots with a looked-after beach feel. Water samples are taken every month from May to September at the beaches, and it's the cleanest of the city's open water. It's the swim I'd pick in Tbilisi, ahead of the lakes.

Getting there takes some planning. Buses 11 and 36 run out toward the reservoir, but they're slow, and a taxi from Didube metro costs up to about 12 GEL. Order one of the Tbilisi taxi apps for the way back too, because cars don't wait around at the beaches. The 16 bronze pillars of the Chronicles of Georgia stand on the hill above the water, so a late-afternoon swim and the monument at sunset make one trip.

Tbilisi Sea Club

If you want the reservoir with a bit of comfort, the Tbilisi Sea Club sits right on the shore. It has 2 large pools filled from the lake, a smaller pool with a slide for children, a floating dock for sunbathing, boats, and lessons in sailing, water skiing and swimming. A weekend day costs 40 GEL a head, usually including a sunbed, parking, the pools and access to the water, and children under 6 go free.

That makes it the best-value organized swim in the city, and it's calmer than the free beaches next door. It only opens in the summer season, and a taxi is the realistic way there.

Gino Paradise water park

Gino Paradise is Tbilisi's big water park, at 9 Beshenova Street beside the Tbilisi Sea. It covers 13 hectares and has a wave pool with a climbing wall, a slow "wild" river to float down, a panorama pool with a bar, a warm-water children's area, hot tubs, a 25 m pool and a 31 m toboggan tower with six tunnel slides. Behind the pools there's a wellness area with 17 kinds of sauna, a trout fishing lake, 12 food courts and its own beach on the reservoir with sunbeds, showers and changing rooms.

Weekend entry is about 99 GEL a head, which sounds steep until you count the hours: most families stay all day. Children under 5 go in free.

Bus 333 runs out to the park, but public transport out there is limited and I'd take a cab from Station Square. For a family trip, it's the one swim I'd plan a whole day around, and it's the obvious answer when you're in Tbilisi with kids in July.

Swimming in Lisi Lake

Lisi Lake is the small lake on the hills northwest of the center, above Saburtalo. A walking path loops around it, there are cafes on the shore, and in summer people swim off the pebbly beaches. Entry is free, and parking costs 3 GEL.

The lake warms up well, to about 28°C in high summer, and the bottom slopes gently over soft stones, which makes it easy for small children to wade in. The catch is the water. It's murkier than the Tbilisi Sea, with a lot of vegetation and a raised level of sulfates, so swim if you like but don't swallow any.

I treat Lisi Lake as a walk with a dip rather than a swimming trip. Walk the loop in the evening, when the heat breaks and the families come out, have a coffee on the shore and wade in to cool off. If you want a proper long swim, the Tbilisi Sea is the better water.

Can you swim in Turtle Lake?

Yes, though few visitors do. Turtle Lake is the small lake on the hill above Vake, next to the Open Air Museum of Ethnography, and in summer it has weekly water yoga, paddle boats and an easy way into the water from some of the cafes on the shore. Reviews of the water quality are mixed.

I'd go up for the walk, the cafes and the paddle boats rather than a serious swim. The ropeway from Vake Park costs 1 GEL and is one of the shortest cable car rides in Tbilisi, and on a hot day it's the quickest way out of the city heat.

Outdoor pools in Tbilisi

Outdoor pools are where you go for a lounger, a drink and clean water without leaving the city. Most open from late May to early or mid September, the water sits around 24 to 27°C, and the sports club pools cost 20 to 50 GEL a day depending on the day, your age and whether you stay all day or half.

Krtsanisi Residence (Sport Time)

The outdoor pool at the Krtsanisi Residence complex, on the southern edge of the city at 49A Krtsanisi Street, is my favorite of the non-hotel pools. It measures 21 m by 7 m, 1.3 m to 1.9 m deep, with a beach bar, a cafeteria and the fitness room included in the ticket. Entry is 30 GEL on weekdays and 45 GEL on weekends, children under 12 pay 15 GEL and under-3s go free. It's a taxi ride from the center, and the view over the green hills is half the reason to go.

Holiday Inn Pool Garden

The Holiday Inn at 26 May Square in Saburtalo has the most photogenic pool in the city: a 25 m by 7 m outdoor pool, 1.4 m deep, on a natural wood deck with trees around it. A day pass costs about 100 GEL and includes the sauna and the gym. Weekends cost more than weekdays, and children pay less. It opens in the warm months only, and on a grey day it's not worth the fee.

Radisson Blu Iveria

The Radisson Blu Iveria on Rose Revolution Square has an outdoor pool by the bar, smaller than the Holiday Inn's, and an indoor pool on the top floor for days when the weather turns. Prices rise through the week and peak at the weekend, and children under 12 swim free. It's the most central pool on this list, and the one I'd choose for a swim and a cold drink between sights. It's also one of the luxury hotels in Tbilisi where the pool alone justifies paying more for a summer stay.

Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace

The Sheraton at 20 Telavi Street has an indoor pool all year, an outdoor pool in summer, a children's pool, a jacuzzi, a grotto, a steam room and a sauna. The all-inclusive day pass is 100 GEL, and there's a poolside bar and free parking. Friday DJ parties turn the outdoor pool into a night out in summer.

Indoor pools for swimming laps

If you swim for exercise, skip the hotels and go where the regulars train. All three of these are open year-round.

Olympic Complex, Isani

The Olympic Complex has a 50 m pool with 8 lanes, and it's where the Georgian water polo team trains. A 2-hour pass costs 20 GEL, usually with the gym included, and the changing rooms are decent. It's about a 15-minute walk from Isani station on the Tbilisi metro, with direct buses too. When the water polo court is set up, the lanes run across the pool's width; in the evenings the staff can usually open a full 50 m lane if you ask.

Vake Swimming Pool

The Vake Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre, at 49B Chavchavadze Avenue just past Vake Park, has been open since 1965 and is the city's classic serious pool: a 50 m indoor pool with lane ropes and regulars swimming their lengths. A day pass costs about 100 GEL with the sauna and gym, and ages 8 to 18 pay 50 GEL. Bus 345 runs from Rustaveli, and it's an easy add-on to a day in Vake.

Neptune Sport Complex

Neptune sits next door at 49A Chavchavadze Avenue. Its 25 m main pool and 12 m children's pool sit under a retractable roof, so in summer you swim in the open air and in winter under cover. Entry is about 100 GEL, with Finnish and Turkish saunas, a steam room, massage and one of the largest gyms in the city.

Which pool to pick

Here's how I'd choose, by the kind of day you want.

• With kids: Gino Paradise for a full day of slides and the wave pool; the Tbilisi Sea Club if you'd rather spend 40 GEL than 99 GEL and still get a kids' pool and a slide.
• For laps: the Olympic Complex at 20 GEL for 2 hours in a 50 m pool, or the Vake Swimming Pool if you want the sauna and gym in the same ticket.
• For a lazy afternoon in the center: the Radisson Blu Iveria's outdoor pool, with a drink, a short walk from Rustaveli Avenue.
• For a pretty pool and a lounger: the Holiday Inn Pool Garden on a weekday, or the Krtsanisi pool for the view and a lower price.
• On a budget: the free beaches at the Tbilisi Sea, with a taxi there and back, or a dip at Lisi Lake for the price of a coffee.

Skip open water altogether if you're squeamish about lake water. The pools are filtered and treated, the lakes are not, and Lisi in particular looks murky by August.

Tips for a swim day in Tbilisi

• Time it right. Go in the morning or after 16:00. Midday is the hottest and the busiest, and the open-water beaches have almost no shade.
• Pack for a pool, not a beach. Bring a swimsuit, flip-flops or water shoes, a towel (some pools rent them, many don't), sunscreen, a hat and a waterproof phone case.
• Leave the picnic at home. Most pools and the water park don't let you bring food or drinks in, but all of them have a cafe or bar.
• Shower before you swim. Every pool expects it, and the showers are by the pool entrance.
• Check before you go. Pools open and close with the weather, and hours change from season to season, so look at the venue's social page that morning.
• Plan around the heat. July and August are the hottest months, and the Tbilisi summer is when every place on this list is at its best and its busiest.

On cooler days, swap the pool for a soak. The sulfur baths in Abanotubani are open all year, and many hotel spas in Tbilisi sell a pool and sauna pass even in winter.