Tbilisi Techno Clubs: Bassiani, KHIDI and How to Get In

Tbilisi is known for its techno. Bassiani, in a drained swimming pool under the national football stadium, made the city a reason to fly in for a weekend, and KHIDI, built into a road bridge, is just as serious. This is what you need to know about the clubs worth your night, how face control works, what to wear and what a night out costs in 2026.

Tbilisi techno clubs at a glance

Techno is the loudest part of Tbilisi nightlife, and the scene is small enough to learn in one evening. Two big clubs carry the international lineups, two more big rooms play softer house and disco, and a handful of small bars run DJ nights in the center. Here is how the nightclubs compare.

If you have one weekend, I'd plan the Saturday around whichever of Bassiani or KHIDI has the lineup you care about, and keep Café Gallery or Mtkvarze for the Friday warm-up. Two big nights back to back is a lot when each one runs until 9am.

Bassiani

Bassiani is the club that put Tbilisi on the techno map. It opened in 2014 in a drained Soviet swimming pool under Dinamo Arena, the national football stadium, and the main room is the pool itself: you dance where the water used to be, with a Funktion-One sound system around you. There are 2 dance floors and plenty of chill-out space to sit down between sets.

The music is techno, from the strongest local DJs and big international names. Doors open on Friday and Saturday at 11pm and close at 9am, and a good night does not always end at 9 either; plenty of people stay until noon.

Buying Bassiani tickets

Bassiani sells tickets on its own website, one event at a time, and you register and get verified before you can buy. That is the club running face control before you reach the door, so do it a few days ahead rather than on the night. The big lineups sell out days in advance, and turning up to buy at the door for one of them is how people end up in a taxi back to the hotel at 2am.

The other way in is a guestlist through a DJ or promoter. Either way, bring the ID you registered with: the name on the ticket has to match it.

Horoom nights at Bassiani

Horoom is Bassiani's queer party, held roughly once a month. It is open to the entire LGBTQ community rather than being a gay men's night, and for a lot of regulars it is the best party of the month. The door at Horoom is about keeping the room safe, so come as part of the party, not to watch it.

I'd go to Bassiani for the lineup, not for the story. Check who is playing, and if it is a name you love, buy the ticket the day it goes on sale.

KHIDI

KHIDI opened in 2016 inside the concrete of the Vakhushti Bagrationi Bridge, on the bank of the Kura. It spreads over 3 floors, holds up to 1,200 people and hosts modern art exhibitions alongside the parties. The sound is darker and harder than Bassiani's: hard techno and industrial, for people who came for intensity. It opens on Friday and Saturday from midnight to 9am, and entry runs 20 to 40 GEL.

The door is the friendlier of the two big clubs. KHIDI is open to anyone regardless of sexual orientation, race or religion, and while there is still face control, it is less strict and more welcoming than Bassiani's. That makes KHIDI my pick for a first club night in Tbilisi if you are nervous about being turned away. Wear black; it helps you blend in at the door and on the floor.

Mtkvarze and Left Bank

Mtkvarze sits on the riverbank in a former Soviet restaurant, and it is the club I'd pick for someone who wants to dance without being pounded for 8 hours. The music is house, disco and melodic electronica, entry runs 15 to 35 GEL, and the big windows give you the river and the sunrise at the end of the night. The door is relaxed.

Left Bank is the newer big venue on the left bank of the Kura, with a mix of electronic music and entry around 20 to 40 GEL. It books a wider range of sounds than Bassiani or KHIDI, so read the event page before you go: the same room can host a techno night one weekend and something lighter the next.

Smaller clubs: Café Gallery, Success Bar and Drama Bar

The small rooms are where I'd spend a Friday, and where you end up when the big doors are not in your favor.

• Café Gallery is the oldest club on the scene: a café in the daytime, house and disco at night, right in the center. The door is relaxed, entry runs 10 to 25 GEL, and on some nights it is free before midnight. It is the easiest place in town to start.

• Success Bar is a small courtyard bar-club in the center, queer-friendly, with DJs and entry from free to 15 GEL. In summer the party spills out into the yard, which is the best part of it.
• Drama Bar is a central bar with DJs and no separate door selection, so it is the safe fallback after a no at a big club, or a place for one drink before you head on.

Pre-club drinks also work well at Fabrika's courtyard, a former Soviet sewing factory now full of bars, a hostel and a co-working space. Most of the bars worth a first drink sit in Old Tbilisi and Sololaki, a short taxi ride from every club on this page.

Why Tbilisi became a techno city

The club scene here has politics in it, and that explains the strict doors. Bassiani grew after 2014 into a home for the city's LGBTQ community and for young people pushing back against police violence and harsh drug laws.

In May 2018 police raided Bassiani and Café Gallery. The answer was a rave protest outside parliament on Rustaveli Avenue, alongside the White Noise Movement, which campaigns against Georgia's drug laws. The clubs reopened, and they still see themselves as safe rooms first and party venues second. A guest who gets that has no trouble at the door.

Face control at Tbilisi clubs: how to get in

Face control in Tbilisi is not the velvet-rope kind, where money and heels get you in. The door staff are protecting a crowd that came for the music and for a room where people feel safe, so they look for guests who fit that. Arrogance and showing off work against you.

At Bassiani the door can come with a short interview. The usual questions are how you heard about the club, who is playing tonight and why you came. Give the honest answer: you are here for the music, and you know whose set you want to catch.

What helps you get in

• Know the lineup. Have 1 or 2 names from tonight's bill ready, and know which room they play.
• Arrive sober. A drink with dinner is fine; being visibly drunk is the main reason people are turned away.
• Dress dark and plain. Black, comfortable, nothing that looks bought for a night out on holiday.
• Have your ID and ticket ready. At Bassiani the name on the ticket must match your passport.
• Keep it calm. Short, friendly answers beat a speech about how far you traveled.

What gets you turned away

• Being loud or drunk in the queue
• Flashy, touristy outfits and big logos
• Arguing with the door or trying to talk your way in
• Turning up without a ticket on a sold-out Bassiani night

Club dress code in Tbilisi

There is no written dress code at any of these clubs. The unspoken one is dark and comfortable: black or dark clothes, nothing flashy, and shoes you can stand in for 6 hours or more. Smart casual is fine at the softer rooms like Mtkvarze, while at Bassiani and KHIDI plain black is the safe choice.

What a night at a Tbilisi club costs

Clubbing here is cheap by European standards, but almost all of it is paid in cash. These are the prices to expect in 2026.

A worked example: a Saturday at Bassiani with a 40 GEL ticket, 3 beers and 2 bottles of water comes to 64 to 80 GEL a person, before the taxi and the khinkali after.

Opening hours and when to arrive

The big clubs open on Friday and Saturday only. Bassiani runs from 11pm to 9am and KHIDI from midnight to 9am, while the smaller bars keep their own hours through the week.

Arriving early is the classic mistake. Before 1am the rooms are empty and the DJs are warming up. The clubs fill after midnight, peak from about 3am until dawn, and plenty of people dance on until noon. This is how I'd shape a Saturday:

Rules inside: phones, photos and etiquette

At the entrance a sticker goes over your phone's camera, and photos and video are banned inside. It protects the people on the floor, many of whom do not want to appear online, and it changes the night: nobody films the drop, and nobody looks at a screen. Leave the sticker on until you are out of the door.

The rest is club manners. Give people space on the floor, ask before you touch anyone, look after the people around you, and leave the bar area free when you are not ordering. Police have raided clubs here before and Georgia's drug laws are harsh, so carry nothing you would not want found in your pockets.

Getting home safely after a club night

The metro closes around midnight, so a club night means a car both ways. Bolt and Yandex Go run 24 hours, and ordering in an app sets the fare before you get in, which matters at 9am when the taxis in Tbilisi waiting outside the club will quote whatever they like.

I find the scene friendly, and Tbilisi is a safe city to be out in at night. The usual habits still apply: keep your phone and cash in a front pocket, stay with your friends, and agree on a meeting point inside in case your phones die.

After the club: where to go at sunrise

Tbilisi is good at mornings after. These are my favorite ways to end a club night.

• Khinkali for breakfast. Hot dumplings at 9am are the classic finish, and I'd pick from the best khinkali in town the night before, so you are not hunting for an open kitchen half asleep.

• A sulfur bath. An hour in a private room at the Abanotubani sulfur baths after 8 hours on your feet is the best recovery I know. Book a late-morning slot the day before.

• Sunrise at Narikala. If you leave at first light, the walk up to Narikala Fortress gives you the sun coming up over the old town and the river.
• Mtkvarze's windows. If you are still dancing at dawn, Mtkvarze is the one club where you see the sunrise over the river from the floor.

The scene has a daytime side too.

Mutant Radio, an independent online radio station and cultural space based in a former power station by the Kura, runs sessions and events in daylight hours. It is the best way to hear Tbilisi's DJs without staying up until 9am.