Tbilisi Travel Diary: 5 Days of Sulfur Baths, Khachapuri, and 8,000-Year-Old Wine
Day 1: Arrival and the First Khachapuri
Flights land at Tbilisi International (TBS) late, but the city doesn't sleep. The airport bus (#37) costs 0.50 GEL — about 19 cents — though a midnight Bolt taxi runs just 12 GEL ($4.40) to the old town.
Hostels here start at 20 GEL/night ($7.40), surprisingly clean and often run by locals who'll hand over a glass of homemade red wine before you've set down your bag. "Welcome to Georgia. You drink."
The wine is good.
Hunger at midnight? No problem. Tbilisi's first superpower: everything stays open late. Machakhela on Rustaveli Avenue serves Adjarian khachapuri — boat-shaped bread filled with molten cheese, a raw egg and butter dropped in at the table. Stir it together, tear off pieces of bread to scoop it up.
12 GEL ($4.40). At midnight. The same dish runs $22 in Brooklyn.
This city presents a serious challenge to any waistline.
Day rating: 7/10. Late arrival, but the wine-and-khachapuri welcome sets the tone.
Day 2: Old Town and the Sulfur Baths
The old town — Kala — unfolds as a maze of narrow alleys with wooden balconies leaning at angles that shouldn't be structurally possible. Grape vines crawl up walls. Cats own every doorstep. Someone's grandmother hangs laundry from a third-floor window while a cafe below serves natural wine to backpackers.
The cable car from Rike Park (2.50 GEL) climbs to Narikala Fortress. This 4th-century fortress is free to enter and delivers the best panorama in the city: the Mtkvari River below, colorful buildings cascading down the hillside, the Bridge of Peace glinting in the sun, and the Mother of Georgia statue (Kartlis Deda) on the ridge — a 20-meter aluminum woman holding a sword and a wine cup. Sword for enemies. Wine for friends. That's Georgia in one image.
Afternoon means Abanotubani sulfur baths. The city was literally founded because of these hot springs — "tbili" means warm. Private rooms at Orbeliani Baths (the one with the blue-tiled facade) run 60 GEL/hour. The sulfur water is hot, slightly egg-scented, and after 30 minutes every muscle in the body decides to stop being tense forever.
Add a kisi scrub (25 GEL) — a vigorous exfoliation with rough cloth that leaves skin pink, smooth, and utterly renewed.
Dinner at Shavi Lomi brings modern Georgian cuisine with portions modest by Georgian standards (which means normal by everywhere-else standards). Lamb chakapuli (stew with tarragon and sour plums): 22 GEL. Glass of Saperavi: 12 GEL. Outstanding.
Day rating: 9/10. The sulfur bath alone justifies the flight.
Day 3: Wine Day
Georgia claims to be the birthplace of wine. Not metaphorically. Archaeologists found 8,000-year-old qvevri (clay fermentation vessels) in the country. This is where humans first figured out that grape juice becomes something magical when buried underground in clay pots.
Start at Vino Underground — a wine bar specializing in natural wines made in traditional qvevri. The bartender pours an amber wine (orange wine, made from white grapes left in contact with their skins) that tastes like nothing else. Honey, dried apricot, and something earthy that defies naming. Tasting flight: 25 GEL.
Afternoon brings a day trip to the Kakheti wine region, 120km east. Book through any hostel — 100 GEL for a full day including transport, visits to two family-run wineries, and tastings. The first winery is a family operation where the grandfather still makes wine in qvevri buried in the backyard. Four varieties poured, payment refused. "You are my guest."
The second winery runs slightly more commercial but still intimate. Unlimited tasting. Eight wines. Bottles of Saperavi (15 GEL each, ~$5.50) that outclass most $30 bottles back home.
Evening might deliver a supra (traditional feast) at a restaurant near Dry Bridge. The tamada (toastmaster) leads a sequence of toasts — to God, to Georgia, to ancestors, to guests, to love, to the dead, to life. Each toast requires drinking. Counting becomes optional after toast seven.
Gaumarjos. Cheers.
Day rating: 10/10. Come to Georgia for wine and Georgia delivers beyond any reasonable expectation.
Day 4: Dry Bridge Market and Mtatsminda
The Dry Bridge flea market operates daily but weekends are best. An open-air sprawl on a disused bridge selling Soviet military pins, Georgian enamel jewelry, oil paintings, vinyl records, antique daggers, and vintage cameras.
Soviet-era propaganda posters go for 15 GEL after bargaining from 25. Small Georgian cloisonne enamel pendants run around 20 GEL. The vintage camera selection tempts — working Zenit SLRs for 40-60 GEL.
Bargaining is expected. Start at 40-50% of asking.
Afternoon: Mtatsminda Park via the funicular (8 GEL round trip). The 1903 funicular (rebuilt 2012) climbs through forested hillside in 3 minutes. The hilltop has an amusement park (rides are pay-per-use), but the real draw is the view. The Ferris wheel at 770m puts all of Tbilisi below with the Caucasus mountains behind.
Dinner: Khinkali at a hole-in-the-wall near Marjanishvili metro. Khinkali are Georgian soup dumplings — pick them up by the twisted top knob, bite a small hole, suck out the broth, then eat the rest. The knob stays on the plate. Stacking discarded knobs is how you keep count.
1 GEL per khinkali. Twelve makes a full dinner. That's $4.40.
Day rating: 8/10. The flea market delivers an unexpected highlight.
Day 5: Bridge of Peace and Departure
Quiet morning. The Bridge of Peace — Michele De Lucchi's glass-and-steel bow connecting old town to Rike Park — spans the river. Free to cross. Beautiful at any time, but the LED lights at night are better.
Last coffee at Prospero's Books & Caliban's Coffee, a bookshop-cafe that feels purpose-built for book lovers. English books, good espresso (6 GEL), and a garden terrace overlooking a churchyard.
Bolt to the airport: 15 GEL.
Day rating: 6/10. Departure days. You know the drill.
Georgia ranks among the most hospitable countries anywhere. If Georgia hooks you, neighboring Yerevan makes a natural next stop. The food is extraordinary. The wine is ancient and unique. The prices remain laughably low. The old town stuns. And the sulfur baths become something to dream about on cold nights.
If Europe has a best-kept secret left, it's Georgia.
Total cost for 5 days: Approximately 650 GEL (~$240) including hostel, all meals, wine day trip, sulfur bath, and transport. That's $48 per day in one of the most interesting cities in the world.
