What Makes It Worth It

🏛 Narikala Fortress & Old Town

Tbilisi is the most captivating capital city most travellers have never visited — a place of breathtaking setting, extraordinary history, remarkable food and wine culture, and a quality of urban atmosphere that rewards slow, aimless exploration in a way few cities can match. Sitting in a narrow river valley on the edge of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, with the Mtkvari (Kura) River running through its centre and the Narikala fortress looming on a 4th-century ridge above, the city has been continuously inhabited and contested for over 1,500 years.

The Old Town (Kala) is the city's heart — a tangle of cobblestone alleys where carved wooden balconies jut from crumbling plaster facades, where Orthodox Georgian churches of the 5th and 6th centuries stand between Persian-era mosques and Art Nouveau townhouses. The balconies are Tbilisi's signature architectural element — ornate, occasionally precarious, wooden gallery structures draped with vines, drying laundry, and potted plants. The Metekhi Church, perched above the river gorge, and the Sameba Cathedral (2004) — the third-largest Orthodox cathedral in the world — anchor the city's active religious life. Abanotubani, the sulphur bath district, occupies the gorge at the city's eastern edge: domed brick bathhouses above underground thermal springs where 38°C naturally carbonated sulphur water has been piped for bathing since at least the 5th century.

Georgia is the world's oldest wine country — archaeological evidence of winemaking here dates back 8,000 years, and the traditional qvevri method (fermentation and ageing in large clay vessels buried in the earth) is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Georgian natural wines — amber (skin-contact) whites in particular, from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes in the Kakheti wine region 90 minutes east of Tbilisi — have become a global phenomenon in the natural wine world. Tbilisi's wine bars and restaurant scene reflects this heritage with an extraordinary range of small-producer wines served alongside the country's remarkable cuisine: khinkali (giant spiced soup dumplings), khachapuri (boat-shaped bread with egg and molten cheese), and churchkhela (walnut-filled grape-juice candied strings) are the essential foods.

The Kazbegi Mountains, three hours north of Tbilisi on the Georgian Military Highway, offer some of Europe's most dramatic mountain scenery — the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church, perched on a rocky spur at 2,170 metres against the backdrop of Mount Kazbek (5,047m), is the iconic image of the Caucasus. Visit April–June or September–November for the best weather; Tbilisi is increasingly a year-round destination, and its airport has excellent direct connections from European hubs.