Where to Stay in Tbilisi: 5 Best Neighbourhoods for Tourists

You’ve booked your flights to Tbilisi and now you’re looking for accommodation, but you’re wondering where the best place to base yourself is?

Maybe you fancy something slap bang in the centre of all the touristy stuff?

Maybe you want to be further out but still at walking distance to restaurants?

Or perhaps you want to be in a more residential part of the city as long as it’s close to a metro?

After having spent near on six months staying in a ton of different places around the city (yes, we are a little Tbilisi-obsessed!) we put together this post to talk you through our top recommendations on where to stay in Tbilisi (neighbourhood and specific accommodation recs) with the pros and cons of each area.

Because booking accommodation in a city you’ve never visited before really is not that straight forward! Let’s break it down 👇

1. Sololaki

Our favourite place to stay and the Tbilisi neighbourhood that we always recommend as number one is Sololaki.

Sololaki used to be the area of the city where the posh bourgeoisie lived; it’s full of huge, grand, almost manor-house looking buildings with grand sweeping staircases and intricately decorated entranceways.

During the Soviet occupation, these huge mansions were taken and split into smaller individual rooms and apartments, and this is how it has remained up until today.

So, nowadays you can rent a spot within one of these extravagant buildings. The buildings are OLD and some are pretty run-down. You’ll find some wonky wooden staircases and old paint flaking off the doorframes, but this is all part of Sololaki’s charm and character!

Sololaki is home to some of Tbilisi’s best restaurants, and is in walking distance to the main tourist attractions but without being right in the centre of all the touristiness.

Sololaki’s rough location is west of Shalva Dadiani Street, south of Giorgi Leonidze Street, and stretching to Amaghleba Street.

The further away from Liberty Square and up towards Amaghleba Street you go, the steeper the hills become. It’s not anything unmanageable, but if you’re staggering around with big old 20kg backpacks on, you’ll likely get a little sweat on!

Where to Stay

⭐ Our Top Pick ⭐

Apartment in Old City Center (££)

📍 46 Lado Asatiani St

Large and modern apartment in a traditional courtyard setting. Beautiful high ceilings, air con, small kitchen area with coffee, tea, etc., smart TV, and strong wifi. There is a large double ensuite bedroom and two single beds in the lounge area to accommodate a group of 4!

• 10-minute walk to the old town
• Next door to Tom Yum Thai restaurant (which does delicious and affordable Thai veg curries)
• 10-minute walk to Liberty Square metro

🛏️ Book the Apartment 🛏️

The Best of the Rest:

2. Kala (AKA the Old Town)

By far the most touristy part of the city, Kala is full of the classic Tbilisi colourful lacy-looking wooden balconies, and tiny winding cobbled streets up towards the cliffside.

And while it is beautiful and the views over the city are amazing, the accommodation is generally more expensive, the whole area is almost always busy, and the roads leading up towards Mother of Georgia are really quite steep.

Kala has a huge amount of bars and restaurants and the majority of the top Tbilisi sights. If you want to be right in the thick of it and not have to wander far from your front door, this is the best place for you.

Kala roughly stretches east from Shalva Dadiani Street, south of Nikoloz Baratshvili Street, west of the Kura river, until around the sulphur baths area (Abanotubani).

Where to Stay

⭐ Our Top Pick ⭐

Golden Light Hotel (£)

📍9 Ovanes Tumaniani St

Make sure you book the room with the balcony! Large yet affordable rooms, nice decor, and a beautiful contained courtyard area.

🛏️ Grab the Room with the Balcony 🛏️

The Best of the Rest:

3. Marjanishvili/Chugureti

Marjanishvili is our other favourite neighbourhood in Tbilisi. On the east side of the river Kura, this area is much less touristy and much more residential.

The buildings have the same sort of Sololaki vibe, just less grand. You’ll find more local stores, bakeries, market-style stands, and second-hand clothing shops.

It is also the location of the infamous Fabrika (Soviet sewing factory turned hostel/co-working space/independent hipster bars and stores). There is also a fair amount of street art here.

Even though Marjanishvili is on the other side of the river, you can easily reach the Sololaki/Kala area by metro or even just walk for 30/40 minutes.

>> Check out this post for tips on taking public transport around Tbilisi <<

Marjanishvili/Chugureti stretches roughly from south of Queen Tamar Avenue outside of the Central Tbilisi Train Station, between the Kura river and the railway line down to about the Saarbruecken Bridge at the Dry Bridge Market.

Where to Stay

⭐ Our Top Pick ⭐

NAIKE (£)

📍12 Ushangi Chkheidze St

Cosy and clean rooms with ensuite and small balcony, as well as a shared kitchen space. Set in a residential block of flats, this is a great spot to get away from the tourist crowds. And the guys that run this place are really friendly and helpful.

• 2-minute walk to Asi Khinkali
• 10-minute walk to Marjanishvili metro
• 15-minute walk to Fabrika

🛏️ Reserve your Room 🛏️

The best of the rest:

4. Mtatsminda & Garetubani

Mtatsminda area has interesting, old, characterful buildings, a good selection of restaurants, and is a very central location while still feeling relatively quiet and residential.

You can easily walk to all the top sights and the metro, but the streets closest to Mtatsminda Park can get pretty steep as the park sits on the top of the hill.

Rustaveli Avenue is always busy throughout the whole day and night, only getting quieter early morning, so I’d recommend staying a couple of streets back from Rustaveli Avenue.

This area is roughly north of Giorgi Leonidze Street, east of Mtatsminda Park, west of Kura river, and south of Rustaveli metro station. The table below excludes Rustaveli Avenue itself.

Where to Stay

⭐ Our Top Pick ⭐

Magnolia (£)

📍 5 Kirile Ukleba St.

We stayed at Magnolia, which is a lovely hotel with beautiful rooms with big windows, so that you can catch the stunning sunrise each morning! They serve a buffet breakfast, and have a roof terrace too.

• 5-minute walk to Mtatsminda Park funicular
• 10-minute walk to Liberty Square metro
• 15-minute walk to the old town

🛏️ Book Magnolia 🛏️

The Best of the Rest:

5. Avlabari

Avlabari is a residential area just across the river from Kala. It has a huge Basis Bank (for free cash withdrawals), a metro station, and is home to the impressive, gold-domed Holy Trinity Cathedral, Queen Darejan’s Palace, and is close by to Stalin’s underground printing press.

It is also a good base if you’re planning on taking the marshrutka across to Yerevan in Armenia as it leaves from just behind the metro station.

There aren’t a ton of restaurants or things to do, but the accommodation should be more affordable than in Kala, while still being close enough to walk to the main tourist attractions.

Where to Stay

⭐ Our Top Pick ⭐

Apartment 1905 (£)

📍20 Sartichala St

Modern apartments with nice, simple decor and a really responsive and friendly host.

🛏️ Plan your Stay 🛏️

The Best of the Rest:

Other Neighbourhoods

Saburtalo/Vera/Vake

Further in the northwestern part of Tbilisi are the neighbourhoods of Saburtalo, Vera, and Vake. These are very much non-touristy areas where locals, university students, expats, and digital nomads live.

You’ll find lots of vintage and second-hand shops and cafes here. The area has another metro line (the Saburtalo line) so you’ll still be able to get to the rest of the city, but it’s just not the most convenient spot to base yourself as a tourist as you are away from the centre.

If you’re staying in Tbilisi for longer than a week, really want to be away from tourists, or are looking for the most affordable accommodation and are fine with a quick(ish) commute to the attractions; go for it!

The buildings up here are very much functional and communist concrete block-style from the Soviet era.

Where We Love to Stay in Tbilisi

Our personal favourite spots to stay are Sololaki and Marjanishvili – no question. If you’re anything like us (on a budget and want to be away from anywhere busy), these are a good happy medium.

But I understand for a first-time visit to Tbilisi, being in the centre and right by all the touristy bits and pieces is what a lot of people want.

Planning More of Your Trip

Booked your flights yet? 😉

Our guides on travelling Georgia will help you plan your trip from which ATMs have with no withdrawal fees for foreign cards, how to travel around the country by the classic marshrutka, to the best things to do in Tbilisi, to the tastiest vegetarian Georgian dishes to try while you’re here.