10 Fun and interesting things to do in Tbilisi in 2023

Tbilisi is a vibrant city in Georgia with plenty of family-friendly activities, attractions, and things to do for the young and old!

If you’ve only got a few days in Tbilisi, we’d recommend visiting the old town area, including the fortress and botanical gardens. For some time in nature, hike from Turtle Lake to Mtatsminda park or check out Lisi beach.

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1. Go climbing or bouldering at an indoor wall

If you’re looking for things to do in Tbilisi, check out one of the many indoor climbing walls in the city!

It’s a fun, active family activity, and you can choose from various clubs here that have some combination of leads, top ropes, and bouldering.

We went to a bouldering club in Vake and enjoyed the freedom of being able to climb at our leisure without waiting for someone to belay.

You can rent climbing shoes and enjoy whatever other facilities the club has. The Vake bouldering club has some small gym equipment, including a few machines, bands, and gymnastics rings. Some of the clubs are part of a bigger complex with a swimming pool and other sports facilities.

2. Hang out at Mziuri park

Mziuri Park is a fantastic green space in Tbilisi, offering something for everyone. It has a skate park, parkour park, two playgrounds, and a cafe!

Although it was only three degrees when we visited?, we made the most of it and stayed as long as we could before retreating to a cozy cafe.

We especially liked the long bouldering wall in the playground. The second play area is just a small one, but it’s made completely with wood and blends seamlessly with the natural surroundings, which is also very awesome.

3. Explore the old town and visit the Narikala fortress

Tbilisi’s old town is a beautiful area to explore, with fairytale-like churches and fortresses dotted amid modern architecture.

You could start at one of the bathhouses clustered together in the old town and enjoy a super hot soak and scrub down if you wish. They have various-sized private bathrooms to rent by the hour, usually with a small hot and cold pool and add-on spa services.

Then take a stroll along the Leghvtakhevi Canyon to the waterfall behind the bathhouses. It’s a short walk and the waterfall is lovely. You’ll find a few stalls selling fresh juice, mulled wine, and something I’d never seen before – wine ice cream!

From the canyon, you can walk up the cobblestone streets to the Narikala Fortress. Entry is free, and this is one of the coolest fortresses for (carefully!) scrambling around and enjoying stunning views across Tbilisi’s old town.

If you’re looking for places to explore and things to do in Tbilisi, we highly recommend visiting the waterfall and fortress in the old town.

4. Meander through the beautiful botanical gardens

The botanical gardens in Tbilisi are an excellent place to explore for an afternoon.

You can access the top entrance by walking up the hill (just follow the path in front of the Narikala Fortress) as we did, or you can catch a cable car from below in the town. There’s also a lower entrance, so you could make your way up through the gardens and finish at the hilltop if you prefer.

When you enter at the top, you’ll see a long Zipline going from the top of the hill to the bottom, so if you’re looking for some extra adventure, you might want to try it.

Otherwise, there’s a nominal entry fee, which you pay in a hut a little down the hill, and then you can easily follow the paths around the gardens.

The waterfall is possibly the park’s main feature. It’s pretty special, and you can stand right next to it if you don’t mind walking across a few slightly slippery rocks.

The kids’ playground is near the bottom entrance and is loads of fun with a pyramid, rope climbs, and more.

We visited the gardens after the fortress, so you can easily do both in an afternoon. We highly recommend both places if you’re looking for things to do in Tbilisi!

5. Take the funicular up to mtatsminda park

Mtatsminda is a fabulous hilltop park and an excellent place to go in Tibilisi with kids.

You can drive up, hike up, or take the Funicular as we did. The ride takes you 500 meters up to a hilltop theme park.

We visited over the Christmas period, so there were many adorable Christmas market stalls and cauldrons full of mulled wine!

Little kids will love the rides in the kids’ zone, including kid-sized bumper cars and a roller coaster. It looks like there’s even more on offer in summer, with a small pool, slides, and bumper boats.

We went on the giant Ferris wheel as a family for views across Tbilisi, and Ayla enjoyed riding the big kids’ bumper cars with her dad.

You’ll find a few places to eat in the park, plus theme park-style snacks and drinks.

Older kids and grown-ups can try out rides like the giant drop and the big roller coaster. Although Ayla could just meet the height requirement (140cm), you have to be a minimum of 12 years old for those rides.

We recommend checking out Mtatsminda park if you’re looking for things to do in Tbilisi with kids!

6. Hike to turtle lake and Mtatsminda park

Tbilisi is surrounded by hills and mountains, so it’s a fantastic hiking destination. There are many hiking day trips out of the city on weekends, or you can hike in/over the city as we did!

We did the route to Turtle lake and then across to Mtatsminda park. You could do this in two parts or both together.

Vake to Turtle lake hike

We walked from our apartment in Vake up the hill to turtle lake. It takes about 40 minutes if you go the right way or maybe an hour if you take a wrong turn, as we did.

The path is actually very straightforward. It’s pretty much steadily uphill with a couple of steep-ish parts. But along the path we came to a big locked gate, which we thought the better of climbing over.

So we went around to the left for some scrambling and then stopped when we were faced with a steep hillside and barbed wire fence.

Turns out there was a perfectly decent track to the right, so we got there in the end!

Turtle lake has a car park, so you can also drive there or start hiking there. You’ll find some cafes around, although none were open mid-winter when we arrived at 9:30 am. I suspect they’d be open later in the day, as it’s unusual for anything to open before 10 or 11 am in these parts!

Turtle lake to Mtatsminda hike

The path from Turtle lake to Mtatsminda is easy to follow and offers excellent views across the city. We loved the interesting information panels at the start of the trail too.

So if you’re looking for things to do in Tbilisi and you love hiking, check out these trails! (We use maps.me to make sure we don’t get lost!)

The whole thing took us three hours, and we caught the bus back down the hill from Mtatsminda. It’s probably possible to do it in two hours without any stops, depending on where you start.

7. Take the kids to an indoor playground

f you’re looking for fun things to do in Tbilisi with kids, visit an indoor playground!

We went to the playground on the top level of City Mall, and I think it’s possibly the best one we’ve ever been to. We’ve been to a few great trampoline parks with bigger and better trampolines, but this one is a superb all-rounder.

There are several sections, and you only pay for the ones you want to use. Basically, you get a card and put as much cash on it as you want. The best thing is that there are no time limits.

Many indoor playgrounds charge by the hour, so it can get pricey if you have kids who like to play for hours or disappointing if you have to tell them it’s time to go after an hour.

I thought the prices were really reasonable too. I put enough cash on our card for two kids to play in two of the sections. This was the equivalent of 34GEL ($12.57 USD).

The trampoline area was 10GEL for unlimited play. It has plenty of trampolines, a foam pit, fun rings, beams, etc.

A hanging play area, toddler space, games, rides, and more!

The girls also went into the netted play area suspended from the ceiling! That was 7 GEL each. It’s pretty unique – check out the photo.

Aside from those, there’s another big play area we could have tried, a climbing wall, rides and games (paid individually), and a soft play area for toddlers.

We went to City Mall because it’s closest to us, but our friends told us there’s also an excellent one at East Point Mall. Other options at the north end of the city are Crazy Hall and Astra Park.

8. Hang out at Vake park

Tbilisi has plenty of lovely green spaces with playgrounds. Vake park is one that’s well set up for kids. It’s not the cheapest option as it has a per-hour charge to use the outdoor playground. However, it’s well equipped with playhouses and a sand pit and toys, so it offers something a bit different than a standard playground.

Vake park is just below turtle lake, so you could combine your visit with a short hike up the hill to the lake.

Vake park also has a cable car and a huge Zipline!

9. Visit the Chronicle of Georgia and walk along the Tbilisi reservoir

The Chronicle of Georgia is a grand, impressive monument on a small hilltop looking over the Tbilisi Sea (reservoir).

It’s a relatively recent creation, started in 1985 and supposedly still incomplete. The bottom half of the pillars depict the life of Christ and the top honors Kings, Queens, and heroes of Georgia.

We visited on New Year’s morning, just in time for a gorgeous sunrise. The hilltop was exposed and very windy, but we had beautiful views of the Tbilisi suburbs and across the Tibilisi reservoir (also called the Tbilisi Sea).

After that, we followed the trails around the waterfront for about two hours. I think it would take about five hours to walk the whole way around, and there may be sections you need to walk further back from the waterfront.

It’s a picturesque walk yet sadly strewn with rubbish, including plastic bags hanging from trees (so maybe consider taking a rubbish bag to pick some up along the way if you visit).

10. Check out Lisi beach

Lisi beach is a fun place for the whole family to hang out in Tbilisi.

The kids have plenty of play options, from a trampoline area to go-karts, a climbing wall, and a free or paid playground.

The lake and park are in a lovely little forested area, so it’s a nice spot to get into nature close to the city.

Our girls loved playing in the playground and on the bars, and we paid for 30 minutes of play in the trampoline area.

There are also some small food shacks near the lake and perhaps a cafe too, although we didn’t go to any of them (one or two were open mid-winter). I believe there’s also a traditional Georgian bath there (according to Google maps).

We’d definitely recommend Lisi beach as a fun place to visit if you’re looking for things to do in Tbilisi.

Things to do in Tbilisi | In conclusion

We enjoyed our time in Tbilisi and found there was plenty to do, even during the winter months. There’s a ski field called Betania Ski Resort, less than an hour from the city, so that’s another place you may want to consider visiting during winter.

If you’re traveling to Georgia, you may also want to read about our recommendations of things to do in Batumi and our epic 10-day road trip from Turkey to Georgia.

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