Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Tbilisi
Mtatsminda and the modern city in six hours
The funicular up the holy mountain, the writers' pantheon, then Vera and the flea market by the river.
The three-hour route covers the old town and the sulphur baths. This one climbs: a 1905 funicular up Mtatsminda to a ridge park with the whole city underneath, then down through Vera — the 19th-century quarter where the writers lived — and along the Mtkvari to the dry bridge market, which is where Soviet Georgia was sold off piece by piece and largely still is.
The route, stop by stop
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Mtatsminda Funicular
Built in 1905, closed for years after a fatal accident, reopened in 2012. Two and a half minutes to 730 metres.
25 min here Walk here → -
Mtatsminda Park
Arrive by funicular from the previous stop
A ridge-top amusement park with a Ferris wheel on the edge of the drop. The view takes in the whole city and most of the valley.
60 min here Walk here → -
Mamadaviti Church and the Pantheon
Halfway down the mountain, where Georgia buries its writers. Griboyedov and his teenage widow Nino are the grave everyone stops at.
40 min here Walk here → -
Vera district
Balconied 19th-century houses, small galleries and the best coffee in the city. Quieter than the old town and where people who live here actually drink.
45 min here Walk here → -
Dry Bridge Market
Soviet medals, Zeiss lenses, chandeliers, porcelain and whole canteens of cutlery, laid out on blankets by the river. Open daily, best on a weekend morning.
50 min here Walk here → -
Rike Park
The modern riverside park opposite the old town, with the glass concert hall nobody finished and the bridge of peace over to it.
30 min here Walk here →
More in Tbilisi
Every walking route in Tbilisi, or the full Tbilisi guide for where to stay and what a day costs.