Tbilisi was the second stop in my 7 month tour. I arrived via the overnight (17 hr) train from Baku. I opted for a first class carriage which was 51 Manat (about 75 USD). It was a shared compartment with a T.V. and attendants who served coffee/tea. No restaurant on board, so bring food with you. Also, border formalities are at around 9:00-9:30am on the Azeri side (an hour later on the Georgian side). My host on Airbnb had registered me in Azerbaijan, I subsequently received an email that said I had been registered (from a random mail.ru email account), so I was slightly nervous about getting hassled trying to get out of the country, but I had no issues, I was called into the stewardess compartment and was photographed and my passport scanned by some computer system they had, passport stamped and was sent on my way. My bags were given a brief search by border guards on both sides.
Overview: Despite the city not looking as “nice” as Baku, I hold a much better opinion about Tbilisi than Baku, for example: much cheaper, less pretension, and overall more user friendly. Again this was a Jan-Feb trip, so again take that with a grain of salt when it comes to venue info. I never got sick from eating street kebabs, though did get violently ill eating, what I presume to be under cooked eggs in a restaurant, don’t know what it was called but a bread bowl with vegetables and eggs, it was very good, but I paid for it dearly later on that night. I used a GeoCell SIM, SIM plus talk, text and internet was 25 lari, which lasted me the entire three weeks no issues. English speaking staff was very helpful, even though my very friendly host insisted on going with me to help me out. My accommodations where clean and modern, it only had a small wall heater and a space heater, so there were a couple of cool nights when the temperatures dipped down, but all in all it was a good space and for $28 USD/night for my own place it was fine. If you are here during spring or autumn (my recommendation, when it is not too cold or everyone is at Batumi during the summer) this type of place should be fine. I found them through airbnb, but was able to contact them off the site to avoid fees. If you need their contact info, PM me and I will give you their email. Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere. Another note, is that some smaller places will be short on change, so having exact change or close to it is preferable.
Transportation:
- Taxis: shouldn’t pay more than 5-10 lari for a trip within the city. Anywhere outside the city, such as the airport will probably 15-20 lari. There are no metered taxis so negotiate ahead of time and in case they don’t speak English use your phone’s calculator or
- Metro: much more user friendly: English signs and announcements, plus it actually takes you places you need to go.
- Buses/minibuses: never bothered with them, but less English, so it’s hard to point out exactly where they are going.
- Trains to Baku are daily, trains to Yerevan are only on ODD days.
Safety: Less police presence than Baku, but still significant, never was hassled. I observed one minor street scuffle, but that was it and never felt threatened or unsafe. Though there was one pedestrian underpass in front of them Radisson Blue that is a bit dodgy.
Fitness: I found a decent gym Aspria Fitness (http://www.aspria.ge/filialebi.php) for a reasonable price. It has three locations and the one near the soccer stadium (Dynamo Arena) is probably the easiest to get to, although it didn’t find this out until the end of my stay and used the Saburtalo branch. Prices are: 1 Day = 15 Lari, 1 Month = 99 Lari (+10 Lari for card), 1 year = 699 Lari (+10 Lari for card).
Girls: Girls were much more liberal and I imagine this trend will continue as the current crop of 18-25yr olds still have conservative parents, but as this generation has kids, I can only imagine that their children will be even more liberal. Overall they have much lighter skin than Azeri girls and are more concentrated towards the center of the beauty distribution (fewer head turners, but also fewer trolls). Most girls still live with their parents/family until they get married. More casual and less well-dressed than in Baku.
Competition: In my limited observation, weak. A lot of Georgian guys struck me as beta nice guys, bordering on extreme thirst, I was told that most people meet through social circle, though meeting through nightlife is become more popular. There are a lot of foreigners living in the city so you aren’t going to be very “exotic” and I saw a few groups around, but they were never a factor.
Shopping: There is a large, modern supermarket called Smart (or Smarti), which is open 24/7, next to the Wendys (yes there is a Wendys in Tbilisi and I’d be a liar if I denied partaking in a guilty pleasure once or twice) That has pretty much everything you can think of, bonus try to spit game at the girls trying to sell in the wine/alcohol department. Also, if you buy fruits and vegetables, you need to find a worker to weigh and give you a price code for your food, they won’t do it at the checkout counter. Aside from that there are numerous shops and markets near old city and on random streets.
Cafes: Numerous cafes in the city, but I usually went to: Prospero’s Books and Calibaris Coffeehouse, ex-pat friendly, western-style coffeehouse conducive to lounging, writing or reading, with a large selection of coffee, teas and sandwiches.
Restaurants: Khinkhali is the local specialty and is served in numerous restaurants in the city. I found Georgian food to be very tasty and will mention some of the other spots as I neglected to write down every restaurant I went to. Expect to pay a premium for sushi/fish.
- Buddha Bar: Thai/Japanese/Sushi spot, a splurge and definitely the most expensive meal I had. Has a bar on the lower level with occasional special events, but was completely dead the one Friday night I went.
- Organique Josper: Georgian/Ukrainian steakhouse/restaurant. Good food at moderate, yet reasonable prices.
- Wok café: noodle spot, good for a cheap, quick bite to eat.
- Ronny’s: reasonable facsimile of American style pizza.
- Tartine Brassiere: French restaurant with a satisfying inclusive soup/sandwich/drink lunch. Traditional French menu (fois gras, etc) for dinner.
- Q Lounge: average international menu, 40 lari table minimum on Friday/Saturday.
Nightlife: Decent on Friday/Saturday, might have trouble finding something good the rest of the week. No issues for entry at any place I went. Limes were also somewhat rare (as was the case in Baku). Concentrated around Rustavelli metro and old city. There are also several casinos, but never stepped to any of them and there are a lot of strip clubs, but avoided those as well. ONS are possible, but are the exception not the rule.
- Night Office: Younger crowd, picked up my Georgian flag from this club. 10 lair entrance, had a program for Thursday-Sunday night, but only went once on a Saturday.
- Medusa: Thursday-Saturday they open up the other half of the lounge at 10pm. Well-dressed girls, hookah spot, never was slammed, but a couple groups of girls, who mostly all smoke so asking for a light is a good strategy here. Picked up an Iranian girl, who was visiting her obese cousin that worked in the city, from here.
- Café Gallery: pretty tame during the week, but packed on weekends and they open the upper level as well. Also, the best late night spot (keeps going until after 4am, whereas most spots wind down around 3am). Downside is known as the gay spot, but was never an issue.
- Senate Club: the outlier as far as clubs go and you will need to take a bus/taxi to get to/from there. It was heavily hyped to me, but was a complete airball the night I went, probably better to try it out on a night they have a program going. There are two restaurants next to it, one of which is open 24/7.
- Urban: Nice spot, well-dressed girls. Focused heavily around tables with a small dance floor/bar. Will require infiltrating one of the groups to meet girls.
- Step: Small, circular bar, decent late-night spot on Thursdays.
- Unique: Okay spot, two levels, probably best in the summer when they open the top floor on warm days. Note, in the same building that has Unique there is a Karaoke bar (2nd floor) and another bar/restaurant (ground level). The bar/restaurant on ground level was more packed than Unique the night I went and also had live music.
- Fido Irish pub: Decent the two times I stopped by. Expat heavy.
- Canudos Ethnic Bar: Hyped to me, but pretty tame the one Saturday I stopped by there (after two weeks of looking for it).
- Skyy Bar/City Club: Co-located, Skyy Bar is a rooftop bar, city club is in the basement, I wanted to check these places out but they both had a 30 lair minimum and wasn’t interested in staying that long, so I bounced.
- Bed Lounge: rolled here with a group, but it was dead/closing at 3am, maybe good earlier.
Other places that were mentioned to me or I saw, but never went: Moscow Club and Bank Club.
Overview: Despite the city not looking as “nice” as Baku, I hold a much better opinion about Tbilisi than Baku, for example: much cheaper, less pretension, and overall more user friendly. Again this was a Jan-Feb trip, so again take that with a grain of salt when it comes to venue info. I never got sick from eating street kebabs, though did get violently ill eating, what I presume to be under cooked eggs in a restaurant, don’t know what it was called but a bread bowl with vegetables and eggs, it was very good, but I paid for it dearly later on that night. I used a GeoCell SIM, SIM plus talk, text and internet was 25 lari, which lasted me the entire three weeks no issues. English speaking staff was very helpful, even though my very friendly host insisted on going with me to help me out. My accommodations where clean and modern, it only had a small wall heater and a space heater, so there were a couple of cool nights when the temperatures dipped down, but all in all it was a good space and for $28 USD/night for my own place it was fine. If you are here during spring or autumn (my recommendation, when it is not too cold or everyone is at Batumi during the summer) this type of place should be fine. I found them through airbnb, but was able to contact them off the site to avoid fees. If you need their contact info, PM me and I will give you their email. Smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere. Another note, is that some smaller places will be short on change, so having exact change or close to it is preferable.
Transportation:
- Taxis: shouldn’t pay more than 5-10 lari for a trip within the city. Anywhere outside the city, such as the airport will probably 15-20 lari. There are no metered taxis so negotiate ahead of time and in case they don’t speak English use your phone’s calculator or
- Metro: much more user friendly: English signs and announcements, plus it actually takes you places you need to go.
- Buses/minibuses: never bothered with them, but less English, so it’s hard to point out exactly where they are going.
- Trains to Baku are daily, trains to Yerevan are only on ODD days.
Safety: Less police presence than Baku, but still significant, never was hassled. I observed one minor street scuffle, but that was it and never felt threatened or unsafe. Though there was one pedestrian underpass in front of them Radisson Blue that is a bit dodgy.
Fitness: I found a decent gym Aspria Fitness (http://www.aspria.ge/filialebi.php) for a reasonable price. It has three locations and the one near the soccer stadium (Dynamo Arena) is probably the easiest to get to, although it didn’t find this out until the end of my stay and used the Saburtalo branch. Prices are: 1 Day = 15 Lari, 1 Month = 99 Lari (+10 Lari for card), 1 year = 699 Lari (+10 Lari for card).
Girls: Girls were much more liberal and I imagine this trend will continue as the current crop of 18-25yr olds still have conservative parents, but as this generation has kids, I can only imagine that their children will be even more liberal. Overall they have much lighter skin than Azeri girls and are more concentrated towards the center of the beauty distribution (fewer head turners, but also fewer trolls). Most girls still live with their parents/family until they get married. More casual and less well-dressed than in Baku.
Competition: In my limited observation, weak. A lot of Georgian guys struck me as beta nice guys, bordering on extreme thirst, I was told that most people meet through social circle, though meeting through nightlife is become more popular. There are a lot of foreigners living in the city so you aren’t going to be very “exotic” and I saw a few groups around, but they were never a factor.
Shopping: There is a large, modern supermarket called Smart (or Smarti), which is open 24/7, next to the Wendys (yes there is a Wendys in Tbilisi and I’d be a liar if I denied partaking in a guilty pleasure once or twice) That has pretty much everything you can think of, bonus try to spit game at the girls trying to sell in the wine/alcohol department. Also, if you buy fruits and vegetables, you need to find a worker to weigh and give you a price code for your food, they won’t do it at the checkout counter. Aside from that there are numerous shops and markets near old city and on random streets.
Cafes: Numerous cafes in the city, but I usually went to: Prospero’s Books and Calibaris Coffeehouse, ex-pat friendly, western-style coffeehouse conducive to lounging, writing or reading, with a large selection of coffee, teas and sandwiches.
Restaurants: Khinkhali is the local specialty and is served in numerous restaurants in the city. I found Georgian food to be very tasty and will mention some of the other spots as I neglected to write down every restaurant I went to. Expect to pay a premium for sushi/fish.
- Buddha Bar: Thai/Japanese/Sushi spot, a splurge and definitely the most expensive meal I had. Has a bar on the lower level with occasional special events, but was completely dead the one Friday night I went.
- Organique Josper: Georgian/Ukrainian steakhouse/restaurant. Good food at moderate, yet reasonable prices.
- Wok café: noodle spot, good for a cheap, quick bite to eat.
- Ronny’s: reasonable facsimile of American style pizza.
- Tartine Brassiere: French restaurant with a satisfying inclusive soup/sandwich/drink lunch. Traditional French menu (fois gras, etc) for dinner.
- Q Lounge: average international menu, 40 lari table minimum on Friday/Saturday.
Nightlife: Decent on Friday/Saturday, might have trouble finding something good the rest of the week. No issues for entry at any place I went. Limes were also somewhat rare (as was the case in Baku). Concentrated around Rustavelli metro and old city. There are also several casinos, but never stepped to any of them and there are a lot of strip clubs, but avoided those as well. ONS are possible, but are the exception not the rule.
- Night Office: Younger crowd, picked up my Georgian flag from this club. 10 lair entrance, had a program for Thursday-Sunday night, but only went once on a Saturday.
- Medusa: Thursday-Saturday they open up the other half of the lounge at 10pm. Well-dressed girls, hookah spot, never was slammed, but a couple groups of girls, who mostly all smoke so asking for a light is a good strategy here. Picked up an Iranian girl, who was visiting her obese cousin that worked in the city, from here.
- Café Gallery: pretty tame during the week, but packed on weekends and they open the upper level as well. Also, the best late night spot (keeps going until after 4am, whereas most spots wind down around 3am). Downside is known as the gay spot, but was never an issue.
- Senate Club: the outlier as far as clubs go and you will need to take a bus/taxi to get to/from there. It was heavily hyped to me, but was a complete airball the night I went, probably better to try it out on a night they have a program going. There are two restaurants next to it, one of which is open 24/7.
- Urban: Nice spot, well-dressed girls. Focused heavily around tables with a small dance floor/bar. Will require infiltrating one of the groups to meet girls.
- Step: Small, circular bar, decent late-night spot on Thursdays.
- Unique: Okay spot, two levels, probably best in the summer when they open the top floor on warm days. Note, in the same building that has Unique there is a Karaoke bar (2nd floor) and another bar/restaurant (ground level). The bar/restaurant on ground level was more packed than Unique the night I went and also had live music.
- Fido Irish pub: Decent the two times I stopped by. Expat heavy.
- Canudos Ethnic Bar: Hyped to me, but pretty tame the one Saturday I stopped by there (after two weeks of looking for it).
- Skyy Bar/City Club: Co-located, Skyy Bar is a rooftop bar, city club is in the basement, I wanted to check these places out but they both had a 30 lair minimum and wasn’t interested in staying that long, so I bounced.
- Bed Lounge: rolled here with a group, but it was dead/closing at 3am, maybe good earlier.
Other places that were mentioned to me or I saw, but never went: Moscow Club and Bank Club.