- Fortress entry
- Free, ridge open all hours
- Cable car
- 2.50 GEL on Metromoney
- Private bath
- from 130 GEL/hour
- Walk between
- 15 minutes downhill
- Order
- Fortress first, bath last
Narikala Fortress and the Abanotubani sulphur baths face each other across old Tbilisi, about 15 minutes apart on foot - the classic half-day pairing. Done in the right order it is the best afternoon in the city. Done wrong, you climb the steep lane twice and queue for a bath room you could have booked.
The right order: fortress first, bath after
Start at Rike Park and take the cable car up to Narikala - 2.50 GEL each way on a Metromoney card (the card itself costs a few lari and works on the metro and buses too; the cable car runs roughly 10:00 to 22:00). Fortress entry is free and the ridge is open around the clock, but note the upper walls have been fenced off since late 2023 and were still closed in October 2026 - you walk the ramparts and the Mother of Georgia statue, not the interior towers. Allow 60-90 minutes. Then descend the paved Sololaki lane - about 20 minutes downhill, steep in places - which lands you near the baths. A private room soak is the reward, not the warm-up: nobody wants to climb back up wet.
Book the bath room before you leave the hotel
This is the step people miss. The known bathhouses take bookings for private rooms, and on autumn evenings same-day walk-ins routinely wait an hour or find nothing. Current prices from Tbilisi bathhouse guides: Chreli Abano (open roughly 09:00-23:00) starts from about 130 GEL per hour for its small Room 6 for 1-2 people, 160-200 GEL for larger rooms and 500 GEL for the VIP suite - priced per room, not per person, so a couple pays the same as one. The blue-tiled Orbeliani Baths runs about 150-300 GEL per room. Public communal halls are far cheaper at around 10-20 GEL, but they are gender-segregated, naked-bathing affairs - most Indian families prefer the private room, and it is the option worth paying for.
The hidden complications
The Sololaki descent is paved but steep - fine down, a workout up; if knees are a concern, walk down and take a 4-7 GEL Bolt back up rather than reversing. The bath lanes themselves have uneven cobbles and low doorways, and the Abanotubani quarter is not wheelchair accessible. Sessions run on the hour - arrive ten minutes early. Bring nothing: rooms include towels, and scrub/massage add-ons cost extra cash on the spot. One more timing trap: the cable car stops for high wind, which closes the easy route up - the fallback is the Betlemi street steps from the old town, genuinely steep, so check before promising parents the easy version.
Fit this half-day into the wider plan with the 3-day Tbilisi itinerary; the April-June weather guide covers the best season for it.
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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