What to do in Tbilisi on a rainy day

These are the stops that hold up when the pavements are wet. All are indoors or covered, all sit in or near the old town, and all can be reached on foot or by one short metro ride. Prices are 2026 estimates in lari; confirm at the door, since Tbilisi venues change hours often.

Start with the baths if you have not been. A private room with hot sulphur water is the single best thing to do in Tbilisi in the rain: you are wet anyway, and you leave warm. Book ahead on weekends. Then walk five minutes uphill to the National Museum for goldwork and the Soviet-era archive. Finish in Sololaki with a glass of saperavi while the streets drain.

Almost everything above sits in a small triangle: Abanotubani and the baths at the south-east of the old town, Liberty Square in the middle, Rustaveli Avenue running north-west, and Marjanishvili and Fabrika across the river to the north. You can walk the whole triangle in about 35 minutes in dry weather; in rain, use the metro between Liberty Square, Rustaveli and Marjanishvili and walk only the short ends.

Coordinates below are approximate, good enough for a map pin, not for a door.

Rain in Tbilisi usually arrives as a hard burst rather than a grey all-day drizzle, so the practical move is to wait it out indoors for an hour or two and then carry on. Check the radar in the morning and put the outdoor plan — Narikala, the old town lanes, the botanical garden — on the dry half of the day.

Streets in the old town are cobbled and steep, and they get slick. Wear shoes with grip, not smooth soles. Carry a small umbrella rather than a big one: the lanes are narrow and the wind funnels between buildings. A light rain shell beats a coat you have to carry when the sun returns.

Taxis are cheap and apps work well, but demand spikes in a downpour and the old town one-way streets slow everything. The metro is the reliable dry option; buy a Metromoney card at any station and top it up. Buses and the funicular use the same card.

If you are travelling with children, the baths and the museum are the two easiest wins, and both have toilets and somewhere to sit. For a free rainy hour, the churches in the old town cost nothing and are dry, but keep voices down during services.

Tbilisi is wettest in late spring and early summer, when thunderstorms build over the Caucasus in the afternoon and dump for an hour. April, May and June give you the most rain days, but also the most green and the longest evenings once the shower passes. Autumn, September and October, is drier and the best all-round window for the city.

Winter rain is less common than winter grey; expect cold, damp days rather than downpours, and short daylight. Summer is hot and mostly dry, with the occasional violent evening storm. If your trip is fixed and rain is likely, front-load the indoor list and keep the mountain day — Kazbegi, Kakheti — for the clearest forecast, since those roads are worse in wet weather.