Abanotubani is the most unusual historical district of the Georgian capital. There you won’t see medieval churches, elegant imperial buildings or old Tiflis barracks with carved wooden balconies and stained glass windows. This quarter is entirely dedicated to thermal baths. There, a unique bath culture for the Caucasus was formed, similar to that which existed in ancient states and still exists in the Middle East.
A visit to the sulfur baths is an integral part of the life of every native Tbilisian, as well as a mandatory item in the excursion program of tourists. To paraphrase a Parisian expression about the Montmartre hill, we can say: “whoever has not been to Abanotubani has not seen Tbilisi!”
Description of the best baths, location on the city map and photos
Abanotubani consists of 10 bath complexes . They are buildings of the 17th-19th centuries in Persian and modern style. Inside them are located:
- locker rooms;
- halls and lounges;
- massage rooms;
- bars;
- billiard rooms and other similar premises.
The baths and steam rooms themselves are located outside the buildings in dome-shaped buildings, which stick out from the ground here and there in different parts of the quarter.
Baths differ according to the following criteria:
- the size of the complex and the number of steam rooms;
- architectural features;
- richness of furnishings and variety of services.
The last criterion affects the cost of visiting. The price category can be divided into three types :
- cheap public steam rooms;
- middle class;
- elite baths for wealthy citizens and tourists.
Before paying for passage, you can go inside, evaluate the level of comfort and water temperature, and then make a choice - to move on or stay there. Very comfortably.
The following is a description and photo that can help you decide which bathhouse to visit from the most interesting establishments in the baths quarter.
Motley
Also called Orbelian or blue. The most aesthetic building from the architectural ensemble of Abanotubani. It got its name because of the blue tiles with ornaments with which its façade is richly decorated. Outwardly, it looks more like a madrasah or a Shah's palace than a bathhouse.
The building is made in an indescribable Persian style. This is especially clearly expressed in the entrance group: a lancet arch, trimmed along the perimeter with lancet masonry, and inside it there are two rows of lancet windows separated by a balcony. At the corners of the roof there are two minaret towers, because of which the bathhouse is often mistaken for a mosque.
Inside the complex there are 12 rooms accommodating from 2 to 9 people:
- № 1,2 – 4-6 people – 120 GEL;
- № 3 – 6 people – 100 GEL;
- № 4 (named after the writer Alexander Dumas the Father) – 6 people – 150 GEL;
- № 5 (named in honor of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin) – 6 people – 130 GEL;
- № 7,10 – 3 people – 100 GEL;
- № 8,9 – 2 people – 50 GEL;
- № 11 – 9 people – 300 GEL;
- “Royal room” – 500 GEL.
It is worth booking rooms one day before the visit, and on holidays - several days before the visit. Otherwise, you won't find any empty seats.
At different times, Alexander Dumas Sr. and Pushkin rested here. Both writers left laudatory reviews. A quote from the luminary of Russian poetry was cut out on a marble tablet and hung on one of the walls. It reads: “I have never seen anything more luxurious than the Tiflis baths.” It's hard to disagree with him.
- Opening hours : from 8:00 to 00:00.
- Cost : from 50 to 500 GEL.
- Address and coordinates : MRQ6+27 Tbilisi (41.687580, 44.810736).
№5
If the Orbelian bathhouse is intended for wealthy visitors, then bathhouse No. 5 is a purely “proletarian” establishment with corresponding prices. Its current name appeared in 1925, when the Soviet authorities requisitioned the building and set up public washrooms in it. Not only the name, but also the aesthetics of some of the premises remain from the USSR.
The complex has two owners who divided it into establishments: “VIP” and No. 5 . The last of them, which is more budget-friendly, has the following rooms:
- common for women and men;
- general male;
- general female;
- 5 rooms with private pool and shower;
- 3 suites.
There is no swimming pool in the women's room, so you shouldn't visit it - you'll be wasting your money. All the benefits of hydrogen sulfide water appear only when completely immersed in it. Choose from a common room or private rooms with a swimming pool.
- Opening hours : common rooms from 8:00 to 21:00. Private numbers – 24 hours a day.
- Cost : general steam room - 3 GEL, rooms - from 50 GEL.
Reference! The prices here are just cheap. For example, a massage will cost only 10 GEL, and you can bargain. However, some tourists may be charged 2-3 times more than usual. Don't give in to provocation. - Address and coordinates : 4 Mirza Fatali Akhudovi (41.688760, 44.811377).
VIP
An elite establishment where VIPs like to relax. Politicians, pop and show business stars, entrepreneurs - this is his main audience. Rumor has it that the patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church likes to steam bones here. Ordinary Tbilisi residents and poor tourists often encounter the local and visiting elite in the lobby.
The establishment does not have private rooms, but only one common room. Staying there will cost from $50 per hour. Often rich clients rent it entirely, but most of the time you can get there without prior reservation, simply by joining other vacationers.
- Opening hours : around the clock.
- Cost : from 150 GEL.
- Address and coordinates : in the same place as the previous premises.
Gulo (Bakhmaro)
This bathhouse is famous for several reasons:
- Firstly, among the townspeople it is considered the cleanest, since the water in its pools is changed not once a week on Sunday, but twice a day.
- Secondly, the British singer Sting visited her during a concert tour in Georgia.
- Thirdly, she has several names, which are often confused between: “Bakhmaro”, “Garrison” and “Gulo”.
Locals call it “Garrison” because it once belonged to the Tbilisi garrison of the Transcaucasian Military District of the USSR Armed Forces. Two other names are given in honor of the owner of the establishment - Guliko and the resort village of Bakhmaro.
There are several rooms: single and shared . Each has:
- shared locker room (which is somewhat inconvenient for mixed-sex groups);
- pools with hot hydrogen sulfide and ordinary cold water;
- stone loungers for massage and washing.
The toilet is sometimes located outside.
The establishment is considered elite, which negatively affects the price tag. At the same time, the decoration is inferior to the Orbelian or Royal Bath. The atmosphere in Gulo is like in an ordinary provincial sauna. It is unlikely that the aforementioned Sting would return here a second time. It’s just that at the time of his arrival, the Motley Bath was closed for repairs and the singer was taken to a place with the cleanest water.
- Opening hours : from 7:00 to 03:00.
- Cost : from 50 GEL.
- Address and coordinates : Ioseb Grishashvili St (41.687806, 44.811149).
Mirzoevskaya (Bohemia)
Tbilisi baths were renamed several times. As often happens with street names, new names did not always take root, and people stubbornly continued to use the old names. The same story happened with the Mirzoevsky baths (now Bohemia). This often confuses tourists. They read about one establishment on the Internet, and when they arrive at the right address, they see a completely different sign.
The establishment has 15 rooms of varying sizes. The atmosphere inside is reminiscent of a spa at any five-star hotel in Turkey.
- Opening hours : from 9:00 to 23:30.
- Cost : from 50 GEL.
- Address and coordinates : 11 Ioseb Grishashvili St (41.687673, 44.811596).
Queen's Bath
It was once part of the Mirzoevsky Baths complex, but after privatization it was allocated as an independent institution with three common rooms:
- two men's;
- one female.
The general steam room is comparable in price to bathhouse No. 5, but they look much better. In addition, in the women's hall there is a bath with hydrogen sulfide water, while in the “five” it is absent.
- Opening hours : from 10:00 to 21:00.
- Cost : 5-15 GEL.
- Address and coordinates : 18 Ioseb Grishashvili St (41.687855, 44.811880).
King Heraclius
An establishment with 4 rooms. Each of them has a swimming pool, and some even have a sauna. The atmosphere inside is different. There are beautiful and tastefully furnished rooms, but there are also frankly Soviet ones. There are floors with slabs of granite chips, the walls are lined with cheap bath tiles, and the ceiling is lined with a “mosaic” of pieces of broken tiles.
The main advantage of Iraklia is the price. For a room with such modest furnishings they will ask only 30-50 GEL, which is quite cheap by the standards of Abanotubani.
Reference! In the same building there is a “Royal Bath” with 5 rooms, priced from 50 lire.
- Opening hours : around the clock.
- Cost : from 50 liras.
- Address and coordinates : 2 Abano St (41.687890, 44.810900).
Gulo
Located at: Grishashvili st., 5.
Information can be found by phone: +995-032-272-05-94, +995-577-588-122, +995-599-588-122, as well as on the website: www.thermal.ge and Facebook page ": www.facebook.com/tbilisithermalspa. A visit will cost 30–200 GEL, the most popular rooms cost 70-80.
The entrance door is located a little to the side, not immediately visible, so there are fewer visitors here, which means it is better to head here during the tourist season. Among the celebrities, singer Sting was here when he performed in Georgia. If you check with the staff which number was provided to them, you can ask them to send you to it.
It’s probably unlikely that Sting would be offered this option today. But then the Orbelianovskaya bathhouse was undergoing renovation, and the list of the best was topped by “Gulo”. Important factors must also have been the excellent location, easy access to the building and relative privacy.
The price tag here is significantly more loyal than that of Orbelianovskaya, and in order to be able to adequately compare these options, we will consider the most expensive and comfortable Gulo offices. For example, a hall with two pools: hot and cold - will cost 70 lari ($26).
Possessing sufficient space, it is decorated very modestly; the only impressive thing is the mosaic panel on the wall.
The locker room here is combined with the hall, so groups of friends of different sexes have to agree on the order. Only the toilet is a separate room, but you need to go to it at the farthest end, closer to the pools, and for this you will need to wear street shoes.
During the cold season, it can be cool inside. Even at subzero temperatures, cold air from the street can penetrate here, making the water seem unbearably hot. Entering the pool in such conditions can be difficult and not the most pleasant sensation. However, it will be easier when you enter again.
But diving for the recommended 15 minutes is much easier than with more respectable neighbors. And how nice it is to go from hot water to refreshing cold water located next door. In the hot season, plunging into hot hydrogen sulfide liquid is much easier, and rinsing in cold liquid is simply delightful.
Everything you need for bath procedures is sold as a set: towel, sheet and shampoo. All this costs 5 lari (about 2 dollars). Rubber slippers are provided, which, however, have been used by other visitors before you.
After a swim, you can still soak up the soft sofa in the common lounge. You will have time to cool down, dry your head, drink tea or water. This is especially important in cold weather, when it is so easy to catch a cold while rushing out after water treatments.
How to get to the Abanotubani district from the center of the capital of Georgia?
Consider the option of traveling or traveling to Orbeliani from the city center, and specifically from Freedom Square.
On foot
The walking route is 1.3 km long and takes approximately 20 minutes.
Most of the journey takes place along the walking street. Kote Abkhazi, on both sides of which there are several attractions and countless cafes and boutiques. Follow it straight all the time until at the end you see the street. Abano (bathhouse). You can also walk to the baths along the eastern bank of the Kura :
- Walk a little along Kote Abkhazi to the Peace Bridge.
- Cross it to Rike Park, walk along it to the European Square (landmark is a huge monument to Vakhtang Gorgasali on a horse and the church behind it).
- At the square, cross the river along the Metekhi bridge and turn onto the street. Abano.
By car
Distance 2.3 km:
- on the street Pushkin to st. Baratishvili;
- along it across the Baratishvili bridge we move to the eastern side of the Kura and find ourselves on the street. Noe Jordania Bank and we drive along it to the European Square;
- at the square we turn onto the Metekhi Bridge and drive along it to the street. Abano.
If there are no traffic jams, the journey will take 5-7 minutes.
By bus
There are no metro stations near Abanotubani . But there are buses going there with the numbers:
- 31;
- 44;
- 50;
- 55;
- 71;
- 80;
- 102.
Ticket price is 50 tetri.
Taxi
The cost of a taxi within the center varies between 3-10 lari . But it’s better not to spend this money and walk. Whichever direction you approach the baths from, there will always be something to see along the way.
How to get to the sulfur baths of Tbilisi
The baths are located in one place: the Abanotubani district, the nearest metro station is Freedom Square, from there you need to go down to the Kura along Kote Abkhazi Street (formerly Leselidze Street) , then along the river past Meydani Square along Gorgasali Street to Abano Street . As a reference point, you can use the newly built Heydar Aliyev Square, which is located right in the Abanotubani area.
The Tbilisi sulfur baths occupy an entire block - the entrances to many of them are located on Grishashvili Street. Navigator coordinates: 41.68812, 44.81099.
Brief instructions for first-time visitors to such an establishment
- We buy an entrance ticket at the box office. There you can also rent swimwear and purchase hygiene products for a small fee.
- We provide the ticket to the bathhouse attendants at the entrance to a particular branch.
- We receive the keys to a personal locker from the service staff.
- Go to the bathhouse. In the center there is a shower with sulfur water. Wash under it until clean. There you are allowed to scrape the skin with a washcloth.
- After your shower, soak in the sulfur bath for 5 minutes. The procedure must be repeated three to five times. This time will be quite enough to reveal the healing properties of water.
- In between swims, relax on the warm marble sun loungers. To avoid getting bored with them, order a sponge massage.
- After the procedures, wash thoroughly in a fresh shower, and then drink fragrant herbal tea in the relaxation room, which will be offered by the bathhouse attendant. It will restore the water balance and slightly eliminate the unpleasant smell of hydrogen sulfide.
Other recommendations:
- A ticket to the public bathhouse gives you the right to stay in it for at least the whole day. But it is better not to abuse hospitality.
- The water leaves a faint smell of rotten eggs on the skin and hair. But don’t be afraid that the locals will wrinkle their noses at the sight of you and avoid you as if you were an unscrupulous person. They know very well what sulfur baths are and what their smell is.
- Sulfur water instantly oxidizes silver. Remove jewelry before swimming.
- Immerse yourself in hydrogen sulfide water for no more than 10 minutes, and limit the number of dives to 3-5. A long stay in it will reduce the healing effect to nothing or even cause harm.
- The optimal water temperature of + 37°C is observed in the morning and in bathhouses close to the hills. It is not recommended to go there at noon, especially in winter. Better early in the morning or late in the evening.
- The water in the pools is usually changed on the night from Sunday to Monday. The common room is cleaned the least often. Therefore, you should not go there at the end of the week and especially on weekends, when literally the whole city washes there.
Benefits and harms
Sulfur water contains a large amount of minerals:
- sulfur;
- magnesium;
- calcium;
- lime.
It also contains small impurities:
- methane;
- argon;
- nitrogen;
- radioactive gas - radon.
All this together gives an unpleasant odor but a very useful effect that allows you to treat such diseases and pathologies:
- almost all types of arthritis;
- skin;
- genitourinary system;
- some types of cardiovascular diseases;
- some types of endocrine diseases;
- neuroses;
- injuries and postoperative sutures.
Also water:
- stabilizes blood pressure;
- improves blood circulation;
- and simply kills germs.
Short story
Legend says that once upon a time the founder, King Vakhtang Gorgasali (founder of Tbilisi), hunted in these lands along with his falcon.
They hit a pheasant, which fell down like a stone. When the nobleman found the carcass, he discovered that it had been boiled in a thermal spring, and a falcon was sitting on top of it. The king liked the place so much that he ordered the construction of baths on this site .
It is not known how true this story is, but one thing is certain - hot hydrogen sulfide springs were one of the main reasons for choosing the site for the construction of Tbilisi. This is evidenced by the name of the city, which comes from the word “tbili” (warm).
The first baths appeared here in the 1st-2nd centuries, and the current complexes were built in the period from the 17th to the 19th centuries. A separate layer of urban culture formed around them. As in ancient Rome and the countries of the East, they served not only for washing and healing, but also as original clubs. They gathered there to exchange news, feast, make deals and just relax.
What is Abanotubani
The sulfur baths in Tbilisi are a famous and unique landmark of Georgia. This is a complex of baths called Abanotubani, built on natural sulfur springs in the 16th-19th centuries.
Sulfur baths of Abanotubani
The name Abanotubani itself comes from the merger of the Georgian words abano (i.e. bathhouse) and ubani (district). That is, literally this is the bathhouse area.
Today there are about a dozen sulfur baths in Old Tbilisi. Together they make up an entire city block. The exact time of appearance of each bath is not known, but the oldest is considered to be Iraklievskaya, known since the 16th century.
It is no coincidence that Tiflis was built on warm springs. They have always served as a swimming place for the local residents. In the Abanotubani area, archaeologists found baths of the 1st-2nd centuries, with changing rooms and mosaic pools. The city even got its name from the word tbili (or tefili), which means warm.
Sulfur baths Tbilisi:
- Motley Bath (Orbelianovskaya)
- Bathhouse No. 5
- Mirzoevsky baths (Tsarina bath + Fantasy bath)
- Bathhouse Gulo
- Royal Bath (Royal)
- Iraklievskaya bath
- VIP bathhouse (part of bathhouse No. 5)
All of these baths have traditional steam rooms (Finnish saunas and Turkish hammams), hot sulfur pools and pools filled with mineral water. Taking a dip in a cool spring after a steam room is a mandatory part of the program.
A holiday in Abanotubani will not be complete without a bathhouse attendant. For 20 GEL, they offer a classic foam peeling (about the same as in Turkish hamams). If desired, you can order any other massage: chocolate, sports, relaxing or perhaps wine.
