Kutaisi Travel Guide: Discover Georgia’s Most Underrated City

Kutaisi doesn’t rush. The Rioni River winds through the city at its own pace. Old men play backgammon in parks where Soviet monuments stand alongside 11th-century churches. Women sell adjika and churchkhela at the Green Bazaar using the same wooden spoons their grandmothers used. This is Georgia without the tourist polish – authentic, slightly rough around the edges, and all the more beautiful for it.

Why Kutaisi Deserves More Than a Quick Airport Stop

Most international visitors land at Kutaisi International Airport (thanks to Wizz Air’s budget flights from Europe), grab a marshrutka to Tbilisi, and never look back. That’s a mistake.

Kutaisi is Georgia’s third-largest city, but calling it a city feels wrong. It’s more like an oversized village where everyone knows someone who knows everyone. The cafes close when the owner gets tired. The museum opens when the curator arrives. This isn’t inefficiency—it’s a different way of living.

What makes Kutaisi special: This is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world—older than Rome, older than Athens. Ancient Greeks knew it as Aia, the legendary capital of Colchis, where Jason came searching for the Golden Fleece. Archaeologists keep finding stuff here: Colchian gold jewelry, Bronze Age weapons, evidence of settlement going back 4,000 years.

But Kutaisi isn’t living in the past. The city center buzzes with cafes serving natural wine and experimental Georgian fusion. Street art covers Soviet-era buildings. The synagogues and Catholic churches remind you that Georgia’s always been more diverse than outsiders realize.

Getting to Kutaisi: Your Gateway to Western Georgia

Flying into Kutaisi International Airport

Kutaisi International Airport (KUT) sits about 20 kilometers from the city center. Wizz Air operates most flights here—cheap connections from Budapest, Warsaw, Milan, Vienna, and other European cities. If you’re flying from Israel, this is often your most affordable entry point to Georgia.

Airport to city transport:

• Official shuttle bus: Runs 24/7, departing every 2 hours. Costs 5 GEL and drops you near the city center. Buy tickets at the airport counter.
• Taxi via Bolt app: 20-25 GEL (about €7-8). Always use Bolt or Maxim rather than airport taxis—the pricing is transparent, and you avoid negotiation headaches.
• Private transfer: Pre-book through services like GoTrip if arriving late at night. More expensive but stress-free.

The airport itself is small and efficient. You’ll clear customs quickly. Get a SIM card from Magti or Beeline at the airport—10 GEL for the card, data packages from 5 GEL. You’ll need internet for Bolt and navigation.

Arriving by Train from Tbilisi

The overnight train from Tbilisi to Kutaisi is romantic but impractical for most travelers. Better option: take the train to Rioni Station (not Kutaisi Station)—it’s on the main east-west line with more frequent, modern services. From Rioni, it’s a 20-minute taxi ride (10-12 GEL via Bolt) or you can catch the #3 city bus.

Day trains from Tbilisi to Rioni take about 5 hours and cost 15-20 GEL depending on class. Book tickets through the Georgian Railway website or at the station.

Marshrutka from Tbilisi

Marshrutkas (minibuses) run frequently between Tbilisi’s Didube Station and Kutaisi. Cost: about 15 GEL, journey time 3-4 hours. They leave when full, so timing can be unpredictable. Comfortable enough, but not luxurious.

Kutaisi City Center: Where Old Meets Older

Archil Gegenava photography

The Colchis Fountain: Gateway to Ancient Legends

The golden fountain dominates Kutaisi’s main square like a sun rising from the pavement. Those aren’t random decorations – each golden figure is an enlarged replica of tiny ritual objects found in ancient Colchian burial sites across Imereti. The famous Tamada toastmaster, those magnificent stags, the twin horses crowning the fountain – all based on Bronze Age artifacts that are 2,500+ years old.

At night, the fountain lights up in shifting colors while cars circle the roundabout in organized chaos. There’s no pedestrian crossing – you just wait for a gap and go. Welcome to Kutaisi.

The fountain anchors everything. From here, you can walk to most central attractions in 10-15 minutes. It’s where locals meet, where tour groups congregate, where teenage boys show off on motorbikes, and old women sell flowers from buckets.

Walking Through Kutaisi’s Historic Heart

Boulevard (Central Park) stretches south from the Colchis Fountain—a tree-lined promenade that was once a royal garden. The colonnaded entrance, grand fountains, and scattered sculptures dedicated to Imeretian artists give it a slightly faded European elegance. My favorite statue honors the Sisters Ishkhneli, a 1940s folk quartet from Kutaisi who became legends across the Soviet Union.

Note: As of early 2025, the park is closed for major renovations and will reopen with a new look in mid-2025.

The architecture surrounding the park tells Kutaisi’s story in stone. On Paliashvili Street, that pink building with ornate balconies- pure 19th-century merchant class showing off. The Soviet Kutaisi City Hall on Rustaveli Street looks exactly like what it is: bureaucratic power rendered in concrete.

My favorite building? The Andronikashvili Brothers’ House on the south side—built around 1880, featuring gorgeous stucco work and corner balconies that catch afternoon light perfectly. These merchant brothers made fortunes trading and decided everyone should know it.

The Meskhishvili Theatre and Cultural Scene

The rotund Meskhishvili Theatre sits behind the Colchis Fountain as a well-fed grandmother watching her grandchildren play. Established in 1861, it’s one of Georgia’s oldest theaters. The interior isn’t as opulent as Tbilisi’s Opera House, but there’s something intimate about the 830-seat hall. They stage regular performances—mostly in Georgian, obviously—but the experience matters more than understanding every word. Check the schedule online if you’re interested.

Next door, the State Opera Theatre, built in 196,9 has those ten Greco-Roman statues standing proudly on the highest pillars. They replaced the older Kharazov Theatre, which burned down in 1946. Kutaisians still argue about whether the Soviet replacement improved or destroyed the city’s aesthetic.

Kutaisi’s Symbol: Chamomile Crossings

Walk across any zebra crossing in central Kutaisi, and you’ll see white and yellow flowers painted on the stripes. These are chamomiles – another Kutaisi symbol. Every May 2nd, the city celebrates Kutaisoba (also called Gviriloba, the “chamomile festival”), honoring a 19th-century tradition where Kutaisian schoolgirls sold flowers in the streets to raise money for the local tuberculosis hospital.

The festival fills the streets with flower vendors, traditional music, and that particular Georgian combination of reverence and celebration. If you’re here in early May, don’t miss it.

The Green Bazaar: Kutaisi’s Real Heart

Forget monuments – if you want to understand Kutaisi, go to the Green Bazaar. This isn’t a tourist market. This is where locals shop, argue about prices, taste before buying, and catch up on neighborhood gossip.

The covered market divides into sections: the main floor has mountains of seasonal produce—bundles of tarragon and kinza (coriander), wreaths of dried peppers, persimmons in autumn, cherries in summer. The elevated level holds a photogenic spice shop selling adjika, Svanetian salt, and Imeretian tea leaves. The central hall is all cheese and dairy – taste the Imeretian cheese that goes into proper khachapuri. It’s salty, tangy, nothing like the bland stuff sold as “Georgian cheese” abroad.

Outside corridors have honey vendors. In spring, you’ll find Orthodox Easter supplies, including different shades of red dye for coloring eggs.

Kolkhida bas-relief: Don’t miss the massive Soviet-era sculpture on the market’s facade. Artist Bernard Nebieridze spent 10 years creating this rust-colored panel depicting Medea, Jason, and the Golden Fleece interwoven with Kutaisi imagery. He died before completing it; his colleagues finished the work. It’s stunning—you can see why Soviet public art, when done well, still moves people decades later.

Behind the market on Varlamishvili Street, tiny hole-in-the-wall shops sell homemade cheese and chacha (grape brandy). Old men peer out from behind stacked bottles, eager to offer samples. On the opposite side, a small undercover flower market operates year-round.

Practical tips:

• Visit no earlier than 10 AM – vendors need time to set up
• Bring cash; cards don’t work everywhere
• Try Bread and Wine cafe inside the market for fresh khachapuri and lobiani
• Cafe Richard coffee stand at the corner makes decent coffee

Near the market, check out the outdoor book market on the park’s edge. Most books are Georgian or Russian, but patient browsing sometimes yields English treasures. I found a first-edition Nabokov there once for 10 lari.

Kutaisi’s Jewish Quarter: A Story of Coexistence

Georgia’s Jewish community—the Gurjim or Kartveli Ebraelebi—traces its lineage to families who migrated from Babylon in the 6th century BC. Kutaisi once had one of Georgia’s largest Jewish populations. Most departed for Israel in the 1960s-70s, but the community’s architectural legacy remains.

The Jewish Quarter extends along Jerusalem Street (Bethlemi), Newport Street, and Gaponov Street. The monumental Kutaisi Synagogue (completed 1886) is Georgia’s second-largest after Tbilisi’s Great Synagogue. The symmetrical stone facade and extravagant painted interior demonstrate how established and prosperous Kutaisi’s Jewish community was.

Visiting hours: The synagogue opens for a couple of hours most mornings, between 8-10 AM. Ring the bell; someone usually answers. Be respectful—this is an active house of worship.

A second, smaller synagogue added in 1912 sits on the eastern side of the same lot. The complex also contained a matza bakery and school. A third synagogue, the Old Synagogue, built in 1852, stands further down Gaponov Street. It remains locked, but you can admire the exterior.

Streets between synagogues feature row houses and old shops, some marked with the Star of David. The neighborhood has that quiet, slightly faded feeling of places where history happened, but most actors have left the stage.

For Israeli visitors: Kutaisi’s Jewish heritage offers a fascinating glimpse into Georgia’s multi-ethnic history. The relationship between Georgian Jews and Orthodox Georgians was remarkably harmonious—no pogroms, no forced conversions, genuine coexistence for centuries. Many Israelis have Georgian roots and visit Kutaisi specifically to connect with that heritage.

In front of the main synagogue, a memorial honors Boris Gaponov, one of Kutaisi’s most beloved Jewish figures. He translated Shota Rustaveli’s The Knight in the Panther’s Skin into Hebrew—a cultural bridge between Georgian and Jewish literary traditions. He died in 1972 and remains revered by Kutaisians regardless of their background.

If you’re interested in Jewish history, also visit the Old Jewish Cemetery in Sapichkhia district—crumbling headstones among overgrown grass, Hebrew inscriptions fading in the weather.

The Catholic (French) Quarter and Holy Annunciation Temple

Kutaisi’s Catholic Quarter centers around the Holy Annunciation Temple, built in 1862 by King Solomon II. Capuchin missionaries settled here in the 17th century, establishing a French-speaking Catholic community—hence “French Quarter,” though the families were actually Georgian Catholics.

The temple’s robust arched facade and interior frescoes look atypical for Georgia. The “Immaculate Conception” inscription is especially unusual – Orthodox churches would never use this specifically Catholic theological term. During Soviet times, the building served as a concert hall. There’s a debate about whether it was “converted” or “reconverted” to Orthodox – it depends who you ask.

The architecture around the temple is beautiful. Check out the ornate corner buildings with shaped windows, and the symmetrical former Military Commandant’s Office on Dvalishvili Street.

Walk to the end of the quarter, and you’ll find St. George’s Church, originally an Armenian Apostolic church, also now Orthodox. The yard offers lovely views over the Rioni River.

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Bridges, Rivers, and Riverside Life

The Rioni River defines Kutaisi as much as any monument. Fast-flowing, moody, changing color with the seasons—locals have complicated relationships with it. It floods sometimes. It’s beautiful always.

White Bridge (1872)

The White Bridge connects the old town to the residential areas across the Rioni. Built in 1872 by French engineers, it features a perspex floor in sections where you can see the river churning below. Metal panels inscribed with snippets of Georgian poetry line the sides—fragments from famous writers reflecting on love, loss, and home.

The statue of Picasso’s Boy stands at the center—a character from Rezo Gabriadze’s film An Unusual Exhibition. It commemorates an old Kutaisi custom called “Baptism as a Kutaisian,” where young men jumped off the bridge into the Rioni to prove their manhood. Thankfully, no longer practiced—the Rioni’s current is dangerous.

White Stones Cafe at the bridge’s end was a meeting place for the Blue Horns literary collective in the 1920s. These poets—Titsian Tabidze, Paolo Iashvili, and others—revolutionized Georgian poetry before Stalin’s purges destroyed them. Their ghosts linger in Kutaisi’s cafes.

Red Bridge (Tsiteli Khidi)

The Red Bridge was manufactured in France at Gustave Eiffel’s factory – yes, that Eiffel. It’s smaller, less famous than the Eiffel’s Paris, but there’s something touching about this utilitarian structure connecting Kutaisi’s neighborhoods. Walking across it at sunset, watching light catch the metal framework, you understand why Georgians romanticize their bridges.

Chain Bridge (1770s)

Kutaisi’s oldest river crossing, the Chain Bridge, sits on the site of a 5th-century structure. The original 1770s support pillars still stand—remarkable engineering from when Kutaisi was the capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. Stilted wooden houses cling to rocks above the water here. In summer, kids jump from the bridge into swimming holes below.

Where to Eat in Kutaisi: Restaurants That Matter

Georgian food needs no introduction – khinkali, khachapuri, chakapuli, badrijani. But Imeretian cuisine has its own character: tangier cheese, more walnuts, and different spice combinations. You’re in the birthplace of Khachapuri Imeruli – that round, cheese-filled bread that became Georgia’s most famous export.

Palaty: Traditional Imeretian in a Historic Mansion

Restaurant Palaty occupies a gorgeous 19th-century mansion in the Sapichkhia district. High ceilings, period furniture, and outdoor garden seating under fruit trees. The menu focuses on traditional Imeretian dishes prepared the old way: khinkali with proper thin dough, ojakhuri (fried potatoes with meat) cooked in clay pans, pkhali vegetable spreads that taste like your grandmother made them (if your grandmother was Georgian).

Portions are enormous. Order conservatively. A meal for two with wine runs about 40-50 GEL—absurdly cheap for this quality.

Lilestan: Imeretian Tasting Board

Lilestan on Tamar Mepe Street serves a generous Imeretian tasting board with local delicacies: different types of cheese, jonjoli (pickled spruce shoots), ghomi (corn porridge), various pkhali, and homemade pickles. It’s perfect if you want to sample everything without ordering individual dishes.

Cafes and Wine Bars: Where Kutaisi Drinks

Foe-Foe Tea House: Vintage Charm

Tea House Foe-Foe epitomizes Kutaisi’s artsy-retro aesthetic. The name means something like “hoity-toity”—and the cafe lives up to it with highfalutin antiques, vintage samovars, and walls covered in sketches by Petre Otskheli, the Kutaisi-born artist who fell victim to Stalin’s purges in 1937.

Gallery Terrace: Rooftop Views

Gallery Terrace occupies the rooftop of that stunning green-and-gold corner building opposite the Opera House (originally the Palace Hotel, built 1910). The views over central Kutaisi are unbeatable, especially at sunset.

Sisters Bar: Local Hangout

Sisters Bar, located in that pretty pink building on the park’s edge, is where young Kutaisians drink. Good cocktail selection, natural wine, relaxed atmosphere. Less touristy than Gallery Terrace, more authentic.

Where to Stay in Kutaisi: Accommodation for Every Budget

Kutaisi’s accommodation scene has improved dramatically in recent years. You’ll find everything from basic hostels to boutique hotels.

Budget:

• Guesthouses: Family-run guesthouses are common and affordable (15-25 GEL per person). Look for places near the Green Bazaar or in Sapichkhia.
• Hostels: Black Tomato and Bao Hostel offer dorm beds from 10-15 GEL.

Mid-range:

• Hotel Varla: Comfortable private rooms, central location, 40-60 GEL per night.
• Hotel Bagineti: Old town location with traditional hospitality, 50-70 GEL.

Boutique/Luxury:

• Communal Kutaisi: Kutaisi’s premier boutique hotel with an outstanding Imeretian restaurant (Doli) and backyard pool. Rooms from 150 GEL.
• Newport Hotel: Iconic location near the Colchis Fountain, rooftop terrace, 4-star service. From 200 GEL.

The UNESCO Trio: Bagrati, Gelati, and Motsameta

Bagrati Cathedral: Kutaisi’s Crown Jewel

Bagrati Cathedral crowns the hill overlooking Kutaisi like a turquoise-domed sentinel. Built in the 11th century, it’s one of Georgia’s most important churches. King David the Builder—who reunified Georgia after defeating the Seljuks—was crowned here. His tomb lies within.

The cathedral was a UNESCO World Heritage Site until controversial restorations got it delisted. Either way, the building is magnificent. The interior frescoes, the emerald roof tiles, the commanding position over the city – all breathtaking.

Gelati Monastery: Where Georgia’s Golden Age Shone Brightest

Gelati Monastery (11 kilometers from Kutaisi) represents Georgia’s Golden Age at its apex. King David the Builder founded it in 1106 as both a monastery and an academy—inviting philosophers, scientists, and intellectuals to establish a center of learning rivaling Constantinople.

The main church features incredible frescoes painted between the 12th and 17th centuries. The emerald-tiled roof gives Gelati its distinctive profile visible from kilometers away.

Note: As of mid-2025, Gelati remains closed for restoration work. It opens on Sundays for services. Check locally before visiting.

Motsameta Monastery: Perched Above the Imereti Valley

Two kilometers downhill from Gelati, Motsameta Monastery offers something Gelati doesn’t: jaw-dropping views across the Imereti countryside. The monastery itself is smaller, more intimate. But the clifftop location is spectacular.

Agro Guesthouse Korena: Lunch with a Legend

Between Gelati and Motsameta, stop at Agro Guesthouse Korena for lunch. The matriarch here is Dali Doghonadze—the same Dali featured in that famous street art mural near the Green Bazaar. At 81, she still bakes khachapuri and teaches cooking classes.

Day Trips from Kutaisi: Caves, Canyons, and Soviet Ruins

Sataplia Nature Reserve and Prometheus Cave

Sataplia Nature Reserve (9 kilometers from Kutaisi) protects one of Georgia’s most important paleontological sites – dinosaur footprints fossilized 120 million years ago.

Prometheus Cave (Kumistavi Cave), about 20 kilometers from Kutaisi, is Georgia’s largest show cave – 1.4 kilometers of illuminated passages featuring six different halls with otherworldly formations.

Martvili Canyon: Turquoise Waters and Boat Rides

Martvili Canyon (50 kilometers from Kutaisi) became Instagram-famous for good reason—those turquoise pools, dramatic rock walls, and moss-covered cliffs are genuinely stunning.

Tskaltubo: Soviet Sanatoriums Frozen in Time

Tskaltubo (9 kilometers from Kutaisi) was the Soviet Union’s premier spa resort. Stalin, Brezhnev, and other leaders came here for the therapeutic radon-carbonate waters. Now they’re among Georgia’s most surreal urbex destinations—grand Stalinist architecture slowly crumbling.

Accessible sanatoriums: Sanatorium Imereti, Sanatorium Medea, Sanatorium Metallurgist.

Practical Information for Visiting Kutaisi

Getting Around Kutaisi

Central Kutaisi is compact and walkable. For longer distances, use City buses (60 tetri) or Bolt taxi (3-5 GEL).

When to Visit Kutaisi

• Spring: Magnolias bloom, pleasant weather.
• Summer: Hot and humid.
• Autumn: My favorite season. Comfortable temperatures, golden foliage.
• Winter: Mild but wet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to explore Kutaisi? We offer comprehensive day tours from Tbilisi including transportation and expert local guides. Visit www.georgia-tours.eu to plan your Kutaisi adventure.

My grandmother was right. Kutaisi’s heart beats slower. Not because it’s dying—because it knows rushing is overrated. Take your time here. The city rewards patience.