03Cities and regions

The capital

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is Georgia's capital and largest city, home to more than 1.3 million people, roughly a third of the population. It spreads along both banks of the Kura River in a valley ringed by hills on three sides, its districts rising from 380 to 770 metres. The name comes from an old Georgian word for warm, after the hot sulphur springs the city was founded on in the 5th century. The old town is a tangle of narrow lanes and houses with carved wooden balconies, and in the Abanotubani quarter the sulphur baths sit beneath brick domes. Above them looms Narikala fortress, whose surviving walls date mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries; since 2012 a cable car has carried visitors up from Rike Park. Across the river, the Bridge of Peace, a 150-metre steel-and-glass footbridge, opened in 2010. A funicular built in 1905 climbs to Mtatsminda Park at the city's highest point. Give it two or three days, and save the baths for the end of a long walking day.

Over 1.3 million

Population

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Highest point in the city

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Length of the Bridge of Peace

1905

Mtatsminda funicular opened