Flying into Tbilisi
Tbilisi International Airport (IATA: TBS, ICAO: UGTB) sits in Mikra, about 17 kilometres southeast of the city centre, and it's the busiest airport in Georgia. It carries the name of the medieval poet Shota Rustaveli, has been run by the operator TAV since 2005, and serves as the home base for Georgian Airways. Dozens of airlines fly from here — a mix of full-service, regional and low-cost carriers — with direct routes across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Gulf, which is a big part of why the city has become such a common stop for travellers crossing between those regions.
Everything runs through a single passenger terminal, which keeps arrivals and departures simple: check-in, security, passport control, duty-free and dining all sit under one roof, and the terminal is open around the clock. Inside you'll find the essentials for landing in a new country — ATMs and currency exchange, cafés and restaurants, car rental desks, SIM-card stands and free Wi-Fi — so you can sort out cash, a phone and a coffee before you head into town.
The centre of Tbilisi is roughly a 20 to 30 minute drive, depending on traffic. A licensed taxi or a ride-hailing app is the fastest door-to-door option; city bus 337 is the cheapest, running from the airport into town from about 07:00 to 23:00 (and back the other way from around 06:00 to 22:00); and car rental makes sense if you're planning to drive out to Kakheti's wine country or up into the mountains. Outside those bus hours a taxi or a pre-booked transfer is the practical choice — you can book a private transfer ahead of time through our partner GetTransfer and have a driver waiting for you at arrivals, which is handy if you're travelling as a group or landing late.
It's worth knowing that a lot of flights into Tbilisi land in the small hours of the morning, when many of the cheaper European routes arrive, so passport queues can build up around those times. If someone is meeting you or you have an onward connection, leave yourself a little buffer.
The city itself rewards the short trip in from the airport. The old town's sulphur baths, the cobbled lanes below Narikala fortress and some of the world's oldest winemaking traditions are all within easy reach. Georgia is also refreshingly easy to enter: citizens of many countries can stay visa-free, in a lot of cases for up to a year — though it's always worth checking the current rules for your own passport before you travel. The local currency is the Georgian lari (GEL); cards are accepted almost everywhere, but it's handy to carry a little cash for buses, markets and smaller cafés.