The Turkish Baths of Tbilisi

From the tops of the Turkish (sulphur) baths to the Narikala fortress

The beehive domes of the underground sulphur baths

The entranceway to the Turkish Hameem (hot baths)

After our long hike in Borjomi, we arrived in Tbilisi tired, aching, and desperately in need of a hot shower! The showers in the hostel were terrible and stank like a dirty toilet bowl – perhaps because it was just one room with a shower head hanging over the toilet… Despite the stinky shower option in the hostel, we had wanted to visit the Turkish baths anyways, so, we decided that now was probably a better time than ever to go. We headed off to the Abanotubani, which is where the Turkish baths are located. These natural hot springs are also apparently what inspired the King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 5th century to build the city of Tbilisi – the name Tbilisi is derived from the Georgian word “tbili” which means ‘warm’.

The area is located in the Old City, which is well worth exploring, and I’ll talk more about it in another post! The baths are located on the south side of the Metekhi Bridge, below the Narikala fortress. There are beautiful gardens and plenty of Persian rug and souvenir shops around the baths, which stick out of the ground like round termite mounds – or beehives, as some people say. We headed to the baths with the blue mosaic entryway, which is where the guys had read that George Bush (I’m not sure which one) had come here for a hot bath and a massage during a visit to Georgia. If it was good enough for a US president, it was probably good enough.

I’d say that the experience was far more enjoyable for the guys than it was for the girls. While they had a nice, large, clean, bright room, we were sent to what felt like a dungeon with one small hot tub that had remnants of the previous occupants floating around in it. Both the guys and the girls had taken private rooms since the public baths were not too enticing. We all paid to get a massage also. However, the massage is more like a rough scrub down where you can expect to leave with several less layers of skin on your back. In addition to the brutal, but afterwards really nice feeling exfoliation, the guys got rinsed off with soap bubbles (you can see them in the video), which we didn’t.

Overall, if you are a guy, I definitely recommend going. If you are a girl, I’d still say go for the experience, but don’t be jealous when your male partner brags about how great his massage and soap bubbles were!