T'bilisi Flights

When arriving Tbilisi, there is only one airport that is connected to outside world. It is located about 15-20 minutes from the center. Recently a yellow bus has been introduced to serve the airport guestsbut I am not sure whether it operates at night as well. The cost is GEL 1 (around 0.6 USD).

If you are going to fly to Georgia, I would definitely recommend AirBaltic. Prices are a bit above what a European low cost airline would make you pay, but it is one of the more economical ways to get to this part of the world. All flights from western Europe are via Riga or sometimes Vilnius. The only inconvenience about the Riga - Tbilisi flight is that it arrives at about 3:30 in the morning, which is pretty bad. If you are to incur any delays, as we did, you might even get to see the sun rise on your flight over. If you don't mind these hours, this is probably your best bet for getting to Georgia: overland routes often involve diplomatic complications and dicey borders.

We came to Tbilisi by plane - air baltic via riga, to be precise - which is a mix between a regular irline and a low-cost... it was the cheapest flight we found... if you book early enough t's cheaper than Aeroflot, and it doesn't have a wooden interior and broken seats. On the riga-tbilisi leg we were even given a free dinner (not drinks, though).

Beware when you land in Tbilisi - depending on what other plane has landed at the same time, it can be utter chaos... in our case it was the Teheran flight... to get through customs one had to push and pull all the way.

Once through customs it's even wilder, so if you need to get some local money my advice is to do it at the ATM machine inside the arrivals hall.

Take bus Nr. 50 you can get off in the city center near the town hall.
The depart of the bus is direct in front of the entrance.
The bus runs every 30 minutes. It cots 50 Lari.

The Taxi drivers try to cheat you. Don't pay more than 5 $

Two years ago i took the tbilisi-riga flight with a low cost company.

i had to wait at night, it was a brand new airport with very comfortable seats.

you will like it. have a good trip.

georgian Airlines have a fleet of rather rickety planes (boarding passes have 'Lucky flight' written on them...would that be lucky to have landed in one piece, or lucky to have found a seat which is attached to the floor?!) which fly to Trabzon and Istanbul in Turkey, Baku in Azerbaijan, Moscow and Min Vodi in Russia, and a couple of cities in Europe. Swissair, Austrian Airlines and british Airways also fly into Tbilisi from their respective hubs, as do Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot. Trains to Azerbaijan are an interesting way to leave/enter the country. The journey between Tbilisi and Baku takes around 18 hours, depending on border problems...the actual distance isn't that huge, but expect to spend up to five hours at the border, and the trains travel extremely slowly. However, it is better than the bus, because the comfy beds allow you a good night's sleep (depending on your co-passengers, of course...or to be more exact, depending on the amount of vodka your co-passengers have consumed!) The timings in both directions mean that the border is crossed while you are still awake (early evening, heading to Baku...mid morning, heading to Tbilisi). Trains also run between Tbilisi and the Armenian capital, Yerevan, as well as to Batumi on the Georgian coast. Buses and marshrutkas run to even the most obscure village in Georgia, and there are also international buses to Baku, Yerevan, Vladikavkaz, Moscow, Trabzon, Istanbul and Thessaloniki.

This was an interesting journey over mountains and valleys. I wonder if they ever finish that long road tunnel which was planned to make road traffic easier.