Bargain European city is THE place to visit in 2025 – thanks to new direct UK flights, £3 bottles of wine and £10 rooms
AIRLINES British Airways and easyJet are launching direct flights from the UK to Tbilisi for next year, making it the place to visit.
A direct route hasn’t flown between the UK and Georgia since 2020, when Air Georgian ceased operations.
However, Brit holidaymakers will be spoilt for choice next year when British Airways and easyJet start operating their new routes to the Georgian capital.
The British Airways service will take off every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from London Heathrow.
Services will depart London at 9.25pm, arriving in Tbilisi at 5.30am the following day.
The route will begin operating on March 30, 2025, with return flights starting from as little as £275.
EasyJet’s new route from London Luton to Tbilisi will take flight just two days later on April 1, 2025.
The twice-weekly service will operate every Tuesday and Saturday.
Tuesday flights will depart from London at 11.25am, arriving in Georgia at 8.25pm.
Flight times on Saturday will differ, with services leaving London Luton at 1.40pm before touching down in Tbilisi at 10.40pm.
Sun Online Travel have found one-way flights from £66, with return easyJet fares coming in at £178.
Other new routes started operating from Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and London to Tbilisi earlier this year.
What is Tbilisi like?
Tbilisi is a diverse city with a hybrid of influences melding to create a location that offers a truly unique city break experience.
The old town of the capital is full of historic architecture, with a wide range of restaurants serving the best of Georgian cuisine.
Although it’s not the most well-known, the country is said to have some of the most under-appreciated snacks in the world.
Uncornered Market explained: “Georgian food is arguably one of the world’s most underrated cuisines, featuring flavors from Greece and the Mediterranean, as well as influences from Turkey and Persia.”
Khinkali are Georgia’s answer to dumplings, with meat, vegetables and cheese stuffed into dough and then steamed or boiled.
Kebabs and lamb stews are also popular, while breads like Khachapuri – a Georgian cheese bread sometimes served with a fried egg on top – are among the most eaten foods in the country.
Wine is also a staple of Georgian cuisine, with some considering Georgia the “cradle of wine”.
Despite its wine producing history, a bottle is still very cheap in Tbilisi, with the average bottle costing £3.50 mark.
By and large, Tbilisi is a pretty inexpensive city to visit, with bargain hotel rooms from £34, based on two people sharing a room.
Overnight stays are even cheaper if you’re prepared to bunk in a hostel dorm, with beds for just £6 and private rooms for £10.
While the rooms aren’t the most glamourous, they have received positive reviews from holidaymakers.
What is there to do in Tbilisi?
Tbilisi is a diverse city with a hybrid of influences melding to create a location that offers a truly unique city break experience.
Sites like the Narikala Fortress and the Holy Trinity Cathedral are more than worth pausing for a photograph, while the old town shows what historic Tbilisi would’ve been like.
A short walk from the city’s old town lies the Bridge of Peace, a contemporary pedestrian bridge made of glass and steel.
In recent years, the bridge has become a tourist attraction in its own right, garnering more than 4,000 ratings on TripAdvisor
Visitors have described the Bridge of Peace as “beautiful” and “stunning” in their reviews on the platform.
For other important landmarks, head to Rustaveli Avenue.
Lined with shops, cafes and home to important buildings like the Georgian National Opera Theatre, it’s the city’s main thoroughfare.
Meanwhile, places like the Tbilisi Balneological Resort are famous for having warm year-round outdoor bathing.
Culture Trip listed the site as the number one hot spring to visit in the whole of the country, with plenty of therapeutic treatments available to guests.
They wrote: “The modernised rehabilitation and healing complex of today features a panoply of treatments and therapies, along with more than 30 doctors and other medical professionals.”
Other attractions include the Georgian National Museum that covers everything from ancient history to modern art.
There’s also the Museum of Fine Arts, which has a vast collection of Georgian artwork.
Elsewhere, the outskirts are surrounded by the remote mountains of Svaneti, which Holiday Best claim to “rival the Alps in their beauty and hiking opportunities”.
A short history of Tbilisi
TBILISI dates back to the 5th century, when King Vakhtang I of Iberia founded the city.
According to legend, King Vakhtang discovered the area’s hot springs when he was out hunting and decided to build a city there.
The name “Tbilisi” itself is derived from the Georgian word tbili, meaning warm – about these springs.
Throughout its history, Tbilisi has been a coveted prize for various empires because of its strategic position.
It’s been occupied by the Persians, Arabs Byzantines, and Mongols at different points in its history.
But in the early 12th century, under the reign of King David IV (David the Builder), Tbilisi became the capital of a unified Georgian state and experienced a period of significant growth and cultural development.
The city continued to flourish during the reign of Queen Tamar in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a time often referred to as the Georgian Golden Age.
In the 19th century, Tbilisi came under Russian control and served as an important administrative and cultural centre in the Caucasus, undergoing significant modernisation and expansion at the time.
Tbilisi played a crucial role during the brief period of Georgian independence following the Russian Revolution in 1917, but it was soon incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1921.
The city remained an important hub within the Soviet Union until Georgia regained its independence in 1991.
Meanwhile, a new international airport could be built in Tbilisi, according to the country’s prime minister.
The new airport will increase passenger flow and boost the country’s economy by $129.65million over the next few years.