The Essential Guide to Visiting Mtatsminda, Tbilisi’s Holy Mountain

Everything you need to know to plan a visit to Tbilisi’s Mount Mtatsminda – including directions for the Tbilisi TV Tower hike, info about the new Rustaveli-Mtatsminda Cable Car, and the best things to do in Mtatsminda Park.

Rising 300 metres above the city district of the same name, Mtatsminda (literally ‘Holy Mountain’) is the highest point in Tbilisi. The plateau is instantly recognisable as the home of two Tbilisi landmarks: the Tbilisi TV Tower and the Tbilisi Ferris Wheel.

Panoramic city views are Mtatsminda’s main attraction, both from the mountaintop itself and on the journey up via cable car, funicular or hiking trail.

The Tbilisi TV Tower hike is an excellent easy walk that is suitable for any traveller, while visiting Mtatsminda Pantheon is one of my personal favourite non-touristy things to do in Tbilisi.

Top it all off with a plate of warm ponchiki donuts – a nostalgic Soviet-era sweet snack that is a specialty on Mtatsminda – at the iconic Restaurant Funicular.

I visit Mtatsminda almost every time I’m in Tbilisi. Whether you hike up for a late sunset on a brilliant summer evening, or you venture up by cable car first thing on a winter’s morning to explore the slightly spooky amusement park, a few hours on the mountain is always worth it.

This quick guide to Mtatsminda covers everything you need to know to plan a visit.

A very brief history of Mtatsminda & the Tbilisi TV Tower

Mtatsminda is one of several mountains that form a natural buffer around Tbilisi. The mountain has an intriguing backstory that is very much tied to the history of the city itself.

At the turn of the century, plans to construct an ‘Upper Tbilisi’ high on the plateau were hatched. In 1905, a 500-metre-long funicular railway designed by Belgian engineer Alphonse Roby was launched to connect these two areas.

The scheme never eventuated, however (something about running water pipes uphill?), and in the late 1930s, the area atop Mtatsminda was converted into a landscaped park instead. Restaurant Funicular opened around this time and for many years served as one of the city’s top eateries.

In 1972, the most recognisable feature of the city skyline, the Tbilisi TV Tower, was constructed on the ridge. It stands at 275 metres tall, and replaced an older 1950s communications tower that was uprooted and transplanted to Gori.

There are plans to open the TV Tower to the public and retrofit it with a panoramic viewing deck and rotating restaurant. But for the time being, it remains closed to visitors.

Planning a visit to Mtatsminda: The essentials

Opening hours

Mtatsminda Park is officially open every day from midday until 11pm (on weekends, it opens an hour earlier at 11am). You can still visit outside of these hours (including for sunrise) as the viewpoints and trails are still accessible when the park is shut. But no rides will be operational or food stalls open.

• Cafe Funicular is open every day from 1pm (12pm on Sat/Sun) until 8.30pm.
• Mtatsminda Pantheon and Mama Daviti Church are open every day from 9.30am until 6pm.
• The Mtatsminda Funicular operates every day from 9.45am until 11.30pm.
• The Mtatsminda Cable Car operates every day from 12pm midday until 9pm.

Ticket prices

Entrance to Mtatsminda Park is free. Rides within the park vary from 3-10 GEL per person. The hike and the Pantheon are both, of course, free of charge as well.

• The Mtatsminda Funicular costs 10 GEL per person one-way.
• The Cable Car costs 12 GEL per person one-way.
• Children under 6 years travel for free.
• Georgian citizens and residents with a valid ID qualify for a discounted fare (3 GEL).

To ride the Funicular or the Cable Car, you will need to purchase a rechargeable plastic Mtatsminda Card (pictured below). This card is also required for rides inside the amusement park. The regular MetroMoney card is not valid.

The Mtatsminda Card costs an additional 2 GEL and can be purchased with cash or card from the booths at both lower and upper stations. Two or more people can travel on the same card.

Taking a bus or taxi to Mtatsminda

If you don’t want to spring for the funicular or cable car and you prefer not to walk both ways, you can easily travel to or from Mtatsminda Park by city bus for the regular fare of 1 GEL per person. From Freedom Square, take bus #390 to reach the park in around 50 minutes depending on traffic. The bus terminates near the main entrance on the west side of the park at this location.

A taxi to Mtatsminda from Freedom Square costs around 20 GEL when booked through Bolt. Never hail a taxi on the street – always pick up a local SIM card and use the app. The driver will drop you at the same location as the bus stop (‘Main Entrance’). From there, it is a short walk to the park and restaurant.

General tips for Mtatsminda

• Come hungry – one of the highlights of visiting Mtatsminda is grabbing a snack at Cafe Funicular (details below).
• Mtatsminda is a popular spot for local families and it gets quite busy at night during summer, especially on weekends. It is nice to visit in the early evening when the atmosphere is buzzing, but you might have to wait a while for a table at the cafe.
• If you plan on hiking to Mtatsminda, I recommend you find a buddy rather than walking solo. Only hike during daylight hours.
• If you are visiting the church and Mtatsminda Pantheon along the way, make sure you’re dressed appropriately (covered shoulders and knees, and a headscarf for women).

The new Mtatsminda Cable Car

The gondola cableway linking Rustaveli Avenue and Mtatsminda Park launched in 1958 and was the first ever cable car in Tbilisi. It was shut down in the summer of 1990 following a tragic accident. After extensive restorations, it reopened on October 18, 2024.

The cableway has brand new lines, pillars, gondolas and an upper station building, all created by the Austrian company Doppelmayr (also responsible for the ski lifts in Gudauri and the Kobi Cable Car). The historic lower station, designed by Konstantine Chkheidze and featuring tall windows, decorative ironwork and a stunning double-helix staircase, has been completely restored.

Even if you don’t plan to ride the cable car, I still recommend you drop by the station for a look. At Christmastime it is beautifully decorated with wreaths, tinsel and fairy lights.

The lower station is located in a courtyard behind the Academy of Sciences building, close to Rustaveli Metro Station (see the exact location here). It is a much more convenient place to ‘take off’ from compared to the funicular, which departs from higher up on the hillside.

The ride up takes just over four minutes, with an incredible bird’s eye view of Mtatsminda District’s rooftops along the way. Highlights include the Academy of Sciences tower, the onion-domed Russian Orthodox Church Of Mikhail of Tver, and the approach to the TV Tower.

I actually prefer this over the Rike-Narikala Cable Car! And it’s certainly much better than the view from the funicular.

At the top of the mountain, the cable car terminates at a modern upper station building footsteps from Cafe Funicular (see the exact location here).

The fare for the cable car is 10 GEL for foreign citizens (3 GEL for Georgian citizens/residents; free for kids under 6 years old). It operates every day between 12 midday and 9pm.

The Tbilisi Funicular

Designed by a Belgian engineer, the Tbilisi Funicular made its maiden voyage up Mtatsminda in March 1905. It relaunched after a long break in 2012 and still uses the very same tracks today – but this year, its 18-seat cabins were replaced with new Doppelmayr ones.

The Lower Funicular Station on Daniel Chonkadze Street (see the exact location here) is another piece of heritage architecture. The elegant brick building with arched windows and deco details was designed by Aleksander Szymkiewicz and renovated in 2012.

The funicular ride takes around 8 minutes. There is one stop along the way at Mtatsminda Pantheon (see details below). Passengers are allowed to disembark at the middle station, but if you want to re-board, you will need to pay again (the fare from the Pantheon to the Park or vice-versa is 3 GEL).

The Upper Station is located inside the Funicular Complex (see the exact location here), which has the cafe on its lower level (to the left as you disembark) plus two restaurants.

When it first launched, the funicular wasn’t exactly an instant hit – the benefactors had to actually pay Tbilisians to travel on the 491-metre-long ropeway! Now a ride will cost you 10 GEL.

The funicular runs every day between 9.45am until 11.30pm. Hours are sometimes extended during summer.

The Tbilisi TV Tower Hike

If you don’t want to ride the cable car or funicular, you can walk to Mtatsminda Mountain from the city. There are two popular routes to the top: a rough, partially unmarked trail that takes around 40 minutes (‘the Hike’), and an alternative paved path that is slightly longer (‘the Walk’).

The Hike starts from the Church of Mikhail of Tver, located 350 metres behind Rustaveli Metro Station. To access the trailhead, cross the street from the church and follow the concrete stairs (represented by the green dotted line on Google Maps).

The first section is paved, but it quickly becomes an off-road scramble through the brush. There are a number of different ‘paths’ to choose from – we just picked one that looked like it was veering uphill and hoped for the best. The TV Tower eventually comes into view, so you can’t go too wrong.

The views from this side of the mountain are a bit different: instead of looking over Old Tbilisi, you see Mtatsminda, Dinamo Stadium and Dighomi (characterised by huge Soviet-era housing blocks) in the distance.

As you near the top of the mountain, you walk through a patch of pine forest and past outdoor gym. The final stretch of the hike brings you directly to the foot of the TV Tower.

From the tower, it’s a short walk to the entrance to Mtatsminda Park. Follow the TV Tower fence line in the direction of the Ferris Wheel then duck under the fence at the marked spot.

This is the shorter of two hiking routes that lead to Mtatsminda, the other more adventurous route being from Turtle Lake.

The terrain is uneven and quite steep and rocky in places, but it’s not too challenging overall. Good walking shoes are definitely required. I don’t recommend doing this hike after heavy rain – I imagine it gets quite muddy.

Never hike alone, and avoid being on the mountain after dark.

Alternative route via Mtatsminda Pantheon

I much prefer this alternative ‘Walking’ route for several reasons: it’s entirely paved and easier to navigate, the city views are just as good if not better, and the path goes right through Mtatsminda Pantheon. It takes a little bit longer to complete, around 60 minutes one-way.

If you hike up the TV Tower trail, you can always come back down via the Pantheon to make a tidy loop. Or you can do what I did on my last visit and take the cable car up, then walk back down.

The path starts from Polikarpe Kakabadze Street in Mtatsminda District, a 15-minute uphill walk from Rustaveli Metro Station. Begin by following Mama Daviti Rise – a steep, winding street with a pedestrian path and benches – all the way up to the church.

Mtatsminda Pantheon is located here in the yard of Mama Daviti Church and is definitely worth stopping off for (more info below). There are a number of viewing platforms here as well and some seats.

After you’ve visited the Pantheon, the trail continues on the far left between the gift shop and the toilets (it is not all that obvious – you have to squeeze behind the building).

The next part of the walk is a combination of stairs and graded pathways through a shady forest. At one point you walk directly under the funicular track, which is pretty cool. The option is there to pay 3 GEL and ride the Funicular the rest of the way to the top.

If you keep on walking, eventually you will pop up in the carpark near Restaurant Funicular.

If you are walking in the reverse direction down the mountain, the start of the path is hard to find. See the exact location here. Don’t be disheartened if you find the first gate to the Church and Pantheon is locked – keep walking down to the main entrance near the carpark. The gate here is open from 9.30am until 6pm.

One of the top reasons to visit Mtatsminda is of course for the panoramic city views you get from the top. It’s not my favourite viewpoint in the city, but it’s spectacular nonetheless.

A huge viewing deck stretches along the front of Restaurant Funicular like a balcony over the city. You can easily spot just about every major Tbilisi landmark, including Sameba Church and Narikala Fortress in the distance.

I’ve been up here for sunset dozens of times in summer, spring and fall, and the lightshow is always pretty special no matter the time of year.

Most recently I was on the mountain on a moody winter morning. I took the two photos directly above in the second week of December.

Restaurant Funicular – the big Soviet-era building at the top of the funicular track – was once the city’s most prestigious eatery. When politicians visited Tbilisi, this is where they were wined and dined. Meanwhile, everyday Tbilisians made a tradition out of visiting the cafe on the bottom level.

The cafe still trades today and has an indoor dining room plus a big terrace. The thing to order here is definitely ponchiki – light, puffy donuts filled with sweet cream. I always assumed ponchik(i) were Armenian because I first tried them in Gyumri, but apparently they’re eaten all over the region (a leftover from Soviet times).

Here at Cafe Funicular they come in three flavour variations. The original version (served as a single larger donut) has a dab of vanilla pastry cream inside. The chocolate version comes as three smaller balls and is dusted with crushed hazelnuts. My personal favourite is the pumpkin cream, pictured above!

The cafe also serves bread snacks (khachapuri, lobiani, etc.) and cold drinks including Georgian Lagidze Water, all with a modest price tag.

For something more substantial, you could try one of the two restaurants (they are quite flashy, so maybe don’t go there after the hike!). The third level of the building is an event space.

If you’re travelling with kids, you might enjoy spending a few hours on the rides inside Mtatsminda Amusement Park. Although to be honest, like all aged parks in Georgia (the one on the hill in Kutaisi is very similar), it is a bit creepy and post-apocalyptic! Don’t even get me started on the weird wax museum…

It is actually quite fun to lean into this strange vibe, especially in winter when the light on the mountain is quite moody. Here is a photo I took in one of the stranger corners of the park this December.

If you’ve been looking for Tbilisi’s much-Instagrammed ‘upside-down’ houses, you’ll find them here in Mtatsminda Park. I didn’t notice them until my third or fourth visit.

They have since been repainted in brighter colours – I preferred the originals, pictured below left.

Berlin has the Fernsehturm, Belgrade has Avala, and Tbilisi has the Tbilisi TV Tower. Built in 1972 to replace an older structure from the 50s, this communication tower has long been the city’s north star.

There are ongoing plans to open a viewing deck and a restaurant inside the TV Tower, but for now, it remains closed to the public. It’s fenced off along the bottom, but you can stand almost directly below for an up-close view.

The Pantheon and church are located on the lower part of the hill, below the park. This is one of my favourite spots in the entire city and a must-see if you’re in the area.

Officially the Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures, this is the final resting place of some of Georgia’s most celebrated national writers, artists and scholars.

The Pantheon was established in 1929, but many of the graves date back long before that. Russian author Alexander Griboyedov was the first person to be buried here (his grave is located under the arch, below the main cemetery). Many tombs were later relocated to this spot.

Politicians, dissidents, historians and other prominent figures have also been awarded a place in Tbilisi’s most beautiful cemetery over the years.

The Pantheon is filled with unique, flamboyant sculptures – it feels more like an outdoor sculpture park than a cemetery.

Amongst the headstones, you’ll also find a symbolic grave for Pirosmani, Georgia’s most beloved painter whose real burial place is unknown.

The gates to the Pantheon and churchyard are open between 9.30am and 7pm. Daily mass is held at Mama Daviti, so remember to be respectful if there is a service taking place during your visit. Dress modestly with covered shoulders and knees at all times, even in the cemetery area.

Behind the church, there is an ever-flowing fresh water spring.