Neighbourhood Tbilisi, Georgia
Cats in Tbilisi Old Town
Carved wooden balconies, sulphur baths, a fortress on the ridge, and cats on every stair of a city that has taken to painting them on the electricity boxes. Plus a market that pays for their neutering.
Where to find cats in Tbilisi Old Town: The old town of Tbilisi, Kala, on the slope between Liberty Square and the river, and Abanotubani, the bath district under the fortress. When: Late afternoon into the evening, when the balconies catch the sun and the courtyards fill. May, June, September, October. Why here: A city with more street cats than it can count, and a volunteer network that turns craft markets into neutering.
The short version
- Where
- The old town of Tbilisi, Kala, on the slope between Liberty Square and the river, and Abanotubani, the bath district under the fortress
- When
- Late afternoon into the evening, when the balconies catch the sun and the courtyards fill. May, June, September, October
- How long
- Half a day for the old town and the baths. A day if you climb to Narikala
- What it costs
- Free. A sulphur bath is the one thing worth paying for, and a lari or two for a cat at the Catebi stall
- Why here
- A city with more street cats than it can count, and a volunteer network that turns craft markets into neutering
What to bring
- Lari for the marketCatebi runs markets and a festival whose takings pay for sterilisation and adoption. It is the most useful money you will spend here.
- Shoes for steep lanesThe old town climbs from the river to the ridge and the pavements are uneven and, in places, missing.
- Dry food, a littleLocals feed the courtyard cats. Add to a bowl; do not start a new spot on a doorstep.
- The eveningTbilisi wakes up late. The courtyards, the wine bars and the cats are all out after five.
Why there are cats everywhere
Tbilisi has so many cats that the city started painting them on the electricity boxes.
The old town is a slope of nineteenth-century houses with carved wooden balconies stacked over one another, courtyards with shared stairs, sulphur baths sunk into the hillside under the fortress, and lanes that were laid out before anyone had a plan. It is one of the most photographed old towns in the Caucasus, and the balconies and the doorways have cats in them, because balconies and doorways are what cats want.
There are a great many. Georgia has a large street animal population, dogs as well as cats, and the city鈥檚 approach for decades was to leave them alone. What changed it was volunteers: Catebi, a network that runs craft markets and, in 2024, the city鈥檚 first cat festival, and uses the money for sterilisation, treatment and adoption. Georgia鈥檚 only dedicated cat shelter is an informal log cabin in the grounds of the open-air ethnographic museum on the hill, and it is run by the same kind of people. Somewhere along the way, the black cat became a motif: on the electricity boxes of the old town, on the murals, on the stalls.
The best cat streets are the ones that are also the best streets. Lado Asatiani, a residential lane of balconies and old houses on the Sololaki side, has cats on every stair. Abanotubani, the bath district, has them on the domes of the baths. The courtyards off any lane in Kala have a shared staircase and a cat on it. And the restaurant garden at Sofia Melnikova鈥檚 Fantastic Douqan, hidden behind a courtyard in the old town, has more cats than tables.
The walk
From Liberty Square down through Sololaki and the old town to the baths, then up to the fortress for the view. Three hours, most of them on stairs, with the courtyards as the point.
- From Tbilisi airportBus 337 or a taxi to Liberty Square40 minThe bus is cheap and slow; a Bolt or Yandex taxi is cheap and fast. Agree nothing; use the app.
- From Anywhere on the metroTo Liberty Square (Tavisuplebis Moedani)10 minThe old town is a short walk downhill from the station.
- From The railway stationMetro two stops to Liberty Square15 minTrains from Batumi and Kutaisi land here.
Liberty Square
The square at the top of the old town, with St George on his column. Cross it and drop into the lanes of Sololaki behind. The first cats are on the steps of the first courtyard.
Off the square, in the first lane. It starts immediately.Sasha India, CC BY 2.0 Lado Asatiani Street
The prettiest residential street in the city: carved balconies, art nouveau doorways, and cats on every step of every shared staircase. Look into the courtyards; they are open and the cats are in them.
Lado Asatiani. Balconies above, cats below.Sasha India, CC BY 2.0 Abanotubani
Down the hill to the bath district, where the sulphur baths are sunk into the hillside with brick domes at street level. Cats on the warm domes, which is the best-heated seat in the city. A bath afterwards is the tradition.
Near the baths. The domes are warm and the cats know it.Sasha India, CC BY 2.0 Narikala
Up the path or the cable car to the fortress on the ridge, with the whole city below. Cats around the church and the walls, fed by the people who sell things at the top.
On the way up. The view is behind the cat, as usual.Sasha India, CC BY 2.0
Same numbers as the list. Worth keeping open on your phone.
The cats you will meet
Caucasian street cats: tabby, black, and a lot of grey, thicker in the coat than the Mediterranean ones because the winters are real. Sociable in the courtyards where they are fed, watchful on the street. Many are now neutered thanks to the volunteers, and it shows in the numbers.
Courtyard cats
On the shared staircases of the old houses.
Fed by the households of the courtyard. Somebody鈥檚, in the Tbilisi sense.
Black cats
The city鈥檚 motif, and common in the flesh.
On the boxes and on the stairs. Good luck here, not bad.
Bath cats
On the brick domes of Abanotubani.
The warmest seats in town, and they have them all winter.
Everybody says Georgia does nothing for its street animals.
Actually The state did little for a long time. The volunteers did not wait: Catebi鈥檚 markets fund neutering, the festival funds adoption, and the cats you meet in the old town are increasingly ear-tipped. It is a bottom-up system and it is working.
How not to be the annoying one
- The courtyards are shared homes. Look in from the gate, and go in only if someone waves you in, which they often will.
- Feed at a bowl that exists, not on a doorstep. The households have a system.
- Buy something at a Catebi stall or go to the festival. That is where the neutering money comes from.
- The dogs are part of the same street population and are mostly gentle. Leave them be too.
- Sulphur baths are the reward for the stairs. Book a private room; the cats will not follow you in.
