How to get to Georgia?
Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Poti on the map. 1
The easiest way to Georgia is via air travel. We have two main airports in two cities: Tbilisi 2 and Kutaisi 3. In principle, there is also an airport in Batumi 4, but admittedly, with much less flights.
There are direct flights from many major cities around the world. Transport from Kutaisi to Tbilisi (buses, trains) takes 4 hours and costs around 10 EUR 5. We are planning to have members from the OC dedicated to help you out to get here.
Local Transport
Buses and Metropolitan
"As suited for the capital city of the country, Tbilisi offers one of the best transportation systems which is entirely organized by Tbilisi Transport Company (TTC) - 100% owned by Tbilisi City Hall. It covers the entire city and is very easy to use. Tbilisi Transport Company offers rechargeable travel cards (cash payments are deprecated everywhere). Individual travel card has a balance on it and it can pay for your journey by a subway train, a bus, a minibus, and a cable car. Here are travel card price offers for a week’s span of time:
- 3 GEL – Card holders will be able to travel by any type of public transport throughout the day.
- 20 GEL – Card holders will be able to travel by any type of public transport throughout the week.
Getting a travel card costs extra 2 GEL, but you don’t even have to get it. You can pay in all means of transportation mentioned above with any international bank card (given that it supports wireless paying). The price for one ride will be 1 GEL (0.36 Euros) for a one time trip (your card might have an extra international transaction fee, so beware). Contactless pay like Apple Pay and Google Pay also work in any Tbilisi transportation system. One time trip includes free of charge travel by TTC including transportation through 90 minutes (one still has to get a ticket but it will be free of charge).
Stretched out through the entire city, Tbilisi Metro consists of two subway lines with 23 stations; which operate from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM. Metro stations on maps are identified by red (M) signs. You can buy a Tbilisi transport card in a metro station with either cash, a bank card or a contactless payment service.
Even broader range for transportation is offered by buses and minibuses (which are both air conditioned, by the way). Buses and minibuses operate from 7:00 AM to 12:00 AM.
TTC offers a comfortable way to plan your journey on their website 7. There you can also see where any bus is at any moment and which buses arrive at which bus stops. This website can also give you a best route from any location to the destination. Buses enjoy extra luxury of having their own lanes throughout the city.
E-Scooters
Georgian startup company Scroll has launched an electric scooter-sharing system in Tbilisi. Electric scooters will be available to users with the help of a mobile application called Bird 9. The first 10 minutes of riding is free of charge. This will be activated once the user gets a special promo code. The goal of the project is to balance the streets and improve the environmental situation, especially in cities. Electric scooters are disinfected several times a day in accordance with the recommendations issued by Bird. Using gloves and disinfection solutions is still recommended, for obvious reasons.
Qari
Another environmentally friendly means of transportation in Tbilisi is Qari. Qari is an Electric eMoped sharing service. The mopeds are soundless. To rent one, you will need to download the application on your phone from their website 10 and own any type of driver’s license (or a car license if you are renting a Qari car). You will find helmets in the tail box. The unlocking price is 1 GEL, every extra minute is 0.59 GEL and 0.15 GEL if it is paused/parked.
Taxi
Although it is not so eco-friendly, Taxi rides are also available in Tbilisi (and cheap, for that matter). There are lots of Taxi companies in the city: Bolt 11, EcoTaxi, even InDriver (you can offer a driver your own preferred fee), and so on. All these services enable online orders (just tap wherever you want to go on the map) and contactless payments. Taxi ride from one end of the city to the other, which takes about 45 minutes, is typically pretty cheap – within the range of 33 GEL (12 EUR).
Communication
Cellphone Numbers
We want to offer mobile phone numbers for every participant of the conference. One of the major mobile network providers which we consider is Magticom 12. The company offers packages for under 2 EUR, consisting of unlimited talking time within the same network and up to 10GB of LTE internet for one week. Magticom also offers eSIM options, if your phone supports it. We intend to purchase the (e)SIM cards for all participants (who tick the corresponding checkbox during registration) and include them in the welcome package, so that nobody needs to rely on the hotel/university Wi-Fi (Nobody needs to, it’s 2024).
Public Wi-Fi
If you still insist on using Wi-Fi, Tbilisi has a free public Wi-Fi called Tbilisi Loves You at any metro station or a bus stop.
- 1 Google Maps. http://maps.google.com/.
- 2 Tbilisi Airport. http://www.tbilisiairport.com/.
- 3 Kutaisi Airport. http://www.kutaisi.aero/.
- 4 Batumi Airport. http://batumiairport.com/.
- 5 Georgian Railways. http://www.railway.ge/en/.
- 6 Georgia4You: Transportation In Georgia. https://georgia4you.ge/useful-info/YOU-NEED-TO-KNOW/transportation-in-georgia.
- 7 Tbilisi Travel Company. http://ttc.com.ge/en.
- 8 scroll.eco on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDIwhWdBpqN/.
- 9 Bird. https://www.bird.co/.
- 10 Qari: eMopeds. https://qari.eco/en/.
- 11 Bolt. https://bolt.eu/en/cities/batumi/.
- 12 Magticom. https://www.magticom.ge/en/home.