Prepared by Sakhva Travel Georgia Guide, a tours and travel platform for Georgia. Sakhva Travel office: 14 Merab Kostava St, Tbilisi.
Tour on this topic: Tbilisi art tour: street art, galleries, Fabrika — from ₾145
Our guides run tours in Tbilisi and have watched the city change over the past two years: there are noticeably more new places, and guests ask about more than just the Old Town. The facts below come from Euronews, Georgia's Ministry of Culture, 1TV, Georgia Today and the Telegraph hotel's developer; sources with dates are listed at the end.
Why did Tripadvisor call Tbilisi a 2026 trend?
Travellers' Choice is Tripadvisor's annual award. In 2026 it covered 270 destinations in 60 countries across several categories, one of which is Trending Destinations, the places where interest is growing fastest. It is based not on expert opinion but on traveller reviews and activity over 12 months. Tbilisi came second after Madeira; the results were announced in January 2026. Euronews, citing Tripadvisor, wrote that the Georgian capital "feels electric right now": new cultural spaces are popping up across the city, and historic buildings are turning into stylish places to stay. It named the Anagi art foundation, the expanded Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts and the Telegraph Hotel, and noted that Georgia draws digital nomads with business-friendly rules and liberal immigration. More in Tbilisi for digital nomads.
| Rank | Trending Destinations 2026 (Tripadvisor) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Madeira, Portugal |
| 2 | Tbilisi, Georgia |
| 3 | Chicago, USA |
| 4 | Quy Nhon, Vietnam |
| 5 | Puerto Escondido, Mexico |
| 6 | Milan, Italy |
| 7 | Glasgow, UK |
| 8 | Abu Dhabi, UAE |
| 9 | Recife, Brazil |
| 10 | San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina |
What has opened in Tbilisi since 2024?
Four places guests ask about most and that coverage of the ranking names:
| Place | What it is | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Rustaveli–Mtatsminda cable car | Fully rebuilt: 2 stations, 21 cabins, about 4 minutes up | October 2024 |
| Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts | Reopened after the reconstruction of a 6,000 m² second building next to Freedom Square | 8 October 2024 |
| Art Foundation Anagi (AFA) | A new space for Georgian art, past and present, in Vake | July 2025 |
| The Telegraph Hotel | The 1970s post and telegraph building on Rustaveli, 239 rooms, two MICHELIN Keys | June 2025 |
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The Rustaveli–Mtatsminda cable car: what to know
The lower station is by Rustaveli Avenue, the upper one in Mtatsminda Park on the mountain above the city. According to Tbilisi City Hall, as reported by 1TV, the line was fully rebuilt: two stations, five towers and 21 cabins travelling at 5 m/s. The ride takes about four minutes. A ticket is ₾12 one way plus a ₾2 Mtatsminda Park card (Tbilisi Local Guide, October 2026). It was built by Dagi, with engineering by Doppelmayr. At the top are an amusement park, restaurants and viewpoints over all of Tbilisi. It is the fastest way up Mtatsminda from the centre and the best sunset photo spot in town. For the other cable car, up to Narikala Fortress, with prices and hours, see Tbilisi cable car.
The Amiranashvili Museum: what to see now it has reopened
The country's main art museum was closed to visitors for several years, and its historic building still awaits restoration. To bring the museum back, its second building was rebuilt in 2021–2024: 6,000 m² of new galleries and storage. It opened on 8 October 2024 at 1 Lado Gudiashvili Street, next to Freedom Square, and is open 10:00–18:00, closed on Mondays. There are two permanent displays:
- Medieval stone carving. Reliefs from the facades and interiors of Georgian churches, a 10th-century tympanum from Shepiaki church inscribed in the Asomtavruli script, and 11th-century altar screens from Ateni, Zedazeni, Tserovani and Sapara.
- Georgian art 1900–1930. It opens with Niko Pirosmani, including restored panels not shown for decades, and continues with Lado Gudiashvili, David Kakabadze, Elene Akhvlediani, Iakob Nikoladze and others.
For the first time in Georgia, there are tactile copies of paintings for blind visitors. Other museums: Tbilisi museums.
Art Foundation Anagi: a new home for Georgian art
AFA — Art Foundation Anagi opened with a private viewing in July 2025 at its headquarters at 12 Zurab Avalishvili Street (Park Home Vake). Its founders are Zaza Gogotishvili and Thea Goguadze-Apfel. In the co-founder's words, the aim was more than an exhibition space: a place where Georgian art, past and present, can be seen in a new light. The building is divided into themed spaces. The first exhibition, "Fragments of Transition", showed late-1980s and early-1990s work by Alexander Bandzeladze, Luka Lasareishvili, Mamuka Japharidze, Iliko Zautashvili and others, while the gallery hosted a dialogue between Karlo Kacharava and Mamuka Tsetskhladze. The exhibition space is open daily from 10:00 to 21:00 except Mondays; tickets are sold on biletebi.ge. Exhibitions change, so check the current programme before you go. Contemporary art and street art are easiest to see with a guide on our Tbilisi art tour.
The Telegraph Hotel: Brutalism on Rustaveli
The central post and telegraph building was designed in the 1970s by architects Lado Alexi-Meskhishvili and Teimuraz Mikashavidze and is considered a landmark of its era. After years of neglect it has become a hotel: the interiors are by Shanghai studio Neri & Hu, and the Brutalist frame was kept. Inside are 239 rooms, restaurants, bars and a jazz club. According to the developer, in 2025 the Telegraph became the first hotel in Georgia and the wider region to receive two MICHELIN Keys, and on 12 May 2026 it was named to the Prix Versailles list of the world's 16 most beautiful hotels, the only one from the region. Even if you are not staying there, the building is worth seeing from the avenue: it is one of the city's boldest pieces of Soviet modernism. For more, see Soviet Tbilisi.
How can you see the new Tbilisi in 6 hours?
- 10:00: the Amiranashvili Museum by Freedom Square, at opening time while it is quiet. Allow about an hour and a half for both displays.
- 12:00: walk along Rustaveli Avenue past the opera and parliament to the Telegraph building.
- 13:30: lunch in the centre, then a taxi to Vake for the Anagi foundation.
- 15:30: the cable car from Rustaveli up to Mtatsminda; stay in the park if you want the sunset from the top.
The museum and Anagi are closed on Mondays, so pick another day for this route.
This route with a guide: we can build this article's stops — the museum, the Telegraph, Anagi and the cable car — into a private Tbilisi route; message us on WhatsApp. Street art, galleries and the Fabrika district are a separate Tbilisi art tour (from ₾145). For the panorama, the park and the Pantheon on Mtatsminda with a guide, there is the Mtatsminda tour (from ₾145, up by funicular). The Old Town, the baths and Narikala are not on this route; they are best seen on the Old Tbilisi walking tour (from ₾135).
Ready-made hour-by-hour routes: Tbilisi in one day and Tbilisi in three days. The full list of sights is in What to see in Tbilisi, and quieter spots are in hidden gems of Tbilisi.
Will it get crowded, and how to avoid it?
The growth is felt most in the Old Town: in summer and at weekends there are queues at the baths, on the Bridge of Peace and at the lower station of the Narikala cable car. What helps:
- head to the Old Town before 10 am;
- come in spring or autumn rather than July–August; see the best time to visit Georgia;
- for the city panorama, ride the new Rustaveli cable car up Mtatsminda rather than queue at the lower station of the Narikala line;
- book central hotels early; options in 5-star hotels in central Tbilisi.
«We booked three tours: Tbilisi sightseeing, Kazbegi and a wine tour to Kakheti. The places are worth it — we recommend them. The company's Timur is top class (erudition, efficiency, kindness) and ran these tours professionally and with heart. Thank you. Igor and Irina.»
Sources
- MICHELIN Guide: The Telegraph Hotel — two MICHELIN Keys (checked 22 Oct 2026)
- biletebi.ge: Art Foundation ANAGI — hours and tickets (checked 22 Oct 2026)
- Tbilisi Local Guide: Rustaveli–Mtatsminda cable car (checked 22 Oct 2026)
- Tbilisi Local Guide: Georgian Museum of Fine Arts — hours (checked 22 Oct 2026)
- Euronews: Europe's top trending destinations for 2026 (13 Jan 2026)
- Time Out: the top trending travel destinations for 2026 according to Tripadvisor (20 Feb 2026)
- Georgia's Ministry of Culture: opening of the Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts (October 2024)
- 1TV: Rustaveli–Mtatsminda cableway opens (18 Oct 2024)
- Georgia Today: AFA — Art Foundation Anagi launches with a private viewing (3 Jul 2025)
- Silk Development: The Telegraph Hotel — 239 rooms, the building's architects (checked 22 Oct 2026)
- Silk Development: the Telegraph on the Prix Versailles 2026 list and its two MICHELIN Keys (12 May 2026)
