Tbilisi Cable Cars: Prices, Hours, Routes

Tbilisi has four cable cars plus a funicular up Mount Mtatsminda. Three of them are worth your time: Rike Park to Narikala Fortress, Rustaveli Avenue to Mtatsminda, and Vake Park to Turtle Lake. Fares run from 1 to 12 GEL, but each line takes a different payment card, and that is where most visitors get stuck at the turnstile.

Four lines in one glance

• Rike Park to Narikala. The main tourist line, 500 metres over the Old Town, 2.5 GEL, Metromoney or a contactless bank card.
• Rustaveli to Mtatsminda. Opened in October 2024 on the site of the Soviet ropeway, 845 metres, 12 GEL for foreign visitors and 3 GEL for Georgian citizens, Mtatsminda Park card only.
• Vake Park to Turtle Lake. Soviet cabins with no seats, 1 GEL, Metromoney.
• University to Bagebi. Not a sightseeing line but a commuter one across the Vere gorge. Covered by the standard 1 GEL city fare.

The Mtatsminda funicular is technically a rail line rather than a ropeway, running since 1905. Paired with the new cable car it gives you the smartest way up and down, so it has its own section below.

Rike Park to Narikala Fortress

Everyone sees this one. The lower station sits at the Europe Square entrance to Rike Park, the upper one on the Sololaki ridge, a two-minute walk from Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue.

The numbers are simple. The line is 500 metres long, the ride takes under two minutes, each cabin has 8 seats, and seven gondolas run the loop. Italian manufacturer Leitner built it in 2012 and it is adapted for wheelchair users.

A one-way ride costs 2.5 GEL. Pay with a Metromoney card (2 GEL for the card itself, one card covers a group) or tap a contactless bank card straight at the turnstile. The ticket office takes cash, but the queue there is almost always longer than at the gate.

Hours are seasonal. In summer the line runs from 10:00 to midnight; from 1 November it closes at 22:00. The Old Town is lit by then, and the ride down after dark beats the ride up in daylight.

What you actually see: the Mtkvari river and the glass Bridge of Peace first, then the tiled domes of the sulphur baths in Abanotubani, with Metekhi Church sliding into view on the left. Stand on the right side of the cabin going up. The left window faces the slope.

One July evening at eight the queue at the lower station stretched back to the fountain and I waited about twenty minutes. Now I go either before six or after ten, once everyone has gone down to Meidan for dinner.

You do not have to ride back. A path drops from the upper station past the fortress walls down to the sulphur baths and Abano Street, about fifteen minutes on foot. Wear grippy shoes, the stones are polished smooth.

Rustaveli Avenue to Mtatsminda

The newest line, and the one with the heaviest history. The original ropeway opened in 1959 and stopped on 1 June 1990 after an accident that killed 19 people. It stood derelict for 34 years. The replacement opened on 18 October 2024: gondolas and machinery by Austrian manufacturer Doppelmayr, with the historic lower station restored rather than rebuilt, tall windows and spiral staircase intact.

How it works now:

• The lower station is at 52 Rustaveli Avenue, in the courtyard of the Academy of Sciences, ten minutes on foot from Liberty Square.
• The line is 845 metres long, the ride takes about 4 minutes, with 21 gondolas seating 8 each.
• The upper station opens straight onto the Mtatsminda viewing terrace and the Funicular restaurant.

Payment is where it gets confusing. Metromoney does not work here. You need a plastic Mtatsminda Park card, 2 GEL, sold at either station and topped up with whatever you plan to spend. The same card pays for rides inside the amusement park. Unused balance is not refunded, so load it thinly.

A one-way ride costs 12 GEL, or 3 GEL for Georgian citizens with ID. That tariff was set when the line opened and has not moved since. Summer hours run roughly 11:00 to 23:00; in winter the last cabin goes around 21:00.

Vake Park to Turtle Lake

A line from another era. The lower station stands at the main Vake Park entrance on Chavchavadze Avenue, the upper one at Turtle Lake on the northern slope of Mtatsminda, around 685 metres above sea level. The ride takes five to seven minutes.

A ride costs 1 GEL, and a bicycle costs another 1 GEL, paid with Metromoney. The cabins are old, there are no seats, and eight people stand shoulder to shoulder. Only two gondolas work the line, so on a weekend you wait longer than you ride.

I took a bike up once: the extra lari saves you two and a half kilometres of pushing it uphill on switchbacks. Rolling back down through the park takes about ten minutes.

The change in air is immediate at the top. In summer it is three or four degrees cooler by the lake, there are pines, a lakeside path with cafés, and the open-air Ethnographic Museum with its Svan tower next door. This line changes its timetable more often than the others, so check the last departure at the lower ticket office before you go up.

Bagebi and the university line

A short ropeway across the Vere river gorge, linking the tower block of Tbilisi State University with the Bagebi district. 320 metres, about 4 minutes, up to 40 people per car.

There are no postcard views, but there is city logic: this line is part of the ordinary municipal fare. 1 GEL buys 90 minutes of unlimited transfers across the metro, buses, minibuses and this ropeway. Pay with Metromoney or a bank card. Cash or app payment does not include the transfer window, and each leg is charged separately.

The Mtatsminda funicular

Running since 1905, though the cars themselves are long since new. The track is 501 metres, the climb takes five minutes, and there is an intermediate stop at the Pantheon, where Griboyedov, Pirosmani and Ilia Chavchavadze are buried. The upper station opens into the amusement park.

As of summer 2026 a one-way ticket is 12 GEL, or 3 GEL for Georgian citizens with ID, the same as the cable car. The funicular used to be cheaper, which is why older guidebooks still quote 8 or 10 GEL. It uses the same park card, so you do not need a second one. Metromoney does not work here either. Up and down are charged separately; there is no return ticket on any of these lines.

Use the Pantheon stop on the way down: ride straight to the top, walk the park, then take the footpath down to the Pantheon and board there. Every new boarding is charged again.

Linking the lines into one route

Half a day covers two cable cars and the funicular:

1. Start at Rike Park around five in the afternoon and ride up to Narikala for 2.5 GEL.
2. Walk down past the sulphur baths, through Meidan and out to Liberty Square. Fifteen minutes.
3. Continue to 52 Rustaveli and go up to Mtatsminda for sunset. Viewing terrace, ferris wheel, park.
4. Come down on the funicular to Chonkadze Street so you are not repeating the same view.

That runs about three and a half hours and roughly 30 GEL per person: 2.5 GEL for Narikala, 12 each way on Mtatsminda and 4 GEL for the two cards. Turtle Lake does not fit into this chain. It sits at the other end of town and works better as a separate morning.

With kids, a pram, or limited mobility

The lines differ more than you would expect. The Rike cabins have seats and the line is officially adapted for wheelchair users. The Rustaveli gondolas also have seats and more room.

The Turtle Lake cabins have no seats and a high step at the door, which makes a pram awkward. The funicular has stairs at boarding. Gondolas on all three ropeways slow down but do not stop, so you step in while they are moving.

Two cards, two systems

The city runs two payment systems and they do not overlap.

Metromoney (2 GEL, sold at metro ticket offices and cable car stations) covers the metro, buses, minibuses, the Narikala line, Turtle Lake and Bagebi. A contactless bank card tapped at the turnstile works on almost all of these instead.

The Mtatsminda Park card (2 GEL, sold at the funicular and cable car stations) covers the funicular, the Rustaveli line and the rides at the top. It is useless on city transport.

Either card can be passed back to a companion, so one card covers a group if there is enough balance on it.

What to do with the car

All the lower stations sit in the dense centre, where parking is paid and evening spaces are scarce. Around Rike Park and on Rustaveli there is no point looking; near Vake Park it is easier, though not on a weekend. A car rented on MY.DRIVE is better left at your accommodation while you take the metro or a taxi in. Avlabari metro station is a ten-minute walk from the lower station in Rike Park.

Driving up Mtatsminda, on the other hand, makes sense. It is 7.5 kilometres from the centre via the Okrokana road, 12 to 15 minutes without traffic, and there is a large car park at the top. That flips the logic: the cable car and funicular stop being transport and become the attraction, taking you down to Rustaveli and back up to the car.

The short version

Of the four cable cars in Tbilisi you need two, maybe three. Narikala costs 2.5 GEL and gives the best view of the Old Town, especially after dark. Mtatsminda costs 12 GEL and needs a separate park card. Turtle Lake at 1 GEL stays the most overlooked line: cool air in summer and almost no tourists. Prices are in GEL, and both tariffs and timetables shift with the season, so check before you go.