Events & Festivals in Tbilisi

Tbilisi marks an informal new year replay under the Julian calendar. Georgia observes this tradition with a quieter, more personal tone than the official holiday. Families gather for second supras in restaurants and homes across the city. Cafes and bars along Rustaveli Avenue and in Abanotubani host live music and late gatherings. Locals use it to extend the season with close friends. Skip the crowds. This is the real thing.

Georgia's pre-Lenten masquerade floods Tbilisi's old quarter with costumed performers in carved wooden masks and animal hides. Berikaoba is outdoor theatre. Keenoba is wilder street carnival. Participants perform satirical skits rooted in pagan agricultural rites. The procession winds through narrow lanes south of Meidan Square. The event has shrunk from its peak. It remains genuine folk tradition, not stage-managed revival. Suited to anyone drawn to Caucasian folklore and pre-Christian ritual.

Tbilisi regularly hosts a stop on the International Judo Federation circuit, drawing Olympic-level competitors from dozens of countries. Georgia fields some of Europe's strongest judokas. The home crowd at Sport Palace is fiercely partisan. Matches run across weight classes over two or three days. Atmosphere during Georgian bouts hits football-level noise. The event puts Tbilisi on the global combat sports map. It suits judo devotees and anyone who enjoys high-stakes individual competition.

Tbilisi's Azerbaijani community marks the spring equinox with bonfires, shared meals, and traditional music. The celebrations reflect the city's centuries-old role as a crossroads where Georgian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Persian cultures coexist and shape each other. Expect samani wheat sprouts on display. Roasted nuts and sweets circulate freely. Ashiq minstrels perform at community gathering spaces. The event opens a window into cultural layers that have shaped Tbilisi since its founding as a multiethnic Caucasian capital.

Tbilisi's theatre festival brings international troupes and Georgian companies together across the capital's stages, with Marjanishvili and Rustaveli theatres as anchors. The programme mixes avant-garde European work with Georgian physical theatre, a tradition shaped by directors like Robert Sturua. Performances often run in original languages with Georgian or English surtitles. The festival suits theatre enthusiasts willing to navigate some language barriers. The payoff is exposure to Georgia's remarkably deep dramatic tradition and its ornate nineteenth-century playhouses.

Winemakers from across Georgia bring first bottlings of the season to Tbilisi for open-air tastings in parks and along the riverfront. The festival celebrates Georgia's qvevri winemaking tradition, the clay-vessel method recognised by UNESCO. Expect amber wines, deep Saperavi reds, and experimental natural blends poured generously by producers themselves. Live polyphonic singing often accompanies the tastings. The event draws serious wine devotees and casual visitors exploring why Georgia claims to be the birthplace of wine.

Tbilisi joins the international Night of Museums movement with free late-night openings at the Georgian National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art on Gudiashvili Square, and smaller galleries across the city. Curators mount special exhibitions. Some venues stage live performances, film screenings, and workshops alongside permanent collections. The event draws a young, sociable crowd who treat it as part cultural tour, part evening out. The compact gallery district along Rustaveli Avenue and into the Old Town lets you visit several venues on foot.

The Caucasus region's premier electronic music festival claims the shores of Lisi Lake on Tbilisi's outskirts. Multiple days of techno, house, and experimental electronic sets develop here. The lineup blends international headliners with Georgian DJs from the Bassiani and Cafe Gallery scenes. These local artists put Tbilisi on the global electronic map. The reservoir setting sits ringed by dry hills and scrubland. This gives the festival a raw, unpretentious feel. Polished European events cannot match this. Expect a young, energetic crowd. The local contingent runs strong.

The South Caucasus's largest literary event fills the exhibition halls at Expo Georgia. Publishers, independent presses, and booksellers arrive from Georgia and neighbouring countries. Georgian literature receives prominent billing here. The range spans Rustaveli's medieval epic to contemporary novelists. Foreign publishers use the fair to acquire translation rights. Panel discussions, author readings, and children's programming run alongside the trade floor. Bookish travellers will find their place here. Anyone curious about a literary culture that punches well above its population weight should attend.

Art Gene stages contemporary Georgian art installations and live performances. The venue is the Open Air Ethnographic Museum on the slopes above Vake Park. Traditional rural houses dot this landscape. Modern sculpture and video art stand against stone farmhouses and wooden balconies. This creates a dialogue between old and new Georgia. A conventional gallery cannot reproduce this. The festival draws both the Tbilisi art scene and families. Many come for an afternoon on the hillside. Performances often run into the evening. Long views stretch across the Mtkvari valley.

Outdoor concert stages appear across Tbilisi as summer arrives. The capital's music venues move performances into the warm evening air. The Concert Hall at Rike Park hosts programmes. The gardens of the State Conservatoire do too. Terraces in the Old Town join in. Georgian folk ensembles, chamber music, and contemporary acts mix on these stages. Warm, dry evenings and late sunsets make open-air listening natural for the season. Performances often start after dark. The informal atmosphere suits couples and families. They seek evening entertainment at a more intimate scale than the major festivals.

The Feast of the Transfiguration fills Tbilisi's churches with candlelit services. Liturgical chanting in the Georgian polyphonic tradition resounds here. Sameba Cathedral hosts the most attended service. This is the seat of the Georgian Patriarch. Worshippers gather on the terraced grounds overlooking the Old Town. Smaller churches including Sioni and Anchiskhati hold their own observances. These settings prove more intimate. The feast falls during Tbilisi's hottest month. Cool stone interiors offer physical respite from the heat. Spiritual respite comes too.

Tbilisi's summer food festival gathers restaurants, home cooks, and regional producers. They line the Mtkvari riverfront for tastings. These survey the full range of Georgian cuisine. Expect khinkali dumpling competitions. Churchkhela walnut-and-grape-must confections appear too. Regional specialties from Adjara, Svaneti, and Kakheti come from open stalls. Live cooking demonstrations run throughout the day. The informal atmosphere encourages direct conversation with the people preparing the food. The event gives a concentrated introduction to Georgian cuisine. This varies dramatically across mountain valleys and coastal lowlands.

Georgia's grape harvest season reverberates from the vineyards of Kakheti into the capital. Wine bars, restaurants, and cultural venues host tastings. Grape-stomping events and harvest-themed supras run throughout the month. Some Tbilisi wine bars organise day trips to nearby vineyards. Visitors get hands-on participation in the harvest. The tradition of rtveli continues here. Families gather to pick, crush, and ferment grapes in buried qvevri clay vessels. This ranks among the oldest continuous agricultural practices in the world. The capital's celebration is more urban and curated. Genuine enthusiasm remains.

Tbilisi's fashion week commands international attention. Georgian designers fuse post-Soviet aesthetics with traditional textile techniques. Shows develop in industrial spaces, galleries, and hotel ballrooms across the city. Established names share billing with emerging talent from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. The city produced Demna. Other designers shaped the deconstructed, boundary-crossing style now synonymous with Georgian fashion. Street style around the venues runs experimental and individualistic. The event pulls in buyers, press, and a devoted local audience.

Tbilisi's largest annual festival celebrates the city's founding. Concerts, street performances, craft markets, and food stalls stretch from Rike Park through the Old Town to Meidan Square. The main stage at Rike Park hosts large-scale outdoor concerts. Folk dance ensembles perform on secondary stages. Regional food producers line the riverfront. A wine village shows Georgian vintages from every winemaking region. Tbilisoba draws the full cross-section of the city's population. The old quarter transforms into a continuous open-air celebration. It runs from morning until well past midnight.

The Tbilisi Jazz Festival programmes international and Georgian jazz musicians across the capital's concert halls, clubs, and open-air stages. Georgia has a jazz tradition dating to the Soviet era. Tbilisi was one of the few cities where jazz was tolerated and sometimes actively encouraged. The festival builds on that history. It pairs established American and European acts with Georgian musicians. These musicians often fold polyphonic vocal traditions into their improvisation. Venues range from the grand Conservatoire hall to intimate basement clubs in the Vera neighbourhood.

Tbilisi's marathon sends runners through the city centre. The route follows the Mtkvari River, passes Sameba Cathedral, and cuts through the Old Town. The course takes in most of the capital's architectural landmarks on relatively flat terrain. Autumn weather provides cooler conditions than the brutal summer heat. The event includes full marathon, half marathon, and shorter distances. Recreational runners can find their level. Georgian running culture is growing rapidly. The field mixes competitive athletes with a large community participation element.

TIFF screens independent and arthouse cinema from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Europe at venues across the capital. The Amirani Cinema on Kostava Street is the festival hub. Georgian cinema carries a distinguished lineage. It runs from Tengiz Abuladze and Otar Iosseliani through to a new generation of directors gaining recognition at major international festivals. The programme mixes Georgian premieres with international competition selections, retrospectives, and post-screening conversations with directors. The event attracts film professionals, students from the Georgian film schools, and a devoted cinephile public.

Georgia's national rugby team plays its autumn test matches at Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in central Tbilisi. The stadium regularly hosts Tier 1 and Tier 2 nations. Georgian rugby has risen sharply in recent decades. It produces players who compete in France's Top 14 and the English Premiership. The home crowd is knowledgeable and vocal. Match days generate a citywide atmosphere. Bars along Rustaveli Avenue fill hours before kickoff. The sport rivals football as Georgia's most emotionally charged spectator experience. It gives visitors a direct encounter with contemporary Georgian national pride.

The international community in Tbilisi organises an annual charity bazaar. Embassy staff, NGO workers, and expatriate families drive the event. It happens in the weeks before the Western and Orthodox Christmas seasons. Stalls sell handmade crafts, Georgian food products, imported goods, and children's items. Proceeds go to local charities. The bazaar typically takes place at a major Tbilisi hotel. It draws both the expatriate community and Georgian families. The event has a compact introduction to the producers and artisans of Tbilisi's international and local creative communities.

Tbilisi's winter fair fills public squares and parks with stalls selling Georgian handicrafts, churchkhela, dried fruits, and seasonal treats through the final weeks of the year. First Republic Square and Pushkin Park host the largest clusters of vendors. Rustaveli Avenue is strung with lights that transform the central boulevard into a festive corridor. Street food vendors offer roasted chestnuts and warm drinks. Small stages feature carollers and folk ensembles. The fair suits families. It works for anyone exploring Tbilisi during the colder, quieter months of the year.