Abanotubani Sulphur Baths

Abanotubani, the bath district, is where Tbilisi began. Hot sulphur water rises at the foot of Narikala, and for centuries it has fed bathhouses built partly underground, so from the street you see little more than rows of brick domes with small vents on top. The most photographed building is the Orbeliani Baths, also called Chreli Abano, the colourful bath, with a blue tiled facade and pointed arches in Persian style. Several bathhouses still operate, with public pools and private rooms that you book by the hour.

A typical visit means a private room for an hour with a hot sulphur pool, a cooler pool and a shower, plus a kisi scrub and soap massage from an attendant. The water smells of sulphur but leaves skin soft. Book ahead for evenings and weekends, when rooms fill quickly. Even if you skip the baths, the square, the domes and the short walk up the gorge to the Leghvtakhevi waterfall are worth an hour.

Legend says Tbilisi was founded when King Vakhtang Gorgasali's falcon fell into a hot spring here. Bathhouses have stood in the district for centuries: by the end of the 13th century, records list 65 baths in Tbilisi. The present bathhouses are later rebuilds, several in the Persian style with brick domes and tiled facades. Alexander Pushkin, who came to Tiflis in 1829, wrote that he had never encountered anything more luxurious than its baths.