TBILISI BUS HUB
Tbilisi has no single bus terminal: Didube runs the north and west, Samgori runs Kakheti, Ortachala keeps the international coaches to Yerevan, Baku and Turkey — and the plan to ban long-distance marshrutkas has been deferred to 2027.
The largest terminal sits beside Didube metro on the red line, wrapped around a bazaar, and serves everything north and west: Kazbegi (₾20, 3–3.5 hours, eleven daily departures), Gudauri, Mtskheta (₾2, every 20–30 minutes), Gori, Borjomi, Kutaisi (₾25), Batumi (₾25–35) and Zugdidi. Tickets are paper, bought at small desks per route or paid to the driver; vans leave when full, so arrive 30–40 minutes early in season. It looks chaotic; it is, in fact, merely honest.
Kakheti wine country leaves from the Navtlughi terminal beside Samgori metro — Sighnaghi six times a day (₾15), Telavi roughly hourly (₾12–15). Ortachala, the old central coach station with no metro, keeps the international coaches to Yerevan, Baku and Turkish cities; Isani metro handles Lagodekhi and eastern Kakheti. A regulation banning minivans from routes over 150 km was to take effect in June 2025 and has been deferred to 2027 — so the white vans still rule the mountains. Payment across the city: metro and bus at 1 lari with a bank card; Bolt from the centre to any yard is ₾10–15.
THE TIO READ
Learn one rule and the system stops being a puzzle: north and west — Didube; wine — Samgori; abroad — Ortachala. Confirm the yard with your guesthouse the night before, because a wrong guess costs 45 minutes in Tbilisi traffic and a missed van.
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