Living in Tbilisi as an expat: check the street before you rent

Living in Tbilisi as an expat often means a climb to the grocery, park or metro. Living Score counts those minutes and gives a number from 0 to 100.

Type an address: a street and a house number.

Who is it for

Free, no sign-up. Sample report

How it works

What lies within a walk of a real address, place by place.

The markers are real places, the nearest of each kind. The tint shows how far you get on foot.

  • 5 minutes on foot75 places
  • 10 minutes on foot445 places
  • 15 minutes on foot1,006 places

Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi

Nearest places 82

Groceries

Services nearby

Public transport

Education and children

Health

Parks and sport

Cafes and culture

Bikes and shared cars

Remote work

Pets

What a map alone will not tell you

A map shows what is nearby. The report tells you whether it works for you.

The way to your own places

Add your office, a school or your parents' home. You will see how long each takes on foot, by metro, by car and by bicycle.

What matters to you weighs more

Give more weight to what matters and mark what you cannot do without. The score changes at once, and the link keeps your settings.

91.5what is in reach−1.1what lowers it=90.4score

What takes points away

A main road under the window or dirty air costs points. The report names each cause and shows it on the map.

How minutes turn into points

We count minutes along real streets. A hill, a long wait at a crossing and a walk beside a highway make the way longer.

How far the door really reaches

The areas you can walk to from Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi in 5, 10 and 15 minutes, along its streets. The dashed circle is what a ruler on the map would promise.

  • 5 minutes on foot
  • 10 minutes on foot
  • 15 minutes on foot
  • 15 minutes as the crow flies
full value81%42%17%59131620minutes on foot

Five minutes is full value

A grocery within 5 minutes of the door counts in full. Further out its value falls, slowly at first, and at 20 minutes it counts for nothing.

straight linethe walkcrossing

A railway doubles a short walk

Around Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi a walk is on average 1.29 times the straight line. Where tracks or a six-lane road lie between you and the shop, you walk to the crossing first.

  • 8.5 km of major roads
  • 3.2 km of stairs
  • 41 closed passages

What the score is made of

Each part has its own 0 to 100: the fewer minutes on foot, the higher. The percentages are its weight in the General profile.

Public transport

The lines you can reach on foot. A metro line counts for three bus lines, a frequent line for more than a rare one.

18% of the score

Parks and sport

A park, a forest, a sports ground, benches. A beach or the sea within a walk counts like a park; a lake or a river bank adds points.

14% of the score

Street network

How direct the streets are, and what the walks lose to slopes, waits at wide roads and traffic alongside.

14% of the score

Services nearby

A pharmacy, a bank or a cash machine, the post and parcel lockers, a hairdresser or a repair shop, a shopping centre.

13% of the score

Education and children

Kindergartens, schools, playgrounds, classes. With a child it is a walk made twice a day.

10% of the score

Groceries

A supermarket or a grocery shop, a bakery, a greengrocer, a market. What you buy every few days.

9% of the score

Health

A clinic, a dentist, a hospital. Rarely needed, badly missed when far.

9% of the score

Cafes and culture

Cafes, restaurants, a cinema, a museum, a library. Places you go to for no errand at all.

8% of the score

Bikes and shared cars

Cycle lanes and tracks nearby, the ride to the city centre, bike share and parking, chargers and shared cars.

3% of the score

Remote work

A coworking space, or a cafe and a library where you can sit with a laptop.

1% of the score

Pets

A dog park, a vet, a pet shop.

1% of the score

Shown, but kept out of the score

These are mapped unevenly from country to country, or modelled too coarsely for one street. So the report states them as facts.

Greenery
The share of the surroundings covered by parks, forest and grass.
Step-free access
Step-free places, lowered kerbs, tactile paving and stairs on the way.
Lighting and night
Lit streets and places open through the night.
Climate
Hot days, frost and rain over the last full year.
Relief
Height above sea level and how steep the streets are.

What lowers the score

Noise, dirty air and industry next door take up to 20 points. Here is what they cost Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi.

91.5what is in reach−1.1what lowers it=90.4score

The noise is worked out for the spot the building stands on. Inside a flat it depends on which way the windows face and on the glazing: a flat facing the courtyard can be much quieter.

One address, six ways of living at it

A family needs a school, life without a car needs the metro. Choose who it is for and the weights change.

  • Groceries9%
  • Services nearby13%
  • Public transport18%
  • Education and children10%
  • Health9%
  • Parks and sport14%
  • Street network14%
  • Cafes and culture8%
  • Bikes and shared cars3%
  • Remote work1%
  • Pets1%

Walking pace: 80 m/minHas to be in reach: groceries, pharmacy

What you get for an address

The report for Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi. Behind every number are the places it came from.

Shota Rustaveli Avenue 12, Tbilisi

Everything on foot

  • Groceries91
  • Services nearby100
  • Public transport100
  • Education and children82
  • Health81
  • Parks and sport97
  • Street network90
  • Cafes and culture100
  • Bikes and shared cars39
  • Remote work93
  • Pets58

What is missing

  • Hospital−1.7
  • Kindergarten−0.9
  • Playground−0.7
  • Bike share−0.6
Open this report

Cities

One address in each city, scored the same way.

Tbilisi

1 Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi · Vake

Most errands on foot

  • Groceries73
  • Services nearby92
  • Public transport94
  • Education and children74
  • Health96
  • Parks and sport94
  • Street network79
  • Cafes and culture99
  • Bikes and shared cars51
  • Remote work82
  • Pets60
About Tbilisi

Batumi

Europe Square, Batumi · Old Batumi

Everything on foot

  • Groceries73
  • Services nearby92
  • Public transport92
  • Education and children88
  • Health100
  • Parks and sport99
  • Street network98
  • Cafes and culture100
  • Bikes and shared cars88
  • Remote work97
  • Pets52
About Batumi

Kutaisi

Colchis Fountain, Kutaisi · Centre

Most errands on foot

  • Groceries95
  • Services nearby96
  • Public transport84
  • Education and children82
  • Health100
  • Parks and sport96
  • Street network93
  • Cafes and culture100
  • Bikes and shared cars38
  • Remote work94
  • Pets53
About Kutaisi

Rustavi

Rustavi City Hall · Old Rustavi

Most errands on foot

  • Groceries73
  • Services nearby84
  • Public transport60
  • Education and children90
  • Health96
  • Parks and sport94
  • Street network96
  • Cafes and culture95
  • Bikes and shared cars34
  • Remote work35
  • Pets59
About Rustavi

Kobuleti

Kobuleti City Hall · Centre

Half on foot

  • Groceries92
  • Services nearby87
  • Public transport8
  • Education and children41
  • Health84
  • Parks and sport94
  • Street network70
  • Cafes and culture67
  • Bikes and shared cars26
  • Remote work25
  • Pets59
About Kobuleti

Gori

Gori City Hall · Centre

Most errands on foot

  • Groceries73
  • Services nearby87
  • Public transport88
  • Education and children89
  • Health98
  • Parks and sport97
  • Street network97
  • Cafes and culture100
  • Bikes and shared cars30
  • Remote work41
  • Pets54
About Gori

Questions

Where do expats live in Tbilisi?

Mostly in Vake, Saburtalo, Vera and Sololaki, with some in Chugureti on the left bank around Marjanishvili. These districts have plenty of cafes and English-speaking services, and rents to match.

Is Tbilisi a good place to live?

Central Tbilisi puts food, culture and services within a short walk. The same city has heavy traffic, hills and uneven sidewalks, so the answer changes with the building. Score the address you are considering under the profile closest to yours.

Is Tbilisi walkable?

The central districts are dense enough to live in without a car, and the metro links them. Hills, parked cars on sidewalks, underpasses and the embankment roads make some short distances slow. The score follows the route a pedestrian would take, so these detours show up as minutes.

Is Tbilisi safe at night?

Central Tbilisi is generally regarded as safe to walk in at night, and streets stay busy late. The everyday risks are poor lighting on side streets, broken sidewalks, fast traffic and stray dogs. Crime statistics are outside what Living Score looks at.

How do you find an apartment in Tbilisi?

Most people use the local listing sites myhome.ge and ss.ge, Facebook groups, or an agent. Before a viewing, enter the listing address and check what is within a walk. Then put your finalists next to each other before you choose.

Batumi or Tbilisi: which is better?

Tbilisi is the larger city, with a metro, more schools and clinics, and services that run all year. Batumi is flat, compact and on the sea, with a strongly seasonal rhythm and wet winters. Score one address in each under the same profile; the sea shows up in the parks category and the season does not show up at all, so visit in January.

More on choosing a place to live

Start from your own week

Most newcomers choose from abroad, between four names on the right bank of the Mtkvari. A better start is your own routine. Add up to three places to the report, such as a coworking space on Rustaveli, a school in Vake and a gym, and it shows the walk to each. Where the walk is too long, it tells you whether one metro or bus line links the two ends.

Six profiles change what counts: general, family with a child, without a car, older person, remote worker, pet owner. Without a car, transport weighs most and limits everything else. With a child or for an older person the pace is slower and stairs cost more, which in Sololaki or upper Vera changes the picture at once. You can also move the weights by hand and mark a kindergarten or a park as a must; the link keeps your settings.

What a listing does not tell you

Slopes come first. An apartment in upper Vera may be a short distance from Rustaveli Avenue and still mean a climb home with shopping every day. The minutes in the report include that climb, and it is still worth walking the route once before you sign.

The river is the second surprise. Fast embankment roads run along both banks of the Mtkvari, so living near the water rarely means walking beside it, and you cross only at the bridges. Rustaveli Avenue is crossed by underpass, and sidewalks on side streets are often taken up by parked cars.

Traffic is the main source of both noise and poor air in the valley. A city-wide Tbilisi air quality map gives the general picture. In the score, a main road or a railway close to the building and air worse than the WHO guideline take points away, up to twenty, and the report names the road.

Tbilisi, the coast or a smaller town

Batumi is flat and compact, which makes it easy on foot, and it runs on a seasonal clock. The seafront towers that are busy in August can stand largely empty in winter, and the cafes around them follow. A beach within a walk adds to the parks part of the score there and in Kobuleti; an inland address loses nothing for having no sea.

Kutaisi is quieter, with a walkable center around the Colchis Fountain and outer districts that depend on minibuses. Rustavi is half an hour from the capital and cheaper. Gori fits between its fortress and the river. In all of them the question is how far the address is from the part of town that works all year.

The number and the data

Every walk follows real streets and is counted in minutes. Under five minutes a place counts in full; by fifteen to twenty it counts for nothing. Ten categories go in, from food shopping and transport to places to work with a laptop and a vet. The nearest grocery matters most and a tenth cafe adds nothing.

If you plan to rent an apartment in Tbilisi long term, narrow the search to between two and five addresses and open them next to each other. The map data is OpenStreetMap, and where it is thin the report says so and shows the score as an at-least figure. Each report opens in full, and no account is needed.