What is Mtatsminda, and what does the district include?
Mtatsminda, the "Holy Mountain", is the ridge that rises behind central Tbilisi, crowned by Mtatsminda Park and the television tower, and it gives its name to the city's most expensive district. The administrative district covers 73 km² and had 49,052 residents at the 2014 census, a density of 672 people per km² against 2,209 for the city, because much of its area is forest and hill villages. Tbilisi City Council's decision No 16-35 of 2014 divides it into 4 territorial units: Mtatsminda-Sololaki, Vera, Kiketi-Kojori and Tsavkisi-Shindisi-Tabakhmela.
So the name covers three different places for a buyer: the historic streets below the mountain, where most flats are; the park and the slope above them; and the villages on the plateau behind the ridge, where people buy houses and land. This page covers the district as a whole, its prices, the ways up the mountain, the villages and the rules that come with an old centre. Two of its neighbourhoods have their own pages, Sololaki and Vera, and the city-wide picture is in our Tbilisi guide.
Map and boundaries
The first unit, Mtatsminda-Sololaki, runs from Rustaveli metro to the Mtkvari, down the river to Baratashvili Bridge, along Baratashvili and Pushkin streets, across Freedom Square, then along Dadiani and Lado Asatiani streets to the Sololaki ridge and the Botanical Garden, and back over the northern slope of Mtatsminda to Rustaveli metro. The hill units stretch south-west along the Kojori road to Kiketi, and south to Tsavkisi, Shindisi and Tabakhmela.
Open the mapBy our reading of that boundary, Rustaveli Avenue between Freedom Square and Rustaveli metro lies inside the district, while Abanotubani, Kala and Meidan, east of Pushkin Street, do not. The boundary was last amended in March 2022. Note too that "Mtatsminda" in a listing can mean anything from a flat on Rustaveli Avenue to a house in Kojori, 20 km away, so read the address before the price.
Who Mtatsminda suits
Suits
- Buyers who want the most central address in the city, near Rustaveli Avenue, theatres and Freedom Square.
- Buyers who want a house with land on the plateau, around the former climate resort of Kojori, within reach of the city.
- Investors in short stays aimed at visitors who want to walk to the sights.
Does not suit
- Buyers who want a new flat at a mid-market price: new-build prices are the city's highest.
- Anyone who needs flat streets and easy parking, or who would live in the villages without a car.
- Buyers unwilling to deal with heritage rules and old structures.
What property costs
| Indicator | Figure | Period and source |
|---|---|---|
| New flats from developers, white frame | USD 3,294 per m² | December 2025; 653 sales in 2025; Galt & Taggart |
| New flats from developers, white frame | USD 2,945 per m² | July 2026; sample marked small; range USD 1,950 to 4,000 |
| New flats, asking price | GEL 6,769 / 6,738 / 6,814 per m² | Geostat, first quarter of 2025, fourth quarter of 2025, first quarter of 2026; the highest district each time |
| New private houses, asking price | GEL 4,687 / 4,835 per m² | Geostat, first quarter of 2025 and of 2026 |
| Resale flats, asking price | USD 2,171 per m² | TBC Capital, March 2026, 9% above a year earlier |
| Rent for a new flat | USD 13.0 per m² a month | Galt & Taggart, July 2026, the second highest district |
| Rent in the hill units, 2021 | USD 9.1 and 8.0 per m² a month | ISET, Kiketi-Kojori and Tsavkisi-Shindisi-Tabakhmela, for history only |
Geostat's index, which uses asking prices of completed new homes on myhome.ge and ss.ge, ranked Mtatsminda first for new flats again in the second quarter of 2026, and second after Vake for houses. Galt & Taggart's figure is lower in July 2026 than in December 2025, but it marks the Mtatsminda sample as small, so a single month can move either way. Rent of USD 13.0 against a price of USD 2,945 gives a gross yield of about 5.3% by our calculation, well below the city's 8.5%.
For the villages, published figures are thin. Listings collected around 2020 to 2021 asked from about USD 14 to 300 per m² for land in Tsavkisi and USD 11 to 135 in Kojori, a range too old and too wide to price a plot today. A developer announced a design-coded community of 63 plots in Tsavkisi in May 2026. For any plot, ask for the cadastral data, the zoning and access to water and power before discussing price.
The mountain: park, funicular and cable car
Two lifts climb the mountain from the city. The funicular, built by a Belgian company and opened on 27 March 1905, runs 501 metres from Chonkadze Street at 460 metres above sea level to the upper station at 727 metres; it closed after an accident in 2000 and reopened in 2012 after a full rebuild. It is not part of the city transport system: rides need a Mtatsminda Park card, which costs GEL 2, and a travel guide checked in October 2026 put a one-way ride at about GEL 10 to 12.
The cable car from Rustaveli Avenue, first opened in 1959 and closed after a 1990 accident in which 19 people died, reopened on 18 October 2024 after a GEL 50 million rebuild: 845 metres, 21 cabins and a ride of about 4 minutes, running daily from 11:00 to 22:30 from its lower station at 52 Rustaveli Avenue, itself a heritage-listed building of 1958. At the top, Mtatsminda Park covers more than 100 hectares around the city's highest point, about 770 metres, beside the 1972 television tower. The park has a turbulent ownership history: leased to a company of the businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, seized by the authorities in 2007, leased to a Ras Al Khaimah developer in 2008 and, according to later reports, returned to his family in a 2011 settlement.
Halfway up, the churchyard of St David's church holds the Mtatsminda Pantheon, established in 1929, where Ilia Chavchavadze, Vazha-Pshavela, Galaktion Tabidze and Alexander Griboedov are buried.
Getting around
The lower district is the best connected part of Tbilisi: Rustaveli station, opened in 1966 with the first section of the metro, and Freedom Square station, opened in 1967, are both on Line 1. Buses 316, 324 and 380 run along Leonidze Street, and travel guides list bus 380 to Kojori from Baratashvili Street near Freedom Square. Kojori lies about 20 km south-west of the centre at about 1,350 metres, so the villages work best for buyers with a car.
Rustaveli Avenue itself is being rebuilt. Full rehabilitation began on 23 July 2026 with a budget of up to GEL 50 million: new water, sewage and gas networks, cables moved underground, new pavements and lighting, with completion targeted for the end of November 2026. 2 schools on the avenue, Public School No 47 and the Classical Gymnasium, began the school year in a hybrid format because of the works. The project includes a new traffic scheme, so if you view a flat on the avenue before the works end, ask how it will change access to the building.
The hill villages: Kojori, Kiketi, Tsavkisi, Shindisi, Tabakhmela
- Kojori. A small town of 1,232 people at the 2014 census, at about 1,350 metres, with a medieval fortress and a past as a summer residence of Georgian kings and of the Viceroy of the Caucasus; its former sanatoria no longer operate. The heights saw the cadets' battle of February 1921, marked by the Junkers memorial.
- Tabakhmela. A village above the city where a Ras Al Khaimah developer planned a large "Tbilisi Heights" project in 2007 that was never built.
- Shindisi. Known for its villagers' rescue of wounded soldiers in the August 2008 war, the subject of a 2019 film.
- Tsavkisi. The European School is opening a campus here for the 2026-27 school year, with primary classes and a kindergarten.
Airbnb has location pages for villas in Tabakhmela and Kojori, a sign of the weekend and summer market. We found no published population figures for the smaller villages and no recent price data, so treat every village purchase as a plot-by-plot decision: road access in winter, water supply, the land's zoning and its registered boundaries matter more here than any district average.
Old buildings, heritage zones and earthquakes
Much of the lower district is old, and the rules reflect it. "Tbilisi Historic District" has been on Georgia's UNESCO Tentative List since 24 October 2007, though it has never been inscribed. Under Article 131 of the Spatial Planning Code, in force in its current form since 11 January 2024, unauthorised construction in a cultural heritage protection zone within Tbilisi is fined GEL 250,000 on state or municipal property and, on private property, GEL 16,000, 24,000 or 200,000 depending on the building's class; rehabilitating a listed building without a permit is fined GEL 250,000. And since June 2026, only additions of 10 m² or less can go through the special legalisation procedure. Our Sololaki guide explains what this means when you buy in an old house.
The earthquake of 25 April 2002, with its epicentre inside the city, damaged 1,735 houses, and the worst damage fell on low-rise brick and stone buildings in the old districts; ICOMOS photographed damaged houses in Sololaki and Mtatsminda. On the mountain itself, a structure near the Mtatsminda Park parking area collapsed on 25 March 2025, killing one person. For any building from before the Second World War, ask for a structural survey before you sign, and check in the Public Registry and on the city's planning map whether the plot lies in a protection zone.
Forest and air
The slope itself is being replanted. Tbilisi City Hall and the Cartu Foundation began a forest restoration of the Mtatsminda slope with a budget of GEL 16 million, described in 2021 as about 700 hectares and 500,000 to 800,000 trees of nearly 40 species, and by the mayor in July 2025 as a 400-hectare slope and one of the city's green lungs. None of the National Environmental Agency's automatic air monitoring stations is confirmed inside the district, so we do not quote readings; the city-wide picture is in our Vake guide.
Hotels and letting
The district holds some of the city's best-known hotels: the 214-room Biltmore tower on Rustaveli Avenue, opened in 2016, and, on the district's edge, Paragraph Freedom Square, opened in November 2023 with 220 rooms, linked by a 1.9 km cable car to the Paragraph Tabori resort on Mount Tabori, opened in September 2025. For flats, no short-stay tracker publishes figures for Mtatsminda alone; Airbtics' neighbourhood table, for example, has no row for it. Long-let rent of USD 13.0 per m² is the second highest in the city, behind Vake. Our pages on Airbnb in Tbilisi and on rents by district compare the two after costs.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Two metro stations and Rustaveli Avenue on the doorstep | The city's highest new-build prices |
| Rent per m² second only to Vake | Gross yield of about 5.3%, below the city average |
| The park, funicular and cable car | Old structures and heritage rules with high fines |
| Houses and land on the plateau | Village plots need a car and careful checks |
| A rebuilt Rustaveli Avenue from late 2026 | Road works until the end of November 2026 |
To be added by the team: photos for the team to take: the funicular on Chonkadze Street, the cable car station at 52 Rustaveli Avenue, the view from Mtatsminda Park, the television tower, a street below the mountain, the Pantheon, Kojori fortress and a house plot in Tsavkisi or Tabakhmela.
Checking a property in Mtatsminda step by step
Place the address
City streets, the slope or a village.
Check the zone
Heritage protection and zoning for the plot.
Survey the structure
Especially in pre-war masonry houses.
Match paper and reality
Registered area and floors against what is built.
Test access
Stairs, parking, winter roads to the villages.
Price it twice
Against the district and against its own street.
Frequently asked questions
What does Mtatsminda district include?
4 units: Mtatsminda-Sololaki, Vera, Kiketi-Kojori and Tsavkisi-Shindisi-Tabakhmela.
Is Mtatsminda the most expensive district in Tbilisi?
For new flats, yes on Geostat's data: GEL 6,814 per m² in the first quarter of 2026.
What is the rent in Mtatsminda?
In July 2026, Galt & Taggart's figure for a new flat was USD 13.0 per m² a month, or about USD 715 for 55 m².
How much is the Mtatsminda funicular?
A park card costs GEL 2; a one-way ride was about GEL 10 to 12 in October 2026, per a travel guide.
When does the Rustaveli cable car run?
Daily from 11:00 to 22:30, from 52 Rustaveli Avenue.
Is Rustaveli Avenue in Mtatsminda district?
By our reading of the official boundary, yes, between Freedom Square and Rustaveli metro.
What are the fines for illegal building in the historic zone?
From GEL 16,000 to 200,000 on private property, depending on the building's class.
Can I buy a house with land near Tbilisi in Mtatsminda district?
Yes, in Kojori, Tsavkisi, Shindisi and Tabakhmela; check access and zoning first.
Sources
- Tbilisi City Council decision No 16-35 on territorial units, 5 December 2014, as amended 18 March 2022, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi agglomeration air quality management plan 2024-2026, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Mtatsminda district, 2014 census, City Population, citing Geostat (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi residential real estate, 2025 overview and July 2026, Galt & Taggart (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi property prices, first quarter of 2025, CBW, citing Geostat; fourth quarter of 2025 and first quarter of 2026, 1TV, citing Geostat (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Residential property price index, second quarter of 2026, Geostat, 23 July 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi residential market monthly watch, March 2026, TBC Capital (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Real estate market highlights, April to June 2021, ISET Policy Institute (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Demand for land plots in the suburbs of Tbilisi, CBW (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Project Tsavkisi launched, press release, May 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi funicular, Georgian Encyclopedia, and Tbilisi funicular, Madloba.info (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Cableway linking Rustaveli Avenue to Mtatsminda Park opens, 1TV, 18 October 2024; Historical cableway reopens, Georgia Today; cable car restoration, RFE/RL (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Mtatsminda Park, official site (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Mtatsminda Park lease, Civil.ge, 4 March 2009, and Mtatsminda Park, Wikipedia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower and Mtatsminda Pantheon, Wikipedia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Traffic restricted on Giorgi Leonidze Street, 1TV, 31 July 2026, and getting to Kojori, Red Fedora Diary (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Full rehabilitation of Rustaveli Avenue begins, 1TV, 23 July 2026, and two schools in hybrid format, Georgia Today, 26 August 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Kojori, Tabakhmela and Shindisi, Wikipedia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tsavkisi campus of the European School, GIG, 25 February 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi Historic District, UNESCO World Heritage Centre (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Code on Spatial Planning, Architectural and Construction Activities, Legislative Herald of Georgia, and amendments of 25 June 2026, Parliament of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Heritage at Risk 2002: Georgia, ICOMOS, and 2002 earthquake damage, OSCE (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Building collapse near the funicular, Front News, 25 March 2025 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Mtatsminda makeover, Georgia Today, 1 July 2021, and mayor on parks and squares, 1TV, 10 July 2025 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi opens, eHotelier, 2 August 2016; The Luxury Collection debuts in Georgia, Marriott, 20 November 2023; Paragraph Tabori, Jerusalem Post (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Airbnb revenue in Tbilisi, Airbtics (accessed 21 October 2026)
Change log
- - Area guide published from the Tbilisi City Council decision on territorial units, Geostat, Galt & Taggart, TBC Capital and ISET data, Mtatsminda Park and City Hall notices, the Spatial Planning Code and reporting on the hill villages and hotels.