What are Tskneti and Okrokana?
Tskneti and Okrokana are Tbilisi's two best-known hill settlements for houses with gardens. Tskneti is an old summer resort in the pine forest above Vake, at about 950 metres; Okrokana sits behind Mtatsminda, at about 760 metres, a short drive from Freedom Square. Both are inside the city limits, both are markets of private houses and building plots rather than flats, and both ask buyers to look hard at land status, slopes and roads.
They belong to different districts. Under Tbilisi City Council's decision No 16-35 of 2014, Tskneti is unit 8 of Vake district, a unit that in law runs well beyond the settlement, down the Vere valley past Betania monastery to the city boundary. Okrokana is in Mtatsminda district: a council order of March 2025 names a street "in Okrokana, Mtatsminda district". The 2014 census counted 7,166 people in Tskneti and 2,253 in Okrokana; the 2024 census results published so far give no figures for individual settlements. For the neighbouring hillside of Vake, see our guide to Bagebi and the Tskneti road.
Map and locations
Tskneti lies in the Vere gorge on the eastern slopes of the Trialeti range, at the top of the Tbilisi-Tskneti highway; Okrokana lies south-east of it behind the Mtatsminda ridge, reached from the Kojori road.
Open the mapBy our measurement, the Tskneti Center bus stop is about 8.4 km in a straight line from Freedom Square and 4.1 km from Vake Park, and the settlement climbs from about 940 metres at the centre to over 1,100 metres in upper Tskneti. Okrokana is much closer to the centre, about 2.4 km in a straight line from Freedom Square and 0.8 km from Mtatsminda Park, at roughly 720 to 780 metres. No bus links the two, so they work as separate markets.
Who Tskneti and Okrokana suit
Suits
- Families who want a house, a garden and cooler summers inside the city.
- Buyers who want a plot to build their own home.
- Families at Buckswood International School in upper Tskneti.
Does not suit
- Anyone who needs a metro station or daily life without a car.
- Buyers who will not check zoning, land category and the slope under a plot.
- Investors looking for quick, liquid resale of a flat.
Resort past
Georgian reference sources say summer houses were built in lower Tskneti from the second half of the 19th century and in upper Tskneti in the 20th, and that the settlement became a daba, an urban-type settlement, in 1967. The national tourism portal describes it as a mountain-climate resort: the forest around it was planted in 1935 and 1936, mainly with pine, cedar and cypress, resort facilities followed in the 1940s, and the season runs from May to November. The church of St George on Merab Kostava Street, probably dating from the 16th century and renovated in 1801, became a protected monument in 2014, and the National Parliamentary Library holds an archive photograph of the poet Galaktion Tabidze's house in Tskneti.
Tskneti was part of Tbilisi long before the current district map: a presidential decree of 2002 already describes it as part of a Tbilisi district. When the council redrew the districts in 2013 and dropped Didgori district, Tskneti went to Vake. Okrokana stands on the plateau behind Mtatsminda, close to the area where an "Upper Tbilisi" was planned around the funicular in the early 1900s and never built.
What houses, plots and flats cost
No analyst publishes figures for these two settlements. Galt & Taggart's Vake and Mtatsminda zones measure new flats, mostly in the centre, so they say little about hill houses. Geostat's district figures and listings are closer guides.
| Indicator | Tskneti | Okrokana |
|---|---|---|
| Plots, median asking price | USD 450 per m² | USD 300 per m² |
| Plots, median size | 1,000 m² | 801 m² |
| Houses, median asking price | USD 700,000 | USD 586,000 |
| Flats, median asking price | USD 1,392 per m² | USD 2,286 per m² |
| Land, TBC Capital, first half of 2023 | USD 228 per m² | USD 177 per m² |
| New houses, district median, asking | GEL 4,500 per m² (Vake) | GEL 4,835 per m² (Mtatsminda) |
On 21 October 2026 ss.ge listed 331 houses and 215 plots for sale in Tskneti, and 91 houses and 97 plots in Okrokana; counts include repeat ads. In Tskneti, a newly built 214 m² house on a 600 m² plot asked USD 550,000, a 430 m² house on 732 m² in upper Tskneti USD 1,145,000, and a house needing renovation near Rustaveli Street, with a 630 m² yard, USD 170,000. In Okrokana, a 1,001 m² plot with a permit for a 2-storey house asked USD 220,000, and a new 400 m² house with a 1,350 m² yard USD 530,000.
Asking land prices today are roughly double TBC Capital's 2023 averages, but a portal's asking median and an analyst's average are not the same measure, so treat that as a sign of a rising market, not a growth rate. Flats are a small market here: the Okrokana median is pulled up by new projects such as Simetria Park, where a 133 m² flat asked USD 306,000. Several Okrokana plots are advertised as agricultural land, which can limit what you may build.
Rents
Asking rents for flats were about USD 9 per m² a month in Tskneti and about USD 11 in Okrokana, below Galt & Taggart's July 2026 averages of USD 15.1 for the Vake zone and USD 13.0 for Mtatsminda. Houses asked a median of about USD 2,950 a month in Tskneti for about 230 m², and about USD 2,500 in Okrokana for about 265 m². These come from small samples of asks, not completed lets. District rents are compared in our page on rents by district.
Getting there
Neither settlement has a metro. Tskneti is served by bus 354 from Station Square and bus 334 from Delisi metro, each about every 15 minutes on weekdays from early morning to about 23:00; the Tbilisi Transport Company's timetable gives about 30 minutes from Tskneti Center down to Vake Park. Minibuses run within Tskneti and to Akhaldaba, Betania and Kiketi. The road continues past Tskneti to Betania and Manglisi; the Tskneti-Betania section, destroyed in the 2015 flood, was rebuilt for GEL 26 million and reopened in June 2018 with sensors that close it if the ground moves.
Okrokana is closer. Bus 390 runs about every 15 minutes from Baratashvili Street near Freedom Square, reaching Okrokana's school stop in about 18 minutes, and buses 380, 324 and 316 on the Kojori road stop at the Okrokana turning about every 40 minutes. In February 2021 about 15 cm of overnight snow stopped buses at that turning until the road was cleared, so allow for winter mornings. On 8 July 2026 City Hall announced a tender to rebuild the central part of Rustaveli Street in Tskneti, with power lines moved underground and new lighting.
Schools and services
- Buckswood International School: its official site gives 156 Rustaveli Street, Tskneti, offering Pearson Edexcel International GCSE and A levels.
- Public schools: OpenStreetMap places School No 137 by Tskneti's centre, and School No 28 and kindergarten No 162 in Okrokana, where bus stops carry the same names; confirm with the school register.
- Shops: OpenStreetMap shows a supermarket and several pharmacies on Rustaveli Street in Tskneti; we found no reliable list for Okrokana.
- Utilities: we found no official map of water, sewerage or gas networks for either area, so ask for proof of connections for each plot.
New School and the German International School are lower down, on the highway in Bagebi.
Zoning and land category
Land status is the first thing to check. In March 2019 a member of parliament told the author of the city's master plan that some Tskneti owners had found their private plots inside recreational and forest zones where the new plan barred building; the author replied that zone boundaries could be adjusted. As early as 2002 a presidential decree dealt with land use and illegal felling in Tskneti. We found no rezoning decisions for either area from 2023 to 2026. Before paying for a plot, read its functional zone and land category on the registry extract and the city's planning map, and ask whether a permit has already been issued.
Slopes, floods and fire
The hills around Tskneti are unstable in places. In June 2015 a landslide of about 1 million m³ between Tskneti and Akhaldaba dammed the Vere and set off the flood that killed 23 people downstream, according to a 2018 paper citing UNDP. In June 2024 rockfall on the Tskneti-Betania road after heavy rain closed it for two days of emergency works, and since January 2025 City Hall has been stabilising a slope that moved beside the highway below Tskneti. On 4 September 2022 strong winds spread a forest fire along the Tbilisi-Tskneti road; it was put out the same evening. We found no recorded landslide inside Okrokana, but ask for a geological survey on any steep plot in either place.
Climate and air
The tourism portal gives Tskneti a July average of about 20°C, while central Tbilisi can reach 35 to 37°C. By our reading of elevation data, Tskneti's centre is about 520 metres higher than Freedom Square and Okrokana about 300 to 360 metres higher. None of the National Environmental Agency's monitoring points lies in either settlement, so we quote no air readings.
Letting and holiday homes
Tskneti is officially described as a summer-house area with family guesthouses open all year, but we found no figure for the share of second homes and no reliable short-stay data for either area. A house here is mainly a home to live in; if you plan to let, test realistic rents for a specific house first, and see our comparison of long and short lets for the trade-offs.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Houses and plots inside the city limits | No metro, a car is close to essential |
| Cooler summers and pine forest in Tskneti | Landslides, rockfall and fire risk on the slopes |
| Okrokana about 2.4 km from Freedom Square | Snow can stop buses on winter mornings |
| Buses every 15 minutes to both settlements | Some plots in forest, recreational or agricultural zones |
| Buckswood International School in Tskneti | Thin market for flats and for resale |
To be added by the team: photos for the team to take: Rustaveli Street in Tskneti centre, the pine forest and a typical summer house, St George church on Merab Kostava Street, upper Tskneti near Buckswood, the Tskneti-Betania road, Okrokana from the Kojori road, a building plot with its boundary posts and School No 28 in Okrokana.
Checking a house or plot step by step
Read the land category
Agricultural or non-agricultural.
Check the zone
Residential, recreational or forest.
Ask for a permit
Issued permit or approved project.
Prove the utilities
Water, sewerage, gas and power.
Survey the slope
Geological survey and retaining walls.
Drive it in winter
Road access after snow.
Frequently asked questions
Which district is Tskneti in?
Vake district, unit 8 "Tskneti"; Okrokana is in Mtatsminda district.
How much does a plot in Tskneti cost?
The median asking price on ss.ge was about USD 450 per m² on 21 October 2026.
What do houses in Tskneti cost?
The median asking price was about USD 700,000; Okrokana's was about USD 586,000.
How do I get to Tskneti by public transport?
Bus 354 from Station Square or bus 334 from Delisi metro, about every 15 minutes.
How far is Okrokana from the centre?
About 2.4 km in a straight line from Freedom Square; bus 390 takes about 18 minutes.
Is Tskneti cooler than Tbilisi?
Yes; the tourism portal gives a July average of about 20°C.
Are there landslides in Tskneti?
The area has recorded slides and rockfall, including 2015 and 2024; survey every plot.
Can I build on any plot in Tskneti?
No. Check the zone and land category; some plots fall in forest or recreational zones.
Sources
- Tbilisi City Council decision No 16-35 on territorial units, 5 December 2014, and order No 135, 21 March 2025, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Presidential decree No 260, 25 May 2002, and Tbilisi City Council decision No 1-4, 28 January 2013, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi settlements, 2002 and 2014 censuses, City Population, citing Geostat (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tskneti, Georgian Wikipedia, citing the Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, and Tskneti, Georgian National Tourism Administration (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Government ordinance No 619 on cultural heritage status, 4 April 2014, and Galaktion's house in Tskneti, National Parliamentary Library of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Land prices in the suburbs of Tbilisi, JAMnews, citing TBC Capital, 2 August 2023 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Residential real estate prices in Tbilisi, first quarter of 2026, 1TV, citing Geostat, and Tbilisi residential real estate, July 2026, Galt & Taggart (accessed 21 October 2026)
- ss.ge listings for Tskneti and Okrokana, houses, land, flats and rents (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Simetria Park, Investor.ge, 22 September 2020 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Journey planner and timetables, Tbilisi Transport Company (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tskneti-Betania road to open on 29 June, 15 June 2018; traffic restricted on the Tskneti road, 1 June 2024; rehabilitation of Tskneti and Kojori centres, 8 July 2026, 1TV (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Snow in the hills above Tbilisi, 17 February 2021, and slope stabilisation on the Tskneti highway, 22 January 2025, Georgia Today (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Buckswood International School Tbilisi (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Meeting on free areas in the city, Parliament of Georgia, 29 March 2019 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- The 2015 Tbilisi landslide and flood, P. Neumann and others, 2018, and fires in Tskneti and Tsavkisi, 1TV, 4 September 2022 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Monitoring stations, National Environmental Agency, and SRTM elevation data via OpenTopoData (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tskneti and Okrokana, OpenStreetMap (accessed 21 October 2026)
Change log
- - Area guide published from Tbilisi City Council acts, census data via City Population, the Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia via Georgian Wikipedia, the national tourism portal, TBC Capital land data via JAMnews, Geostat, ss.ge listings, Tbilisi Transport Company timetables, 1TV and Georgia Today reporting, Buckswood and Parliament sources.