What is Sololaki?
Sololaki is the old merchant quarter of Tbilisi, on the right bank of the Mtkvari between Freedom Square, the Sololaki ridge and the slopes of Mtatsminda. Most of what you see today was built between about 1870 and 1910, when industrialists and merchants bought former gardens and built large houses with decorated entrances, marble staircases and wooden balconies facing inner courtyards. It is part of the first territorial unit of Mtatsminda district, Mtatsminda-Sololaki, and has no separate legal boundary; the Georgian National Tourism Administration describes it as the area bounded by Leonidze, Chonkadze, Amaghleba, Nishnianidze, Lado Asatiani and Dadiani streets.
The name first appears in the nineteenth century and is traditionally traced to "sulu-lah", a water channel that irrigated the fortress gardens below Narikala. In the Soviet period the merchants' houses were split into flats, often for 10 to 15 families or more, which is why many buildings today have many owners, shared courtyards and neglected entrances alongside restored facades. A 2024 design study for the Tbilisi Development Fund counted 124 buildings in a 143,150 m² study area of Sololaki, 80 of them cultural heritage monuments. This page explains what that means for a buyer: prices, the legal and structural checks for an old flat, the rehabilitation programmes, transport and daily life. The wider district is covered in our Mtatsminda guide.
Map and boundaries
Sololaki lies south-west of Freedom Square: Leonidze Street on the city side, Lado Asatiani and Dadiani streets towards Old Tbilisi, Amaghleba and Chonkadze streets climbing towards the Mtatsminda slope, and the Sololaki ridge with Narikala above it.
Open the mapBecause the name has no legal boundary, listings use it loosely, and the statistics you will find are for Mtatsminda district as a whole, which also includes Vera, the mountain and the hill villages. The main streets inside the quarter include Machabeli, Galaktion Tabidze, Kikodze, Ingorokva and Chonkadze, and Gudiashvili Square sits on its edge, towards Old Tbilisi.
Who Sololaki suits
Suits
- Buyers who want a large old flat with high ceilings and character, and are ready to renovate.
- Investors who want to be a short walk from Freedom Square, the old town and the sights.
- People who like living among cafes, wine bars and galleries in restored houses.
Does not suit
- Buyers who want a new building with a lift, parking and a management company.
- Anyone uneasy about shared ownership of courtyards, staircases and land.
- Buyers who are not prepared for structural checks and heritage rules.
The houses: what you are buying
Sololaki's streets read like a catalogue of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century styles: eclectic facades, Moorish motifs and art nouveau, with entrances finished in Italian and local marble, wall paintings and metalwork. The tourism administration names examples that show the range:
- Machabeli Street 13. Built in 1903 to 1905 by the architect Karl Zaar for the brandy maker David Sarajishvili, in art nouveau; today the Writers' House of Georgia, with a museum of repressed writers opened in 2021.
- Machabeli Street 17. Built in 1910 for the oil industrialist Mkrtich Kalantarov, with Moorish motifs.
- Chonkadze Street 11. Reconstructed in 1892 by Iran's consul general in Tbilisi.
- Galaktion Tabidze Street 18. With entrance paintings of 1911.
- Lado Asatiani Street 50. A former boys' gymnasium of 1911, home in 2009 to Public School No 43.
Behind the facades are the courtyards known as "Italian yards". The name has nothing to do with Italy: the cultural historian Tsira Elisashvili links it to the Soviet years, when crowded, noisy courtyards reminded people of Italian neorealist films. Wooden balconies, many glazed or altered by residents over the decades, open onto these yards, and some traditional examples survive, at Sololaki Street 8 and Amaghleba Street 23 among them.
What flats cost and rent for
| Indicator | Figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Asking price, Mtatsminda-Sololaki, 2021 | USD 1,410 per m² | ISET, the highest area in Tbilisi that quarter |
| Asking rent, Mtatsminda-Sololaki, 2021 | USD 7.5 per m² a month | ISET, same quarter |
| Developer flats in the district | USD 2,945 per m² | July 2026 figure from Galt & Taggart, sold in white frame |
| Asking rent, Mtatsminda district | USD 12.7 per m² a month | April 2026, as reported by Georgia Today |
| Old flats in Sololaki, asking | About USD 975 to 4,032 per m² | Individual listings, 2025-2026 |
No portal or research firm publishes an average for Sololaki alone; ISET's breakdown, since discontinued, last named it in 2021. Current listings show how wide the range is: a 200 m² flat on the third floor of an old 4-storey building on Gomi Street asked USD 195,000, about USD 975 per m², while a 31 m² one-bedroom flat asked USD 125,000, about USD 4,032 per m², and a 134 m² flat on Amaghleba Street needing light renovation asked USD 310,000, about USD 2,313 per m². In these listings the smallest flat asked the most per m² and the largest the least.
For rents, Georgia Today put the typical monthly asking range for the district at USD 650 to 1,400 and more. Asking prices are not sale prices, and in old buildings the registered area may differ from what you see, so compare price per registered m², not per advertised m².
Buying an old flat: the checks that matter
A flat in a Sololaki house is rarely just a flat. In Georgian law an apartment owner also shares ownership of the land plot and the common parts of the building, and is a member of its owners' association, so the condition of the roof, the staircase and the courtyard is partly your problem from the day you buy. Four checks deserve the most time:
- Registered area. Compare the Public Registry extract with the real flat. Glazed balconies and annexes added over decades may not be registered, and since June 2026 the special procedure for legalising unauthorised work covers only additions of up to 10 m².
- Heritage status. Check whether the building is a listed monument and whether the plot lies in a protection zone. Under Article 131 of the Spatial Planning Code, unauthorised construction in a Tbilisi heritage protection zone costs a private owner GEL 16,000 for a class I building, GEL 24,000 for class II and GEL 200,000 for class III or IV, and rehabilitating a listed building without a permit costs GEL 250,000.
- Structure. The 2002 earthquake did its worst damage to old low-rise brick and stone buildings, and ICOMOS photographed a Sololaki house with a damaged parapet and lost decoration. Commission a structural survey of the walls, floors and roof.
- The neighbours. Repairs to a shared courtyard, staircase or roof need the owners to agree, so meet them before you buy.
The city now offers a route for the worst buildings. Since 2026 City Hall has offered to buy dilapidated buildings in historic areas at market value, valued by the Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, but only buildings in damage category IV or V and only when every owner agrees; the freed sites are then offered to investors under the existing planning rules. A buyer should know whether a building is close to that category, because it changes both the risk and the exit.
Rehabilitation programmes
Public money has gone into parts of the quarter. Under the city's "New Tiflis" programme, the Tbilisi Development Fund rehabilitated Gudiashvili Square from 2018: GEL 70 million for 28 buildings, 24 of them heritage sites. The square reopened on 26 October 2021, and in March 2022 the mayor said a second stage covered 16 more houses. Leonidze and Sulkhan-Saba streets were closed in stages from April 2026 for rehabilitation.
A larger idea is still on paper. In 2024 the Tbilisi Development Fund, with Asian Development Bank funding, commissioned a feasibility study for a "superblock" in Sololaki on the Barcelona model, with less through traffic and more public space; we found no construction start. The record also includes losses: between 2006 and 2008 several houses with their courtyards on Lermontov, Dadiani and Tabidze streets were demolished, and much of the land stayed empty.
Getting around
Freedom Square metro station on Line 1, opened in 1967 and one of the deepest in the network, is at the quarter's lower corner, and the walk up from it gets steeper towards Asatiani and Machabeli streets. Buses 316, 324, 364, 380, 382, 383, 390 and 408 normally run along Leonidze Street, and a single fare of GEL 1 covers 90 minutes on metro and buses. Above the quarter, the cable car from Rike Park to Narikala, opened in 2012, costs GEL 2.5 and runs from 10:00 to 22:00 in winter and until midnight in summer.
Streets are narrow and parking is tight. Transparency International Georgia has found that most pavement parking in Tbilisi is illegal, because the traffic rules allow it only where signs and markings say so, and City Hall has extended its hourly paid zones in the district. If a flat comes with a parking place in the courtyard, check that the right to it is registered.
Daily life
- Culture. The Writers' House of Georgia on Machabeli Street runs a residency programme for writers and has a garden restaurant in summer.
- Food and wine. Vino Underground at Galaktion Tabidze Street 15 was Tbilisi's first bar devoted only to natural wine, and new restaurants and wine bistros have opened in restored houses since 2024.
- Hotels. Converted townhouses such as the 13-room Communal Hotel Sololaki, listed in the MICHELIN Guide's hotel selection, show the visitor demand.
- Schools. Public School No 43, named after Titsian Tabidze, was registered at Lado Asatiani Street 50 in 2009; check current school places with the school.
A 2026 rental guide notes that long-term flats are harder to find in the old city because so many are let to visitors. No short-stay tracker publishes Sololaki figures, so price a short-stay plan from comparable listings in the same streets rather than from city averages; our guide to Airbnb in Tbilisi sets out the city-wide numbers.
Above the quarter: the Panorama project
In March 2014 the Georgian Co-Investment Fund presented "Panorama Tbilisi", with hotels, apartments and a convention centre on the Sololaki slopes and gardens, cable cars and parking for about 1,800 cars. City Hall changed the zoning category of the Sololaki hills land, lifting its heritage protection, and 13 international heritage organisations warned that the project could jeopardise Old Tbilisi's place on the UNESCO tentative list. What has been built so far is at either end: the Paragraph Freedom Square hotel, opened in November 2023, and the Paragraph Tabori resort on Mount Tabori, opened on 30 September 2025, linked by a cable car of 1,200 and 700 metres that passes over Sololaki. We found no report that the Sololaki ridge buildings of the original plan have been completed. For a flat with a view of the ridge, ask what is permitted on the slope behind it.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Freedom Square metro and the old town on foot | Steep streets and scarce parking |
| Some of the city's finest houses and entrances | Old structures, many owners and shared land |
| Large flats with high ceilings | Unregistered balconies and annexes to resolve |
| Cafes, wine bars and culture in restored houses | Visitor demand that crowds out long lets |
| Public rehabilitation around Gudiashvili Square | Heritage fines of up to GEL 200,000 for private owners |
To be added by the team: photos for the team to take: Machabeli Street with the Writers' House, a decorated entrance and staircase, an "Italian yard" with wooden balconies, Gudiashvili Square, Leonidze Street, the view of the Sololaki ridge and Narikala, a restored facade next to an unrestored one, and the cable car over the quarter.
Checking an old Sololaki flat step by step
Read the registry extract
Registered area, owners and the land plot.
Check listing and zone
Monument status and protection zone.
Commission a survey
Walls, floors, roof and balconies.
Meet the neighbours
Courtyard, repairs and any disputes.
Cost the renovation
Including permits for any works.
Price per registered m²
Against comparable flats in the same streets.
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly is Sololaki?
South-west of Freedom Square, between Leonidze, Chonkadze, Amaghleba, Nishnianidze, Lado Asatiani and Dadiani streets.
Which district is Sololaki in?
Mtatsminda district, in its first unit, Mtatsminda-Sololaki.
How much does a flat in Sololaki cost?
Listings in 2025-2026 asked about USD 975 to 4,032 per m², depending on size and condition.
What is an "Italian yard"?
A shared inner courtyard with wooden balconies; the name dates from the Soviet years, not from Italy.
Are Sololaki buildings protected?
Many are: 80 of 124 buildings in the 2024 study area are heritage monuments.
Can I add a balcony or a floor?
Only with a permit; unauthorised work in the heritage zone carries fines of up to GEL 200,000 for private owners.
Which metro station serves Sololaki?
Freedom Square, on Line 1.
Is Sololaki good for short-term rental?
Visitor demand is strong, but no tracker publishes Sololaki figures; compare listings in the same streets.
Sources
- Sololaki district, Georgian National Tourism Administration (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Sololaki, Georgian Wikipedia, citing the Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi City Council decision No 16-35 on territorial units, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Superblocks in Tbilisi and urban design of superblocks, TYPSA, 2024 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi's Italian courtyards, JAMnews (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Writers' House of Georgia, Wikipedia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Real estate market highlights, April to June 2021, ISET Policy Institute (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Tbilisi residential real estate, July 2026, Galt & Taggart (accessed 21 October 2026)
- What it costs to rent an apartment in Tbilisi, Georgia Today, 17 August 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Listings on realting.com: Amaghleba Street, Gomi Street and one-bedroom flat (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Condominium ownership in Georgia, Baltic Journal of European Studies, 2020 (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 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Programme for buying crumbling buildings, 1TV, 11 February 2026, and buyout model in historic areas, Georgia Today, 26 March 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Gudiashvili Square after rehabilitation, CBW; Rehabilitated Gudiashvili Square opens, 1TV, 26 October 2021; Municipal spaces on Gudiashvili Square, Georgia Today, 23 March 2022 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Traffic restrictions in Sololaki, Georgia Today, 16 April 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Demolitions on Lermontov, Dadiani and Tabidze streets, Tbilisi Architecture Archive, 1 April 2013 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Freedom Square metro station, Wikipedia, and fares, Tbilisi Transport Company (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Rike-Narikala cable car winter timetable, 1TV, 31 October 2025 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Why we can no longer walk freely on sidewalks, Transparency International Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Vino Underground, Vinoge (accessed 21 October 2026)
- New in Georgia 2025, Wander-Lush, and Communal Hotel Sololaki, MICHELIN Guide (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Order No 394 of the Minister of Education and Science, 12 June 2009, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Apartment rental in Tbilisi, Sakhva Travel, 2026 (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Panorama Tbilisi and the Sololaki ridge, FactCheck Georgia, 1 July 2014; Tbilisi Panorama project, openDemocracy; UNESCO vs Ivanishvili, JAMnews (accessed 21 October 2026)
- Paragraph Tabori opens, 1TV, 30 September 2025, and cable car to Tabori, BM.ge, 21 October 2024 (accessed 21 October 2026)
Change log
- - Area guide published from the Georgian National Tourism Administration, the Tbilisi Development Fund's superblock study, ISET and Galt & Taggart data, current listings, the Spatial Planning Code, ICOMOS, City Hall programmes and reporting on Gudiashvili Square and the Panorama project.