Kutaisi Green Bazaar
Kutaisi's covered central market — Imeretian cheese, spices, churchkhela and the liveliest trading floor in western Georgia.
- Time needed
- 1 h
- From Tbilisi
- 230 km · 3:10
- Road
- Paved
- Car needed
- Economy class
- Season
- All year
- Entry
- free
If you want to know what makes Imereti tick, walk straight into the Green Bazaar. Kutaisi's central market off Paliashvili Street has been the city's beating heart for centuries — a 19th-century French traveller wrote that the bazaar here, like in Athens, was "the central point of life and movement". The two-storey covered hall and the rows spilling around it still work exactly as they always have.
What to hunt for at the stalls:
- Imeretian cheese and sulguni — brought in that morning; tastings are offered before you ask
- Spices — Svan salt, blue fenugreek, utskho suneli and adjika sold by weight
- Churchkhela and tklapi — walnut strings and fruit leather, incomparably better than factory versions
- Herbs, mushrooms, honey and farmhouse wine, rotating with the seasons
The market wakes early and trade slows after midday. Agreeing on a price is still part of the conversation here, and tasting is part of the hospitality. On your way to Bagrati Cathedral, this is the tastiest stop in the city.
Practical advice
The liveliest window is 9 am to noon; on Mondays many rows stand half empty. Bring cash — cards are not accepted everywhere, and there is an ATM by the entrance. Tasting is natural, but buy from the person who fed you. Churchkhela and spices travel well and make the best souvenirs. Do not try to park right outside — the narrow streets are jammed; a spot two blocks away is always easier.
How to get there from Tbilisi
From Tbilisi the E60 (S1) motorway runs west to Kutaisi, about 230 km — with the Rikoti tunnel the trip now takes around three hours. Entering the city, follow signs for the centre and the Rioni bridges; the bazaar sits close to the central square. Refuel en route in Khashuri or Zestafoni. The whole route is asphalt and an economy car is perfectly adequate; just budget a little patience for parking in central Kutaisi.
Click a marker for details. Coloured lines are ready-made road trips.
Nearby places
Bagrati Cathedral and central Kutaisi
The cathedral on Ukimerioni hill and the old streets of Kutaisi spread out below it.
Kutaisi Jewish Quarter
One street in the Sapichkhia district holding three synagogues, built in 1815, around 1863 and 1886.
Kutaisi State Historical Museum
The Niko Berdzenishvili museum, which holds the goldsmiths' work taken from Gelati and Bagrati.
Kutaisi Colchic Botanical Garden
A garden founded in 1840 on the bank of the Rioni, with a tiny chapel hollowed into a four-hundred-year-old oak.
Best car for this trip
Guides
- Driving in Georgia: What the Distances Actually Cost You Georgia is a small country with slow roads. Here is what 267 measured drives from Tbilisi say about how long y
Pickup locations
Car Rental in Kutaisi — 1 km (straight line)