Telefisi Fortress (Tolebi)
Early-medieval fortress ruins in Tolebi, overlooking a historic route through the Rioni valley.
- Time needed
- 1 h
- From Tbilisi
- 250 km · 3:40
- Road
- Mostly paved
- Car needed
- Crossover / SUV
- Season
- All year
- Entry
- free
Telefisi Fortress is in the village of Tolebi, Samtredia Municipality. It controlled a route through the Rioni valley and is associated in written sources with a battle in 553. Only ruins survive today, so the visit is about the historic landscape rather than a restored castle.
Gallery
Practical advice
Walk carefully among the ruins, avoid unstable walls and wear firm shoes after rain.
How to get there from Tbilisi
Drive from Samtredia toward Tolebi, then use the exact map pin and confirm the safest final approach locally.
Click a marker for details. Coloured lines are ready-made road trips.
Nearby places
Zando St George Monastery
A 16th-century three-nave basilica above Gamochinebuli, with a broad Colchian lowland panorama.
Vani Archaeological Museum
The remains of a Colchian city on a hill, and a museum holding gold made between the 4th and 1st centuries BC.
Niko Nikoladze House Museum
The wooden villa of the great publicist and reformer in Didi Jikhaishi — a snapshot of a westernizing Georgian household circa 1900, with over 1,400 exhibits.
Best car for this trip
Mostly paved
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 at Kutaisi Airport — 23 km (straight line)