Abanotubani and the Sulphur Baths

Tbilisi is named after this water. Tbili means warm, and the springs of Abanotubani still surface at 38–42°C. Legend has it that King Vakhtang Gorgasali found the hot springs while hunting and decided to move his capital here. Historically the quarter was the city's social engine: people bathed, argued business and arranged marriages in the same steamy rooms.

The bathhouses are sunk into the ground, so from street level you only see low brick domes and chimneys — an oddly oriental skyline in the middle of a European-looking city. Each building has its own character:

• Orbeliani (Chreli) Baths, with a blue-tiled Persian facade, the most photographed building in the quarter
• Sulphur and Bochorma baths, plainer, cheaper and full of locals rather than tour groups
• Leghvtakhevi canyon, a narrow gorge with a waterfall five minutes' walk from the domes
• The Juma Mosque and the Armenian cathedral, one block apart — Tbilisi's mixed inheritance in miniature

The procedure is simple: you rent a private room by the hour rather than buying a per-person ticket. Inside there is a hot pool, a wet room and a place to cool down. A mekise scrub with a rough mitt costs extra and is worth trying once, if only to understand what locals mean by it.