General Information
Travel Time from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Tbilisi International
Airport (TBS): 14 hours 5 minutes flight time
Distance from Tbilisi International Airport to center: Average 30 minutes driving time
BetaPlus Fertility is 20 minutes from most hotels and rental apartments we offer.
Local currency: Georgian Lari (GEL) $1 = 3.20 GEL
Taxi fares around the city range in price from $2 to $5 one way.
Time Zone: New York +8 EDT / Los Angles +11 PDT
Weather: July is the warmest month of the year. The temperature in July averages
77.0°F. January is the coldest month, with temperatures averaging 34.7°F.
Overview
Georgia’s ancient and vibrant capital city spreads out on both banks of the Mtkvari River
and is surrounded on three sides by mountains. The most widely accepted variant of the
legend of Tbilisi’s founding says that in the mid-5th century AD, King Vakhtang I
Gorgasali was hunting in the heavily wooded region with a falcon. The King’s falcon
allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a
nearby hot spring and died from burns. King Vakhtang became so impressed with the
hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city. The name “Tbilisi”
derives from the Old Georgian word “tbili,” meaning warm. Archaeological studies of the
region indicate human settlement in the area early as the 4th millennium BC.
Modern Tbilisi is an attractive city: the Mtkvari, bordered on the right bank by a
boulevard, lies partly in a steep gorge and is made broader by the Ortachalskaya
hydroelectric plant in the city. Beside the river, the old town, with narrow, winding streets, is dominated by the ruins of the old fortress and the huge, symbolic figure of Georgia on a ridge above it. In the old town are the Sioni Cathedral, dating from the 5th
century and often reconstructed, the Metekhi Palace of the Georgian kings, and the 6th-
century Anchikhati Church. Newer parts of the city lie beneath Mount Mtatsminda,
accessible by a funicular rail line. North of the city is a large reservoir fed by irrigation
canals.
Tbilisi is a major cultural and educational center, with a university, several other
institutions of higher education, and more than 100 research establishments. The city is
a principal industrial center of the region. Its engineering services are important in the
production of electric locomotives, machine tools, agricultural machinery, and electrical
equipment and in the repair of locomotives and rolling stock. Other industries make
textiles, leather goods and footwear, furniture, beer, wine, and spirits, and a range of

foodstuffs. In 1966, an underground railway was opened in Tbilisi, which has a population of just over one million.