Quick answer
December is a good month for Tbilisi and a poor one for everything that needs daylight or an open road. Tbilisi averages 8°C by day and 1°C at night with 21 mm of rain, four snow days and 93 hours of sunshine; the sun sets at about 17:30 all month. The city's New Year tree and market village opened on 12 December last year and ran to 7 January, the ski lifts opened between 20 and 27 December, and New Year's Eve on the 31st is the loudest night of the year. Nothing is a public holiday in December itself; the holidays are 1, 2 and 7 January. Tusheti, Juta, Truso and the Ushguli road are closed by snow, Batumi gets about 278 mm of rain, and the Gudauri to Kobi stretch of the Military Highway shuts whenever avalanche risk is high. Rooms in Tbilisi cost the same as in November until about the 28th, then roughly double for New Year's week. Our advice: come in the first three weeks for the city and the wine country at low-season prices, or come for New Year with everything booked, and do not plan to ski before the last week.
- Tbilisi December high
- 8°C
- Sunset, 21 Dec
- 17:33
- Lifts opened 2025-26
- 20-27 Dec
- Public holidays
- None (1-2 Jan next)
We live in Tbilisi, and December is the month we get asked about most by people who want winter without a ski trip. The honest answer is that the first three weeks are November with lights on (our November guide covers that month) and the last week is the start of something else: Georgia's holiday season, which runs from New Year's Eve to Epiphany on 19 January and which our winter guide covers as a whole. This page is the month on its own, which is the one people actually book.
The short version: Tbilisi yes, all month; Kakheti yes, in daylight; the ski resorts only from the last week, and only booked early; the mountains otherwise no; the coast no.
December weather by region
The figures are published climate normals (1991-2020 where the station has them; Batumi's are 1981-2010, Stepantsminda's are a climate model's long-term averages), so they describe a typical December, not a forecast. December is drier than November almost everywhere in the east, and colder: Tbilisi loses five degrees of daytime high but a third of its rain.
| Place | December average |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi | 8°C by day, 1°C at night, 21 mm of rain, 93 sunshine hours. Grey and dry: about four days with rain and four with snow, which rarely lies more than a day. Humidity sits near 78 percent, which is why 5°C here feels colder than it reads. |
| Telavi (Kakheti, 490 m) | 8°C / 0°C, 29 mm. Frost most mornings, valley mist until late morning, clear cold afternoons with the Caucasus white behind the vines. |
| Kutaisi (Imereti) | 12°C / 6°C, 143 mm over about 11 wet days. The mildest big town in December and the wettest in the interior. Rain most days some weeks, rarely all day. |
| Batumi (coast) | 8°C / 6°C, about 278 mm over 13 wet days, 107 sunshine hours. Colder than November and nearly as wet. The sea averages about 13°C. |
| Stepantsminda (Kazbegi, 1,740 m) | 0°C / minus 9°C, 37 mm, as snow. Full winter. The village is white all month and the side valleys are shut. |
Two things the table hides. First, Tbilisi's snow days are real but short: a December snowfall usually turns to slush by the next afternoon, so pack for wet cold rather than for snow. Second, the west stays mild and wet while the east turns cold and dry: on the same day Kutaisi can be 12°C in rain and Telavi minus 2°C under a clear sky. If you want the least cold December possible, it is Imereti again, at the price of the rain.
Early, mid or late December
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| 1 to 11 December | The quietest stretch of the year. November prices, museums and restaurants empty, the Tbilisi International Film Festival in the first week in recent years, the Amerimeri natural wine fair in Tskaltubo on the 5th. No lights yet. Kazbegi is a day trip on a clear forecast; the lifts are not running. |
| 12 to 24 December | The lights go on. Last year the city lit its tree and opened the New Year village on First Republic Square on 12 December. Barbaroba on the 17th fills the bakeries with lobiani. The operator announces the ski dates around the 18th and Bakuriani's first lifts turned on 20 December in 2025-26. Rooms are still at low-season prices. The 25th is a normal working day. |
| 25 to 31 December | Gudauri, Mestia and Goderdzi opened on 27 December last season. Tbilisi fills with Georgians home for the holidays, the markets are at their busiest, Gudauri apartments cost two to three times their January price, and the 31st is the biggest night of the year, which the whole country spends at a family table and then on the street with fireworks. |
Daylight in December
Georgia stays on UTC+4 all year with no clock change, so December has the latest sunrises of the year and the earliest sunsets. In Tbilisi the sun rises at about 08:08 on 1 December and 08:28 on the 31st, and sets at about 17:31 on the 1st, 17:33 on the solstice and 17:40 on the 31st; the shortest day, 21 December, has a little over nine hours of daylight (our own calculation with the standard solar formula; treat it as accurate to five minutes). Batumi runs about a quarter of an hour later at both ends. In practice: a Tbilisi to Kazbegi day trip has to leave by 08:00 to see the church in light, a Kakheti day ends in the dark on the drive home, and anything on the coast or in Imereti is done by 17:00. The upside is that the lights are on by 17:30 and the city looks its best from then until dinner.
December dates: the tree, the village, Barbaroba, New Year
December has no public holiday, so banks, museums and offices keep normal hours all month, including on the 25th. The dates below match our festivals calendar; where the 2026 date was not announced when we checked on 17 October 2026, we give last year's and say so.
| Event | When and where |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi International Film Festival | Early December, Amirani cinema, Tbilisi. The 2025 edition ran 1 to 7 December on a reduced programme after its state funding was withdrawn; the 2026 dates were not published when we checked. |
| Amerimeri Natural Wine Festival | 5 December 2026, Tskaltubo, near Kutaisi. A small natural-wine fair in the old spa town; the Imereti producers pour. |
| New Year tree lighting and village opening | Expected 12 December 2026, First Republic Square, Tbilisi. In 2025 City Hall lit the main tree at 20:00 on 12 December with a staged show, and switched on the street lights across the city the same evening. The 2026 date is announced a day or two before; last year's notice came on 11 December. |
| Tbilisi New Year village | Expected 12 December to 7 January, First Republic Square. Wooden market huts with food and crafts, concerts, an ice rink, a children's train and a Santa's house; last year the village closed with a programme on 7 January and the rink and tree stayed until 14 January. |
| Barbaroba (St Barbara's Day) | 17 December, nationwide. A church feast, not a holiday: households bake lobiani (bean bread), and in many homes the first visitor of the day is believed to set the family's luck for the year. |
| Western Christmas | 25 December. A normal working day. Some expat bars and hotels mark it; nobody else does. Christmas here is on 7 January. |
| New Year's Eve | 31 December, everywhere. The night of the year: the family supra from about 21:00, then fireworks from every balcony and street corner from 23:00 until well past 02:00. City Hall usually stages a concert and countdown on First Republic Square. |
| Lead-out | 1 and 2 January are public holidays and almost everything is shut on the 1st; 7 January is Orthodox Christmas, with the Alilo procession leaving First Republic Square at 14:00; 19 January is Epiphany. Our winter guide has that fortnight. |
Where to go in December
| Destination | December verdict |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi | Good, all month. Baths, wine bars, opera, markets, the lights from mid-month, New Year's Eve itself. Cheapest in the first three weeks. |
| Kakheti | Good, in daylight. Cold, clear and empty; the cellars have time for you and the New Year wine orders are being filled. Back in Tbilisi by dark. |
| Mtskheta | Good. A half day in any weather. The cathedral is at its quietest. |
| Gudauri and Bakuriani | From the last week only. Lifts opened 20 to 27 December in 2025-26 and the first days run on a handful of pistes. New Year's week is the most expensive of the season. |
| Kazbegi | Day trip on a clear forecast. The highway is open unless avalanche risk closes the Gudauri to Kobi section; the village is in full winter and the valleys are shut. |
| Kutaisi and Imereti | Fair. Mild, wet, the caves and monasteries work in rain. Tskaltubo's wine fair on the 5th is the one dated reason to go. |
| Borjomi | Fair. Cold and often snowy in the park, which suits it; the way up to Bakuriani from the last week of the month. |
| Svaneti | Only for the lifts, from 27 December. The trekking routes are long closed and the Ushguli road is often cut; Mestia's two ski areas opened on 27 December last season. |
| Tusheti | Closed. The Abano Pass is shut by snow until late spring; in 2025 the road closed on 6 November. |
| Batumi and the coast | Skip. About 278 mm of rain, 8°C, the sea at 13°C. Mandarin season is the only reason to pass through. |
Tbilisi in December
The city does December well. The sulfur baths in Abanotubani are the start of any cold afternoon: a private room at Chreli Abano was 130 GEL an hour (about $50) when our sulfur baths guide read the booking pages, and the brick domes steam in the cold in a way they never do in summer. The opera and ballet season is in full swing, the National Museum on Rustaveli is empty on a weekday, and the wine bars of Sololaki and Vera are where December evenings go. From the middle of the month the tree and the village on First Republic Square give you somewhere to walk to after dark, and the markets are at their most Georgian: Dezerter Bazaar in the last fortnight is piled with the walnuts, honey, dried fruit, churchkhela, pomegranates and mandarins that every New Year table needs. Our markets guide covers what to buy.
Two practical notes for December 2026. Rustaveli Avenue has been under full reconstruction since July; traffic returned to the stretch between Chovelidze and Javakhishvili streets in September and City Hall's target was to finish the whole avenue by the end of November, so expect the last of the works and some diverted buses, including the airport 337, if that slips into December. And Tbilisi has no district heating: flats rely on their own gas boiler or on air-conditioner units in heat mode, and a cheap December apartment can be colder inside than out. Make sure the listing says heating, and ask the host to have it on when you arrive.
New Year's Eve in Georgia
New Year is Georgia's Christmas: the gift night, the biggest table of the year and the one everybody travels home for. The food is fixed by tradition and appears in every household and most restaurants in the last week: satsivi (turkey or chicken cold in a thick walnut sauce), gozinaki (walnuts set in caramelised honey and cut into diamonds), churchkhela, roast pork, pkhali and a great deal of wine. The chichilaki, a curl of shaved hazelnut wood that is the Georgian Christmas tree, appears in shop windows from mid-month and is burnt around Epiphany. On the night itself the family eats from about 21:00, the toasts run long, and at midnight the whole city goes out to the street or the balcony for fireworks that nobody regulates and that continue well past 02:00. The first guest over the threshold on 1 January, the mekvle, is believed to set the household's luck, so people choose that visitor with care.
For a visitor the practical points are these. Book the room and the New Year's Eve dinner, if you want a restaurant one, by October; most restaurants close early on the 31st for their own tables and the ones that stay open sell a fixed menu. Keep the 1st free of plans: almost everything is shut, the streets are empty until afternoon and the city is sleeping it off. The 2nd is a public holiday too, and many places stay closed until the 3rd. Taxis are hard to find after midnight on the 31st and surge-priced when you do, so stay within walking distance of wherever you are watching the fireworks: Mtatsminda, the Betlemi steps and the slopes under Narikala are the viewpoints locals use. Our supra guide explains the table if you are invited to one, which happens to visitors more often than you would think.
If you do get the invitation, learn gaumarjos (cheers, literally victory) and gilotsavt akhal tsels (happy New Year) before you go; the table will make you say both a dozen times. EasyGeorgian's short list of phrases for travellers has them with audio, and a toast in Georgian from a foreigner is the surest way to be asked back.
The ski lifts open in the last week
December is not a ski month until its last ten days, whatever a booking site tells you. All four resorts are run by one state company, Mountain Trails Agency, which announces the season dates together in mid-December: in 2025-26 it announced on 18 December, Bakuriani's Kokhta area opened on 20 December, Didveli followed on the 22nd, and Gudauri, Mestia and Goderdzi all opened on 27 December, with runs opening one by one as the snow arrived. Passes went on sale from about 23 December. The 2026-27 dates and prices were not published when we checked on 17 October 2026; going on the last two seasons, expect the same pattern, and budget with the 2025-26 list until the new one appears: an adult day pass 70 GEL at Gudauri (about $27), 55 at Bakuriani, 50 at Mestia, 30 at Goderdzi, plus a 5 GEL refundable Multicard. Our skiing in Georgia guide compares the four resorts and our Gudauri guide has the lifts, the pistes and the passes in detail.
Two warnings about the opening weeks. The first is the cover: the first days of the season can mean a handful of open pistes and bare patches on the lower runs, so a trip built around the opening weekend is a gamble on the snow. The second is the price. When we read Booking.com on 17 October 2026 for the opening Saturday, 26 to 27 December, 155 Gudauri properties were listed and 73 percent were already unavailable; the Marco Polo by the lower lifts was 688 GEL with breakfast, Gudauri Lodge 1,295, Hotel Roshe 850, a Four Seasons New Gudauri studio 499, and the cheapest New Gudauri lofts and studios 299 to 325. The same search for 2 to 3 January showed 85 percent unavailable, and for mid-January the same rooms fall to roughly half: our where to stay in Gudauri page lists the New Year and mid-January prices side by side. If you can choose, ski Georgia in the second or third week of January; if you cannot, book the December room now and take whatever snow comes.
Kakheti and the lowlands in December
Kakheti in December is cold, clear and empty, and the wine is at an interesting stage: the new vintage has finished fermenting in the qvevri, the marani is being tidied for the New Year orders, and the family cellars that had no time for anyone in October will sit you down for the afternoon. The valley is at its most photographic on a clear morning once the mist lifts, with bare vines in frost and the whole Caucasus white behind them. Go in daylight and come back: the Telavi road is fine all winter, but the drive home is in the dark from 17:30, and the villages where the good cellars are have nothing open after dinner. The Kakheti guide and the wine road trip have the cellars; marshrutkas to Telavi (12 to 15 GEL) and Sighnaghi (15 GEL) leave from the Navtlughi terminal at Samgori metro as in any month.
Mtskheta, Gori and Uplistsikhe, Borjomi and Kutaisi all work in December as half-day or day trips with the same caveat about light. Kutaisi is the mild option: 12°C by day and the caves and monasteries indifferent to rain, which is as well, because it gets 143 mm of it.
The mountains and the coast in December
- Kazbegi. The Georgian Military Highway is open all year, but the Roads Department closes the Gudauri to Kobi section (the Jvari Pass) whenever avalanche danger is high, for hours or days; in February 2026 it was shut to all traffic for days. Marshrutkas from Didube run daily (20 GEL, about $8, 3 to 3.5 hours) when the road is open, with fewer departures than in summer and the last ones back cut when they run empty: leave Stepantsminda by 14:30 to be off the pass in daylight. The road from Gergeti village up to the church needs a 4x4; drivers wait by the bus station. The Truso Valley and the Juta road are closed by snow. Our Kazbegi guide has the winter rules and the 4x4 fares, and our road status board carries the department's current notice for the pass.
- Svaneti. The Mestia to Ushguli trek is long over, the Ushguli road is cut by snow for weeks at a time, and many guesthouses along it are closed for the winter. Mestia's Hatsvali and Tetnuldi lifts opened on 27 December in 2025-26 on a 50 GEL pass. The Vanilla Sky flight from Natakhtari is weather-dependent at the best of times; in December have the road as the plan.
- Tusheti. Closed. The Abano Pass is shut by snow from October or early November (6 November in 2025) until late May or June. Our Tusheti road guide has the pattern.
- The coast. Batumi in December is for people already in the west. The 1981-2010 normals give it about 278 mm of rain over 13 wet days, a daytime high of 8°C and 107 hours of sunshine, and the sea averages about 13°C. The beach businesses are shut, the big hotels and casinos stay open for a mostly local crowd, and the mandarin stalls between Kobuleti and Batumi are the one seasonal pleasure. Our Batumi guide covers the city in every season.
Getting around in December
The lowland network runs its full timetable all month and the holiday season does not thin it until the 31st. From Didube it is 20 GEL to Kazbegi and 25 GEL to Kutaisi, from Samgori 12 to 15 GEL to Telavi, and 25 to 35 GEL to Batumi. The Tbilisi to Batumi train runs on its winter timetable in about four hours for 36 GEL second class or 76 GEL first (tkt.ge fares read in October 2026; about $14 and $29), and in December it beats the Rikoti road in rain. Our getting around guide has every route and price, our fare index carries the dated seat prices, and the trip planner strings them into a route. For an airport arrival after dark, which in December means anything after 17:30, the airport guide has the bus 337 hours and the Bolt and desk taxi fares.
What to pack for December
Pack for wet cold in the city and for real winter anywhere above it. The mistake is bringing a ski jacket for Tbilisi and nothing waterproof for your feet.
- A warm coat and a windproof shell. Tbilisi is 1°C at night and the humidity makes it feel colder; Stepantsminda is minus 9°C.
- Waterproof shoes with grip. Slush on the cobbles after each snowfall, ice on the old town steps in the morning.
- Hat, gloves and a scarf. The scarf doubles as a church head covering on 7 January if you stay for Christmas.
- Layers for indoors. Guesthouses and older flats are heated room by room; a fleece for the corridor is not a joke.
- A headlamp if you plan any walk at all; it is dark by 17:40 at the latest.
- Swimwear for the shared pools at the baths, and ski kit only if you are here after the 27th.
Our packing guide has the full list by season, the packing list generator builds one for December and your route, and the insurance guide explains the mandatory travel insurance rule for visitors that has applied since 1 January 2026.
What December costs
Until the last week, December is the bottom of the price curve with November. On the same Booking.com search for a Saturday night, ibis budget Tbilisi Center was 98 GEL on 12 December against 207 GEL for two nights in late November, Rooms Hotel Tbilisi was 347 against 343 a night in November, and Stamba was discounting again. New Year's week is a different market: for the two nights of 31 December to 2 January, Rooms Hotel wanted 1,091 GEL and Stamba 2,023, roughly 1.6 times the December rate per night, and 74 percent of the city's listings scored 8 or higher were already full ten weeks out. The ski resorts are the extreme case, with the opening-week rooms above. Food, transport and entry fees do not change with the season, and cars are priced by the agency's window rather than the month. For a full daily budget by travel style, use our trip budget calculator and the budget guide behind it; our price index has the dated basket.
December prices, read 17 October 2026 (NBG rate 2.60 GEL to the dollar)
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ibis budget, double, 12 Dec | 98 GEL ($38) | ibis budget Tbilisi Center on Booking.com, scored 8.4, free cancellation, pay at the property |
| Rooms Hotel, twin, 12 Dec | 347 GEL ($134) | Garden View Twin, late-escape rate down from 433; 1,091 GEL for the two nights of 31 December to 2 January |
| Stamba, Terrace Room, 12 Dec | 649 GEL ($250) | Down from 764; the Aviator Room was 2,023 GEL for 31 December to 2 January |
| Gudauri, Marco Polo, 26 Dec | 688 GEL ($265) | Double with breakfast on the opening Saturday; 73 percent of the 155 listings already unavailable |
| Gudauri, New Gudauri studio, 26 Dec | 299-325 GEL ($115-125) | The cheapest lofts and studios by the gondola that day; 250 GEL at Gudauri Hillsite for 16 to 17 January |
| Gudauri adult day pass | 70 GEL ($27) | 2025-26 list price, unchanged for two seasons; the 2026-27 list appears in mid-December |
| Sulfur bath room, Chreli Abano | from 130 GEL/hour ($50) | Private room for two to four people; public baths 6 to 10 GEL a person |
| GoTrip driver, Tbilisi to Gudauri | 196 GEL ($75) | Per car, fixed; 206 from the airport, 210 to Stepantsminda, 223 to Bakuriani |
| Van, Didube to Stepantsminda | 20 GEL ($8) | Cash, 3 to 3.5 hours, fewer departures than in summer |
| Localrent compact, Tbilisi | from $21.60/day | Toyota Yaris, no deposit, two-week window; Subaru Forester with all-wheel drive from $24.30 |
Prices checked 17 October 2026. Ranges reflect season and operator.
December mistakes to avoid
- Booking a ski week for the first half of the month. The lifts opened between 20 and 27 December last season and the first days run on a few pistes. Come after the 27th, or better, in the second week of January.
- Leaving New Year to the last minute. Three quarters of Tbilisi's good rooms and 85 percent of Gudauri's were gone ten weeks out when we checked. Book by October and book the dinner too.
- Planning anything for 1 January. The country is closed and asleep. Make it a bath-and-walk day, and stock up on the 31st.
- Treating 25 December as a holiday. It is a working day; Christmas is on 7 January. If you want a Christmas, stay for the Alilo.
- Driving to the mountains on summer tyres. Winter tyres are compulsory from December; ask the agency, check the pass the evening before, take a driver if in doubt.
- Starting the day at ten. Nine hours of daylight means a Kazbegi or Kakheti day leaves at eight. Sunset is before 17:45 all month.
- Booking an unheated flat. Check the heating line in the listing and ask the host to switch it on before you arrive.
Frequently asked questions
Is December a good time to visit Georgia?
What is the weather like in Georgia in December?
Does it snow in Tbilisi in December?
When do the ski resorts in Georgia open?
Is Christmas celebrated in Georgia in December?
How expensive is Georgia at New Year?
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