Quick answer
November is a good month for Tbilisi, Kakheti and a low-season budget, and a poor one for the mountains and the coast. Tbilisi averages 13°C by day and 5°C at night with about 103 hours of sunshine, roughly two thirds of October's; it is more grey than wet, with only 34 mm of rain. Rooms are cheaper than in October, museums and restaurants are empty, and Giorgoba on 23 November is a public holiday with church services and family tables. Against that, the Tusheti road is closed, the Mestia to Ushguli trek is over, the Juta and Truso valleys are under snow, the ski lifts do not open until the second half of December, and Batumi gets about 306 mm of rain. Sunset in Tbilisi is 17:57 on 1 November and 17:32 on the 30th. Come for the city and the wine country in the first half of the month, base yourself in Tbilisi, and treat Kazbegi as a day trip on a clear forecast.
- Tbilisi November high
- 13°C
- Giorgoba (public holiday)
- 23 Nov
- Sunset, 30 Nov
- 17:32
- Ski lifts open
- Late Dec
We live in Tbilisi, and November is the month we stop recommending to people who ask for the best time. It is not the best time. It is the cheapest, quietest and most honest one: the city as it is for the people who live in it, with the terraces packed away, the baths steaming and the wine bars full by seven. Our autumn guide covers September to November together and our winter guide picks up from December; this page is the month in between, which belongs to neither.
The short version: Tbilisi and Kakheti yes, the coast no, the mountains only as a day trip, and the earlier in the month the better.
November 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 November, not a forecast. The month also changes a lot from its first week to its last: the first days can feel like October, the last like December.
| Place | November average |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi | 13°C by day, 5°C at night, 34 mm of rain, 103 sunshine hours. Grey more than wet: about ten days with some rain, one with snow. Coat weather all day from mid-month. |
| Telavi (Kakheti, 490 m) | 12°C / 4°C, 47 mm. Same as Tbilisi with frosty mornings and valley mist that can sit until noon. |
| Kutaisi (Imereti) | 16°C / 9°C, 129 mm over about 10 wet days. The mildest big town in November and the wettest in the interior. Rain most weeks, rarely all day. |
| Batumi (coast) | 12°C / 9°C, about 306 mm over 12 wet days. Nearly as wet as October, colder and darker. The sea drops from about 19°C to 15°C over the month. |
| Stepantsminda (Kazbegi, 1,740 m) | 4°C / minus 4°C, 62 mm, much of it snow. Winter. The village is usually white by the second half of the month. |
Two things the table hides. First, the drop from October is steep: Tbilisi loses seven degrees of daytime high and a third of its sunshine in one month, so an October plan does not simply carry over. Second, the west stays mild while the east turns cold: Kutaisi averages 16°C when Telavi is at 12°C and Stepantsminda is freezing. If you want the least cold November possible, Imereti is where it is.
Early, mid or late November
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| 1 to 10 November | The best stretch. Tbilisi days often still in the mid-teens, the last colour on the plane trees and in the Alazani valley, and the light still lasts until about 17:50. Kazbegi is fine on a clear day. Kakheti cellars are quiet and the new wine is in the qvevri. |
| 11 to 20 November | Turns grey. The leaves come down, mornings are misty, and the first real cold snaps arrive in the east. Tbilisi Book Days run 13 to 15 November. Stepantsminda usually has settled snow by now. Indoor season starts in earnest. |
| 21 to 30 November | Giorgoba on the 23rd, a Monday in 2026, makes a long weekend for Georgians; churches called St George are busy and Mtskheta fills up. Sunset is about 17:35. The mountains are winter, the coast is at its wettest and darkest, and Tbilisi rooms are at their cheapest. |
Daylight in November
Georgia stays on UTC+4 all year with no clock change, but November is when the short days start to shape the trip. Sunrise in Tbilisi moves from about 07:30 on 1 November to 08:05 on the 30th, and sunset from about 17:55 to 17:30 (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. That leaves under ten hours of daylight by the end of the month, so a Tbilisi to Kazbegi day trip means leaving by 08:00 to see anything, cross-country drives should finish by mid-afternoon, and any walk that starts after lunch is a short one.
Giorgoba and other November dates
The calendar is thin after October, which is part of the appeal. Dates below match our festivals calendar, checked in September 2026.
| Event | When and where |
|---|---|
| Feast of the 100,000 Martyrs | 13 November, Tbilisi. A church commemoration at Metekhi and along the Mtkvari, where the martyrs of 1226 are said to have died. Services, not a festival. |
| Tbilisi Book Days | 13 to 15 November 2026, Tbilisi. A book fair with readings and a good English-language corner. |
| Mandarinoba | 21 November 2026, Tsikhisdziri, on the coast north of Batumi. The mandarin harvest festival of Adjara: the fruit is in season from November and the roadside stalls along the coast are piled with it. |
| Giorgoba (St George's Day) | 23 November, nationwide. Public holiday for the country's patron saint. Banks and offices close, church services everywhere, and every Giorgi has a name day, which means family tables. Falls on a Monday in 2026. |
| Tbilisi International Film Festival | Late November or early December, Amirani cinema, Tbilisi. Recent editions have opened in the first days of December; the 2026 dates were not published when we checked. |
Giorgoba is the one that affects a visitor. It is a holiday rather than a spectacle: the churches are full, the roads to Mtskheta and to any village church of St George are busy from mid-morning, and shops and museums keep holiday hours. If you are invited to a table that day, go; if you are not, it is a good day for the baths. Our church etiquette guide covers what to wear if you visit a service.
Where to go in November
| Destination | November verdict |
|---|---|
| Tbilisi | Good. Indoor season: baths, wine bars, museums, opera and theatre in full swing, the cheapest rooms since spring. Grey, not cold. |
| Kakheti | Good, early. Harvest done, cellars quiet, new wine in the qvevri, hosts with time to talk. Bare vines and snow on the Caucasus behind by mid-month. |
| Mtskheta | Good. An easy half day from Tbilisi in any weather. Busy on Giorgoba. |
| Kazbegi | Day trip on a clear forecast. The highway is open all year; the village is in winter by mid-month and the side valleys are under snow. |
| Kutaisi and Imereti | Fair. The mildest region in November. Prometheus Cave and the monasteries work in rain; the canyons do not. |
| Borjomi and Vardzia | Fair, early. Cold and sharp at Vardzia by mid-month; Borjomi's park is pleasant on a dry day. |
| Svaneti | Skip. The trek season ended in late October, the Ushguli road is often cut, and the ski lifts are not running yet. |
| Tusheti | Closed. The Abano Pass is shut by snow from October to late spring. |
| Batumi and the coast | Skip. About 306 mm of rain, beach businesses shut, sea at 15 to 19°C. Mandarin season is the one reason to pass through. |
Tbilisi in November
This is a city built for November more than the summer photos suggest. The sulfur baths in Abanotubani are the obvious start: a private room at one of the bathhouses is the best 45 minutes of a grey afternoon, and the domes steam in the cold in a way they never do in July. Our sulfur baths guide compares the bathhouses and prices. The opera and theatre seasons are in full swing, the National Museum and the Silk Museum are empty on a weekday, and the wine bars of Sololaki and Vera are where the city actually spends its November evenings.
The markets are the other November thing. Dezerter Bazaar is piled with persimmons, pomegranates, quince, walnuts and the first mandarins from Adjara, and this is the month locals buy their year's churchkhela, the walnut strings dipped in thickened grape juice, while the fresh ones are still soft. Our markets guide covers what to buy and what to skip.
Two practical notes for November 2026. Rustaveli Avenue has been closed to traffic since July for a full rebuild that is scheduled to finish in November, so expect works and diverted buses, including the airport 337, until it reopens; check the stop list on the day. And Tbilisi has no district heating: flats rely on their own gas boiler or on air-conditioner units in heat mode, and hosts are slow to switch them on. A November apartment can be colder inside than out, so make sure the listing says heating before you book, and ask the host to have it on when you arrive.
Kakheti after the harvest
By November the picking is over in Kakheti and the cellars have gone quiet. The new wine is fermenting in the qvevri, the pressed skins are being distilled into chacha, and the family wineries that had no time for anyone in September will now sit you down for two hours. That is the case for November in the wine country: not the harvest, but the people who made it, with nothing else to do. The Kakheti guide and the wine road trip have the cellars and the routes, and our qvevri wine guide explains what is happening under the marani floor while you drink last year's.
The valley looks different too. The vine rows are bare by the middle of the month, the persimmon trees keep their orange fruit long after the leaves have gone, and the Greater Caucasus behind is white from top to treeline. Mornings in the valley are misty and cold; the view from Sighnaghi's walls is best around midday once it lifts. Sighnaghi itself is empty in November, which suits it; our Sighnaghi guide has the guesthouses. Giorgoba on the 23rd is a day to be in a village rather than a town, if a host has invited you.
Getting there without a car is the same as in any month: marshrutkas to Telavi (12-15 GEL) and Sighnaghi (15 GEL) leave from the Navtlughi terminal at Samgori metro, and there is no harvest crowd to compete with. A car is more useful than ever in November because the villages the vans do not reach are where the quiet cellars are, and because the days are too short to wait for connections.
The mountains in November
November is the gap between the hiking season and the ski season, and the honest advice is not to plan a mountain trip in it. What is open, what is closed, and what is in between:
- Kazbegi. The Georgian Military Highway is open all year and marshrutkas from Didube run daily (20 GEL, about $8, 3 to 3.5 hours), though the last departures back are cut when they run empty, so do not count on a late van. Stepantsminda averages 4°C by day and minus 4°C at night in November and the village is usually under snow by mid-month. The road from Gergeti village up to the church needs a 4x4 once the snow settles; drivers wait by the bus station and charge for the run. The Truso Valley is normally closed by snow in November, and the Juta to Roshka route over the Chaukhi pass is finished for the year. Our Kazbegi guide has the winter rules and the 4x4 fares.
- Svaneti. The Mestia to Ushguli trek season ends in late October, the Ushguli road is often cut once the snow comes, and many guesthouses along the route close for the winter. Mestia's lifts open with the rest of the country's in the second half of December. The Vanilla Sky flight from Natakhtari is weather-dependent at the best of times; in November have the road as the plan, not the backup.
- Tusheti. Closed. The Abano Pass is shut by snow from October until late May or June and there is no road access in between. Our Tusheti road guide has the pattern.
- Skiing. Not yet. Gudauri may be white by mid-November but the lifts do not run until the second half of December: last season the resorts opened on 27 December, and the operator publishes the new season's dates and prices in mid-December. Our skiing in Georgia guide compares the four resorts and the winter guide has the 2025-26 prices until the new list is out.
The coast in November
Batumi in November is for people who are already in the west and curious, not for anyone planning a trip. The 1981-2010 normals give it about 306 mm of rain over a dozen wet days, a daytime high of 12°C and 125 hours of sunshine; the sea is about 19°C on 1 November and 15°C by the end. The beach businesses are shut, the promenade is empty, and the casinos and the big hotels stay open for a mostly local crowd. The one November thing the coast does well is mandarins: Adjara's orchards pick from November, the roadside stalls between Kobuleti and Batumi are stacked with them, and the Mandarinoba festival at Tsikhisdziri on 21 November 2026 is the organised version. Our Batumi guide covers the city in every season.
Getting around in November
The lowland network runs its full timetable all month. From Didube it is 20 GEL to Kazbegi and 25 GEL to Kutaisi, from Samgori 12-15 GEL to Telavi, and 25-35 GEL to Batumi. The Tbilisi to Batumi train runs two to four times a day by season in about four hours for 36 GEL second class or 76 GEL first (tkt.ge fares read in September 2026; about $14 and $29), and November is a month to take it, because the road through the Rikoti tunnels is slow and unpleasant in rain. Our getting around guide has every route and price, and the trip planner strings them into a route.
If you rent a car, nothing changes in the lowlands: Tbilisi, Kakheti, Mtskheta, Borjomi and Kutaisi are ordinary driving in November. The mountain rules above apply to the Military Highway and anything higher. For airport arrivals after dark, which from mid-November means anything after 17:45, the airport guide has the bus 337 hours and the Bolt and desk taxi fares.
What to pack for November
The mistake is packing for October. November in Tbilisi is a proper coat month from the second week, and the mountains are winter.
- A warm coat or a down layer plus a shell. Tbilisi mornings are around 5°C; Stepantsminda is below freezing at night all month.
- Waterproof shoes with grip. Wet cobbles in the old town and slush in Kazbegi. Leather soles are a bad idea here in November.
- A hat and gloves for anything above Tbilisi.
- A scarf. Warmth, and a church head covering for Giorgoba; the big churches lend wraps at the door.
- A headlamp if you plan any walk at all; sunset is before 17:45 from mid-month.
- Swimwear for the sulfur baths if you prefer the shared pools to a private room.
Our packing guide has the full list by season, the packing list generator builds one for November and your route, and the insurance guide explains the mandatory travel insurance rule for visitors that has applied since 1 January 2026.
What November costs
November is the bottom of the price curve for Tbilisi rooms until the New Year week arrives. On the same Booking.com search, two nights at ibis budget Tbilisi Center were 277 GEL over Tbilisoba weekend in October and 207 GEL on 20 to 22 November (about $79); Rooms Hotel Tbilisi went from 748 to 686 GEL for a comparable room, and Stamba was offering a discounted late-escape rate. Small guesthouses in Kakheti and Sighnaghi are quiet enough to negotiate in person. Restaurants, transport and entry fees do not change with the season, and cars are priced by the agencies' default window rather than the month, so the saving is mostly in the room. For a full daily budget by travel style, use our trip budget calculator and the budget guide behind it.
November mistakes to avoid
- Planning a hiking trip. The high valleys are under snow and the guesthouses on the trekking routes are closed. Come in October or wait for June.
- Coming for the skiing. The lifts open in the second half of December. A November snowfall in Gudauri is a photograph, not a ski day.
- Building the trip around Batumi. It is one of the two wettest months on the coast. Pass through for mandarins if you are in the west; do not base yourself there.
- Booking an unheated flat. Check the heating line in the listing and ask the host to switch it on before you arrive.
- Driving to Kazbegi without winter tyres. Ask the agency, check the road the evening before, and take a driver if in doubt.
- Forgetting Giorgoba. 23 November is a public holiday: banks and offices shut, churches and the Mtskheta road are busy, and some museums keep holiday hours.
Frequently asked questions
Is November a good time to visit Georgia?
What is the weather like in Georgia in November?
Is there snow in Georgia in November?
What is Giorgoba?
Can you visit Kazbegi in November?
Is Georgia cheap in November?
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