Quick answer
Take the train. The double-decker from Tbilisi Central does it in 4 hours 1 minute for 36 GEL (about $14) in second class or 76 GEL in first, with two departures a day on most dates this autumn (08:05 and 17:10) and a third on some weekends; book on tkt.ge up to 20 days ahead. If the train is sold out, Metro Georgia and Citybus coaches leave Ortachala nine or more times a day for 45 GEL and take about six hours. Three or four people with luggage and a stop or two in mind: a GoTrip driver, 342 GEL per car. In a hurry: Georgian Airways flies it in 45 minutes four days a week, from about $105 one way.
- Distance
- 372 km
- Train
- 36 GEL
- Coach
- 45 GEL
- Driver from
- 342 GEL
Tbilisi to Batumi is the busiest intercity route in the country, and since the Rikoti expressway opened in full in December 2025 and the railway put its Swiss-built double-deckers on the line, both the road and the rail versions are shorter than the guidebooks say. This page is the transport only: what leaves from where, what it costs, how long it really takes and which option fits which trip. Our Batumi guide takes over when you arrive, and the Tbilisi to Batumi road trip is the three-day version with Gori, Uplistsikhe and Kutaisi on the way. Conversions use the National Bank of Georgia rate of 2.61 GEL to the dollar published for 26 September 2026.
Which option, in one table
| Option | Price, time and who it suits |
|---|---|
| Train | 36 GEL second class, 76 GEL first, 4 hours 1 minute, two or three a day. Almost everyone. Book ahead: seats are counted in the hundreds per train and summer weekends sell out |
| Coach | 45 GEL, about 6 hours, Metro Georgia from Ortachala nine times a day, Citybus from Ortachala and Didube four times. The fallback when the train is full, and the only option after 17:10 |
| Marshrutka | 35 GEL from Didube, roughly hourly from 07:15 until the vans stop filling, 5 to 7 hours. Cheapest, least comfortable, no luggage bay |
| GoTrip driver | From 342 GEL per car (about $131), 5 hours 40 minutes of driving, stops included. Groups of three or four, families with car seats, anyone who wants Uplistsikhe or Kutaisi on the way |
| Flight | Georgian Airways, 45 minutes, four days a week in the summer schedule, from about $105 one way. Tight connections and business trips; the two airports eat most of the time saved |
| Rental car | From $24 a day on Localrent, 372 km on the E60. Only if the coast is part of a wider western Georgia loop; a one-way drop in Batumi is quoted by the agency |
The train: 4 hours, 36 GEL
Georgian Railway's Stadler double-deckers run from Tbilisi Central, the station on Station Square with its own metro interchange, to Batumi Central on the northern edge of the city. Every one of them is timetabled at 4 hours 1 minute westbound and 4 hours flat coming back, and every one stops at Kutaisi International Airport (2 hours 35 minutes from Tbilisi), Ureki and Kobuleti. When we read tkt.ge on 28 September 2026 for every date through 17 October, the timetable had settled into two departures a day in each direction, with a third added on some weekend dates. In the summer schedule the same trains ran four times a day (06:30, 08:05, 10:15 and 17:10 from Tbilisi), so check your own date rather than assuming the list below; sales open 20 days ahead, which is why later dates showed no trains at all.
| Tbilisi to Batumi | Batumi to Tbilisi |
|---|---|
| 08:05 to 12:06, train 802, daily | 08:00 to 12:00, train 803, daily |
| 10:15 to 14:16, train 808, some weekend dates (3 and 4 October when we looked) | 16:50 to 20:50, train 801, daily |
| 17:10 to 21:11, train 804, daily | 18:30 to 22:30, train 807, some weekend dates (3 October when we looked) |
Batumi train fares, one way
| Class | Fare | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Second class | 36 GEL | About $14. Reserved reclining seat, air conditioning, a power socket in each row. The right choice for almost everyone |
| First class | 76 GEL | About $29. Two-by-one seating, more legroom, a socket per seat. Nice, not necessary, on a four-hour ride |
| Children 5 to 10 | Half fare | Under-5s without a seat travel free; from 10 the adult fare applies |
| Kutaisi Airport | 34 / 72 GEL | Same trains, 2 h 35 min. The calm way to a Wizz Air flight |
Prices checked September 2026. Ranges reflect season and operator.
Both fares are tkt.ge prices, which include a booking fee of about 2 GEL; the railway's own portal at gr.com.ge sells the same seats for the base fare but needs an account. Either way you get a QR e-ticket by email and show it on your phone, and you need the passport you booked with at the door. Luggage is generous (36 kg per passenger on the railway's rules) and there is no dining car, so buy food on Station Square before you board; water is handed out free. The counters on the third floor of Tbilisi Central (08:00 to 20:00) sell tickets in cash for anyone who would rather not book online, but in summer that is how you discover the train is full.
Coaches from Ortachala and Didube
The coaches are the honest second choice and, unlike the marshrutkas, they run to a printed timetable with a luggage bay, a toilet stop and a fixed 45 GEL (about $17) fare. Two operators sell online in English. Metro Georgia leaves from Ortachala bus station on Dimitri Gulia Street in the south of the city (no metro; a Bolt from the centre is a few lari) and arrives at Batumi's bus station at 11 Gogol Street, which the city has renamed Giorgi Tsabadze Street, about 4.5 km from the boulevard. On 28 September 2026 its site listed nine departures: 05:00, 07:30, 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 19:00 and 23:00, scheduled at 4 hours 45 minutes to 6 hours, all at 45 GEL except the 12:00 at 35 GEL, with 25 to 43 seats still free on each. Citybus Georgia charges the same 45 GEL and splits its departures between Ortachala (09:00 and 16:00, platform 2) and the Okriba yard at Didube, next to Didube metro at 151 Akaki Tsereteli Avenue (10:00 and 18:00), all arriving at the same Gogol Street station about six hours later. Coming back, Citybus runs from Batumi at 08:00, 09:00, 16:00 and 18:00 with stops at Kobuleti and Ureki stations, the Kutaisi Airport turn-off and Kutaisi, which makes it a useful way to reach a Wizz Air flight from the coast.
| Operator | Where, when and how much |
|---|---|
| Metro Georgia | Ortachala, Dimitri Gulia Street. Nine departures from 05:00 to 23:00, 45 GEL (35 GEL at 12:00), 4 h 45 min to 6 h scheduled. Books at metrogeorgia.ge; the site is in Georgian but the times and seat counts are readable |
| Citybus Georgia | Ortachala platform 2 at 09:00 and 16:00; Okriba at Didube at 10:00 and 18:00. 45 GEL, about 6 h, one bag included, Wi-Fi and sockets. Books in English at citybus.ge |
| Georgian Bus | Lists Tbilisi to Batumi as a route, but its timetable page showed no times for it when we read it. It is the Kutaisi Airport operator; use it for that |
Marshrutka and shared taxi
The minibuses leave from Didube, the sprawling yard beside Didube metro on Line 1 that our bus stations guide maps, with a small Batumi ticket desk in their corner. The fare was 35 GEL in a transport guide updated in August 2026, with vans from about 07:15 roughly every hour or when full; our own readings this year ran from 25 to 35 GEL depending on the van. Five to seven hours, depending on the driver's appetite for overtaking on the Rikoti section, with one stop. There is no luggage bay, so a big suitcase rides on your knees or in the aisle, and the last van goes when the yard stops filling in the late afternoon. Shared taxis around the same yard take four passengers for 50 to 60 GEL a seat and leave when full; they are quicker and no safer. Take the marshrutka if you are travelling light and the train is gone, and read the marshrutka guide first if you have never ridden one.
A fixed-price driver
For three or four people the driver is often cheaper per head than the train and turns the transfer into the road trip. We book on GoTrip: the price is per car, fixed before you confirm, no deposit, and stops on the way are included, so an hour at Uplistsikhe or lunch in Kutaisi costs nothing extra. GoTrip gives the route as 372 km and about 5 hours 40 minutes of driving. The cheapest cars listed on gotrip.ge on 28 September 2026 were a comfort-class Ford Fusion or Toyota Camry at 342 GEL, with economy Priuses from 350 GEL; the same drivers pick up at Tbilisi Airport for 10 GEL more, which is the answer for a family landing at night and heading straight to the coast.
The 45-minute flight
Georgian Airways started a scheduled Tbilisi to Batumi service on 25 June 2026: four days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday), leaving Tbilisi at 09:00 and Batumi at 19:30, 45 minutes in the air, at a launch fare of 295 GEL one way, per the public broadcaster's report that day. On 28 September the airline's own fare page showed one-way fares from $104.70 for September and October dates and nothing at all from November, which fits the "summer navigation season" wording of the launch, so treat it as a seasonal route and check georgian-airways.com for your date. Vanilla Sky, the small propeller airline, listed Natakhtari airfield (23 km north of Tbilisi) to Batumi at 125 GEL on its September price list, as our getting around guide sets out. Either way, add the 17 km from Tbilisi to its airport and the ride in from Batumi's, which sits a few kilometres south of the centre: city buses 10 and 10a run in for under 1 GEL and a Bolt is 12 to 15 GEL. Fly if you have one day or an onward connection, not to save time on a holiday.
Driving yourself
The drive is 372 km on the E60: Tbilisi, Gori, Khashuri, the Rikoti tunnels, Zestafoni, Kutaisi, Samtredia and the shore road into Batumi, about 5 hours 40 minutes without stops now that the expressway is finished. It is paved throughout and a compact handles it. Fuel for the one-way run is roughly 100 GEL. Localrent's Georgia terms, which are typical for the market, forbid the southern alternative over the Goderdzi Pass from Akhaltsikhe in a rental car, so stay on the highway. Most Localrent agencies will quote a one-way drop in Batumi when you set the two cities at booking, which lets you drive west with the stops and take the train home. The car rental guide covers the contract terms and the May 2026 fines; the prices below are the top picks for a Tbilisi pickup on 28 September 2026, when 995 cars were listed.
Where each option lands in Batumi
None of them drops you on the boulevard, so budget one short Bolt ride at the end. The train arrives at Batumi Central on Queen Tamar Highway, a 2015 station with a bus terminal and shopping centre built in, about 4 km north of the old town; city buses stop outside and a Bolt to the boulevard is a few lari. The Metro Georgia and Citybus coaches end at the bus station at 11 Gogol Street (Giorgi Tsabadze Street on newer maps), about 4.5 km out. GoTrip drivers take you to the door. Flights land a few kilometres south of the centre, with buses 10 and 10a into town. Batumi's buses are card only: 40 tetri with a bank card, or 30 tetri with a Batumi Card from a Bank of Georgia machine, and a Tbilisi Metromoney card works too. Our Batumi guide has the neighbourhoods and where to stay; the beaches guide covers Kobuleti and Ureki, which the train and the Citybus coaches both stop at if the beach, not the city, is the point.
Mistakes to avoid
- Turning up at Tbilisi Central for a summer train. Sales open 20 days ahead and the morning trains go first. Book on tkt.ge the day your dates are fixed, both directions.
- Planning around four trains a day. That was the summer timetable. This autumn most dates have two, at 08:05 and 17:10. Check your date.
- Waiting for a night train. There is none in the timetable we read. The 23:00 Metro Georgia coach is the overnight option, arriving 04:30.
- Going to Didube for the coach. Metro Georgia leaves from Ortachala, which has no metro. Only Citybus's 10:00 and 18:00 use the Okriba yard at Didube.
- Boarding a marshrutka with a big suitcase. There is no luggage bay. Take the train or a coach.
- Taking a rental over the Goderdzi Pass. The contract forbids it and an accident there is uninsured. Stay on the E60.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the train from Tbilisi to Batumi?
How long does the Tbilisi to Batumi train take?
Is there a night train from Tbilisi to Batumi?
How much is the bus from Tbilisi to Batumi?
How long is the drive from Tbilisi to Batumi?
Is there a flight from Tbilisi to Batumi?
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