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, two departures a day in each direction on every date on sale (08:05 and 17:10 out; 08:00 and, from 12 November, 18:30 back); book on tkt.ge up to 20 days ahead, because even in October the day-before trains sold out. If the train is gone, the coaches leave Ortachala round the clock: about fifteen runs a day on tkt.ge at 40 to 45 GEL, five to six hours, eight of them Metro Georgia. Three or four people with luggage and a stop or two in mind: a GoTrip driver, 342 GEL per car. The Georgian Airways flight is a summer route and its last fares on sale were for 22 and 24 October.
- Distance
- 372 km
- Train
- 36 GEL
- Coach
- 40 to 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 2.60 GEL to the dollar published for 17 October 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 a day each way on every date on sale through 7 November. Almost everyone. Book ahead: each train sells 349 seats and the day-before departures were gone when we looked |
| Coach | 40 to 45 GEL, 5 to 6 hours, about fifteen runs a day from Ortachala, most picking up at the Okriba yard by Didube 20 to 35 minutes later. The fallback when the train is full, and the only option after 17:10 |
| Marshrutka | 25 to 35 GEL from Didube, roughly hourly from 07:15, 5 to 6 hours. Cheapest, least comfortable, no luggage bay |
| GoTrip driver | From 342 GEL per car (about $132), 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, summer only: on 19 October its site sold fares for 22 and 24 October from $103.30 and nothing from November. Vanilla Sky's propeller plane from Natakhtari is 125 GEL. 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 4 November 2026, every date on sale, from 4 to 23 November, showed exactly two trains in each direction, as on 19 October, but the afternoon train from Batumi (801) moves from 16:50 to 18:30 from 12 November, in Tbilisi at 22:30 (we opened 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 23 November). The weekend extras of early October (a 10:15 from Tbilisi, an 18:30 from Batumi) had already gone by 19 October. 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 24 November and later 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 |
| 17:10 to 21:11, train 804, daily | 18:30 to 22:30, train 801, daily from 12 November (16:50 to 20:50 until 11 November) |
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. 294 seats per train. The right choice for almost everyone |
| First class | 76 GEL | About $29. Two-by-one seating, more legroom, a socket per seat. 55 seats per train, and they go first |
| Children 5 to 10 | Half fare | Under-5s without a seat travel free; from 10 the adult fare applies (tkt.ge's railway rules, read 19 October 2026) |
| Kutaisi Airport | 34 / 72 GEL | Same trains, 2 h 35 min. The calm way to a Wizz Air flight |
Prices checked October 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. The fare has not moved all year: 36 and 76 GEL on 19 October, the same as in our September and 12 October readings. 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 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 fare. They are no longer the cheap one: on tkt.ge, which sells every company's seats on one page, Saturday 14 November 2026 had 27 Tbilisi to Batumi coach listings at 40 to 45 GEL (about $15 to $17), read on 4 November, and the 30 GEL runs of October had gone (Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 18 November priced the same way). Most listings are the same bus twice, because it picks up at Ortachala bus station on Dimitri Gulia Street in the south of the city and again at the Okriba yard beside Didube metro 20 to 35 minutes later. Count the distinct runs and it is about fifteen a day, and they do not stop at night: 23:00, 00:30, 01:00 and 05:00 coaches all arrive in Batumi before breakfast. The 40 GEL runs are the 00:30 and 11:00; everything else was 45, including a 09:00 from Station Square sold at 10 percent off 50. Every coach still had 31 to 55 seats free ten days out, so this is the option you can leave until the day. The table gives the Ortachala departure with the Okriba pickup in brackets.
| Leaves | Fare, arrival and who runs it |
|---|---|
| 00:30 (00:50) | 40 GEL, in at 06:30 |
| 01:00 (01:20) | 45 GEL, in at 07:00 (Metro Georgia); a second company at 45 GEL, in at 06:30 |
| 05:00 (05:20) | 45 GEL, in at 10:45 (Metro Georgia) |
| 08:00 (Okriba only) | 45 GEL, in at 12:45 |
| 09:00 (09:30) | 45 GEL, in at 15:00, two companies (Metro Georgia is one); a third leaves Station Square at 09:00 for 45 GEL, in at 15:00 |
| 11:00 (11:35) | 40 GEL, in at 17:00 |
| 12:00 (12:35) | 45 GEL, in at 17:45 (Metro Georgia) |
| 15:00 (15:35) | 45 GEL, in at 21:00 (Metro Georgia) |
| 16:00 | 45 GEL, in at 21:55 (Ortachala only) |
| 18:00 (18:30) | 45 GEL, in at 00:01 (Metro Georgia); a second company runs its own 18:00 from Okriba, in at 23:30 |
| 20:00 (20:30) | 45 GEL, in at 02:00 (Metro Georgia) |
| 23:00 (23:30) | 45 GEL, in at 04:30 (Metro Georgia) |
| 23:55 (Okriba only) | 45 GEL, in at 04:40 |
Two operators also sell on their own sites in English or near enough. Metro Georgia, the biggest, listed eight Batumi departures for Saturday 14 November on metrogeorgia.ge, read on 4 November (01:00, 05:00, 09:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 20:00 and 23:00, all 45 GEL; the 10:30 of October has gone), and ten back from its Batumi office (02:00, 05:00, 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:00, 18:00, 20:00 and 23:59, all 45 GEL, with the 10:30 and 13:30 already full), each scheduled at 5 hours 30 minutes to 6 hours. In October it sold some runs at 30 or 35 GEL and on one Monday swapped the 01:00 for a 07:00, so check your own date. Its coaches leave from Ortachala (no metro; a Bolt from the centre is a few lari) and arrive at Batumi's bus station at 11 Gogol Street, which the city has renamed Giorgi Tsabadze Street, about 4.5 km from the boulevard. Citybus Georgia charges 45 GEL and on 19 October listed 09:00 and 16:00 from Ortachala platform 2 (5 Dimitri Gulia Street) and 18:00 from Okriba (151 Akaki Tsereteli Avenue, platform 5), arriving at the same Gogol Street station at platform 12; coming back it had 10:00 and 23:00 to Okriba and 16:00 to Ortachala, and its buses stop at Kobuleti, Ureki and the Kutaisi Airport turn-off, which makes them a useful way to a Wizz Air flight from the coast. Children: Metro Georgia needs a ticket from age 4, Citybus for every passenger, the other companies from 3 to 10 at a child fare, and tkt.ge asks you to be at the platform 20 minutes before departure.
Marshrutka and shared taxi
The minibuses leave from Didube, the sprawling yard beside Didube metro on Line 1, from the Nige and Okriba desks our Didube guide maps, with a paper ticket sold before you board. Our October reading of the yard has them at 25 to 35 GEL depending on the van, roughly hourly from 07:15 until late in the evening, 5.5 to 6 hours with one stop, depending on the driver's appetite for overtaking on the Rikoti section; a transport guide updated in August 2026 quoted 35 GEL and vans from about 07:15 every hour or when full. There is no luggage bay, so a big suitcase rides on your knees or in the aisle. 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. For 5 to 20 GEL more the coaches above carry your bag and leave to a timetable, which is why we rarely do this.
A fixed-price driver
For three or four people the driver is often the better deal and turns the transfer into the road trip: 342 GEL split four ways is 86 GEL a head, split three ways 114, against 36 on the train, but it is door to door with your bags and your stops. 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 car listed on gotrip.ge on 19 October 2026 was a comfort-class Ford Fusion at 342 GEL, unchanged since our September reading, with economy Priuses from 350 GEL and a Hyundai Grandeur at 370; 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, in summer
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. It is a summer route. On 19 October the airline's own fare page showed October fares from $103.30 (about 268 GEL) with seats only on 22 and 24 October, and "no result" for every month from November 2026 to March 2027, which fits the "summer navigation season" wording of the launch; if you are reading this in winter, assume it is not flying and check georgian-airways.com for the 2027 restart. Vanilla Sky, the small propeller airline, flies Natakhtari airfield (23 km north of Tbilisi) to Batumi for 125 GEL (about $48) an adult and 88 GEL for children aged 3 to 12 on the schedule page we read on 19 October, with a free minibus from the Radisson Blu Iveria in the centre two hours before the flight and a 15 kg baggage limit, as our getting around guide sets out. Either way, add the ride in from Batumi's airport, which sits a few kilometres south of the centre: city buses 10 and 10a run in for about 1 GEL by bank card 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 cheapest no-deposit cars for a Tbilisi pickup on 19 October 2026, when 1,330 cars were listed for a two-week rental from 22 October.
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: 70 tetri a ride with a Batumi Card (the city council's tariff since 3 February 2026) or about 1 GEL tapped with a contactless bank card, and a Tbilisi Metromoney card works too. Our Batumi guide has the neighbourhoods and our where to stay in Batumi page prices each of them; 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 without a ticket. Sales open 20 days ahead and the day-before trains were sold out when we looked in October. Book on tkt.ge the day your dates are fixed, both directions.
- Planning around four trains a day. That was the summer timetable. Every date on sale through 7 November has 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, 00:30 and 01:00 coaches from Ortachala are the overnight option, arriving between 04:30 and 07:00.
- Booking the flight for November. Georgian Airways' Batumi route is a summer service; its last fares on sale were for 22 and 24 October 2026.
- Going to Didube for a Metro Georgia coach. It leaves from Ortachala, which has no metro, and picks up at the Okriba yard by Didube 20 to 35 minutes later; the tkt.ge listing tells you which yard your ticket is for.
- 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 do I get from Tbilisi to Batumi?
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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