Chreli Abano (the Orbeliani Baths): Tbilisi's Colorful Sulfur Bath

In the Abanotubani district of Tbilisi, capital of Georgia (the country in the South Caucasus), where most bathhouses present their plain brick domes to the street with little elaboration, the Chreli Abano stands apart at once. Its facade is covered in Persian-influenced tilework — blue, turquoise, and white geometric and floral patterns under pointed arches, topped with a pair of small minaret-like turrets — so distinctive that first-time visitors often mistake it for a mosque. Also known as the Orbeliani Baths, it is the most photographed building in Abanotubani and one of the most recognizable facades in Tbilisi, and the contrast between its ornate exterior and the plain domes of its neighbors makes it more striking still.

What is the Chreli Abano?

Chreli Abano — "the Colorful Bath" — is the most famous of the sulfur bathhouses in Tbilisi's Abanotubani district, also known as the Orbeliani Baths (after the family that once owned it). The bathhouse itself dates to the 17th–18th century, like the other Abanotubani baths, but its celebrated blue-and-turquoise tiled, minaret-topped Persian-style facade was added in the 19th century. Restored between 2013 and 2016 and reopened in 2017, it's now the most polished and visitor-friendly of the district's baths, while still operating as a genuine working bathhouse fed by the natural hot sulfur springs. Inside are private rooms hired by the hour, the traditional kisi scrub, and massages — and it sits in the heart of Abanotubani, below Narikala Fortress.

The colorful facade

The name Chreli Abano means "colorful bath," which rather understates the case. The bathhouse takes its formal name, the Orbeliani Baths, from the noble family that owned it; while the underlying structure belongs to the 17th–18th-century tradition of Persian-influenced bath architecture that shaped Abanotubani, the building was transformed into its ornate "oriental" form in the 19th century, when the tiled facade was applied. Tbilisi's position at the crossroads of Persian, Ottoman, and Russian cultural influence produced a famously eclectic built environment, and the decorative vocabulary chosen here is drawn from the Islamic architectural tradition of Iran: the pointed arches, the geometric and floral tilework, the twin minaret-like turrets, the overall compositional logic. Applied to a public bathhouse in a predominantly Christian Georgian city, the result is entirely characteristic of the layered cultural identity of Old Tbilisi — and so convincingly mosque-like that the confusion is understandable.

The bath experience

Behind the celebrated facade, Chreli Abano is a fully working bathhouse, fed by the same natural geothermal springs that have supplied Abanotubani since the city's founding. The water reaches the surface at around 38–40°C, carrying the mineral content — primarily sulfur compounds — that gives it both its distinctive smell and the therapeutic reputation that has sustained the bathing tradition here for centuries.

The bathhouse offers private rooms for individuals or small groups, each with a stone or tiled pool fed by the hot spring water (it has more than a dozen rooms across a range of sizes and prices, and no communal area — every room is private). Hiring a room by the hour, rather than using a shared public bath, is the standard Abanotubani format and allows a more relaxed, personal experience. The kisi — a vigorous full-body scrub performed by an attendant (a mekise) with a coarse mitt, removing layers of dead skin with real efficiency — is available and considered by most regulars an essential part of the experience rather than an optional extra; a massage on the traditional marble bench (topchan) can be added too.

Chreli Abano sits at the more organized, visitor-oriented end of the Abanotubani spectrum — the 2013–2016 restoration brought modern, well-maintained facilities and a more structured booking process than the smaller, more improvised establishments — without losing the essential character of a working bathhouse. It suits travelers who want to engage with the sulfur-bath tradition without the uncertainty of a more ad-hoc setup. That said, the atmosphere inside stays traditional and unhurried rather than spa-like: this is a bathhouse, not a wellness resort, and that distinction is part of the appeal. (For a rawer, more old-school atmosphere, some of the district's other baths — like the more historic Bathhouse No. 5 — go further in that direction.)

It's a place with history as well as looks: among its past visitors were Alexander Pushkin and Alexandre Dumas, who bathed in Abanotubani's waters on their travels through Tiflis.

The surroundings

Chreli Abano sits in the heart of Abanotubani, among the other bathhouses, the narrow streets of the historic district, and the approaches to the Leghvtakhevi gorge and waterfall and the National Botanical Garden to the south. The walls of Narikala Fortress rise on the ridge above, and the cable-car station (and the Bridge of Peace and Rike Park) are a short walk away. An evening visit, approached through the lamp-lit streets after dinner, is one of the more distinctly Tbilisian experiences a visitor can have — the steam around the dome skylights, the stream running through the gorge nearby, the atmosphere of the neighborhood after dark — a context a daytime visit, pleasant as it is, can't fully match.

Booking ahead is strongly recommended, especially for evenings and weekends, when demand for private rooms is highest; walk-in availability can be unpredictable at busy times.

Getting there and visiting

• Location: 2 Abano Street, Abanotubani, Old Tbilisi — in the heart of the bath district, below Narikala.
• Hours: Open daily, roughly morning until late evening (commonly around 09:00–23:00).
• Rooms: Private rooms hired by the hour (prices vary by room size); kisi scrub and massage available at additional cost.
• Booking: Strongly recommended, especially evenings and weekends — online via the official website or by phone.
• Website: chreli-abano.ge
• Combine with: The rest of Abanotubani, the Leghvtakhevi gorge and waterfall, the Botanical Garden, Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia, the Ateshgah fire temple, and (a short walk away) the Bridge of Peace and Rike Park.