Shopping in Tbilisi: A Flea Market Under a Bridge and Wine Worth Carrying Home

Soviet cameras and cavalry medals at the Dry Bridge, churchkhela by the metre, amber wine at a third of export prices, and a serious young design scene.

by Theo Hart · Updated 22 February 2026

Shopping in Tbilisi divides cleanly into two things worth your time and a large amount of noise. The two things are wine, which costs a fraction of what the same bottles cost anywhere they are exported to, and the flea market by the river, where a hundred sellers lay out the contents of Soviet and post Soviet households on trestle tables. Everything else is optional. The drinking horns and the felt hats are not why you came.

The markets

The Dry Bridge, near the river, daily, for cameras, watches, medals, porcelain, records and books.

Deserters’ Bazaar, the big working food market, chaotic, cheap and almost entirely un labelled.

Dezerter and the surrounding streets, for spices, cheese, pickles, dried fruit and churchkhela.

The craft stalls on the bridge and around the old town, for jewellery, enamel and felt.

Supermarkets, for wine you should not buy and everything else you should.

Weekends are busiest at the flea market and best for browsing.

What is actually worth buying

Wine, in a specialist shop, tasted first, in a box the shop packs for a hold bag.

Chacha, the grape spirit, which is strong, cheap and travels.

Churchkhela, nuts threaded on string and dipped in grape must, which keeps for months.

Spice blends, particularly the ones with blue fenugreek and marigold, from a market stall.

Enamel jewellery, a genuine Georgian craft with real workshops behind it.

Georgian fashion labels, which are a serious young industry and sold almost nowhere else.

The design scene

Georgian fashion labels, several internationally known, with studios and shops in the centre.

Concept stores in Vera, Sololaki and around Fabrika.

Ceramics and textiles, from workshops rather than souvenir shops.

Prices well below western Europe for the same standard of work.

Sunday closing applies to a good number of small independent shops.

Strings of churchkhela and dried fruit hanging in a market stall in Tbilisi, Georgia

Practical notes

Cash for market sellers, cards almost everywhere else.

Haggling at tables and stalls, not in shops.

Bags closed and in front in the crowded market aisles.

Bubble wrap is worth asking for at the flea market for anything fragile.

Antiques and anything genuinely old may need an export permit; ask the seller and get a receipt.

Airport duty free is the worst place in the country to buy Georgian wine.

Where this fits in a Tbilisi trip

An hour at the flea market, an hour at the food market, and a wine shop on the last day.

For the districts and how the city fits together, our guide to Tbilisi covers the ground.

For the other thing every visitor remembers from this city, our guide to the sulfur baths covers how to use them.

And for what to pay with, where cash is still needed and how not to lose money changing it, our guide to money in Georgia covers the practicalities.

A bottle of Georgian qvevri red wine on a dark background, Georgia

The short version

Give an hour to the Dry Bridge flea market and an hour to the food market, ideally with somebody who can read the stalls. Buy spices, churchkhela and chacha there. Leave the wine until the last day, buy the producers you actually drank rather than the labels you liked, and have the shop pack them for the hold. Check your own duty allowance before you buy a case. Skip the drinking horns, the airport duty free and the supermarket wine aisle.

The map for this guide

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A market walk with a Georgian is worth more here than anywhere

Most guided food and market walks are a convenience. In Tbilisi one is a genuine unlock, because the interesting markets are almost entirely un labelled: a spice stall has fifteen unmarked blends, the cheese counter has six things that are all called cheese, the pickle jars are a mystery and nobody behind the tables speaks much English. Two hours with somebody who can ask questions for you turns that from a photo opportunity into knowing which spice blend to take home and which cheese to eat tonight. Take it early in the trip rather than at the end, and take the wine tasting version if you plan to buy bottles.

Browse Tbilisi market and food walks

Also worth booking ahead

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Common questions

What should you buy in Georgia?

Wine, above all, because the price difference against export markets is enormous. Then churchkhela, spice blends and dried fruit from a market; enamel jewellery, felt and ceramics; a drinking horn if you must; and something from one of the young Tbilisi fashion labels, which are genuinely good and sold nowhere else.

What is the Dry Bridge market?

An open air flea market near the river where sellers lay out Soviet cameras, watches, medals, porcelain, silverware, books, records and a great deal of ordinary household history on tables and blankets. It runs daily, it is busiest at weekends, and it is one of the most interesting hours you can spend in Tbilisi.

Can you take Georgian wine home on a plane?

Bottles have to go in checked luggage rather than hand baggage, and how much you can bring in without duty depends entirely on where you are flying to, so check your own country's allowance before you buy a case. Wine shops in Tbilisi will wrap and box bottles properly for a hold bag, and several arrange shipping.

Do you haggle in Tbilisi?

At the flea market and with individual sellers at the open markets, politely, and it is expected. In shops, supermarkets and anywhere with a printed price, no. The general rule is that a price written on a label is fixed and a price spoken to you at a table is a starting point.

Where do you buy good Georgian wine in Tbilisi?

Specialist wine shops rather than supermarkets or airport duty free, and the small ones are frequently the best because whoever is behind the counter knows the producers. Ask for qvevri or amber wine, say what you want to spend, and buy two bottles you have tasted rather than six you have not.

Are the markets in Tbilisi safe?

Yes, in the ordinary sense, and they are crowded, which means keeping a bag closed and in front of you in the busiest aisles. The bigger practical caution is the ground underfoot at the open markets, which is uneven, and the fact that many small sellers take cash only.

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