Friday, 6 November 2026Europe · Caucasus · Central Asia

Tbilisi’s New Riverfront

Two prime ministers opened a $68 million five-star hotel on the Kura. It is the clearest sign yet of Azerbaijani capital shaping Georgia’s luxury map.

Old Tbilisi and the Kura river from above
Old Tbilisi and the Kura river.Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor / Wikimedia Commons

The five-star ART Riverfront Hotel opened in Tbilisi on 30 October, with Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov and Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze attending the ceremony. Georgia’s economy ministry described it as a $68 million project.

The hotel is an investment by Azerbaijan’s PASHA Group, whose holding company had said in September that the property and an accompanying A-class business centre would open within weeks.

30 Octopening date
$68mreported project cost
5★category

“A place to stay longer than a weekend.”ÉPURE

Tbilisi’s top end has been filling in quickly. The Telegraph Hotel on Rustaveli Avenue became the first property in Georgia admitted to The Leading Hotels of the World, and a Le Méridien is planned for the Chugureti district under PASHA’s new agreement with Marriott.

For travellers, the city is becoming what its architecture always suggested: a place to stay longer than a weekend.

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