The Truth about Solo Female Travel in Georgia

Solo female travel in Georgia is a mixed bag.

There, I said it, and I know I risk riling some people. Georgians are renowned for their hospitality – which is completely true. They are some of the friendliest, most welcoming people I’ve met. And Georgia has a reputation for being incredibly safe and especially kind to solo female travelers. But jerks are jerks everywhere, and they’ve got them in Georgia too.

So, what’s solo female travel in Georgia like?

Overall, travel in Georgia is safe – it’s something that Georgians are very proud of. The country struggled a lot in the 1990s after independence from the Soviet Union, and the stories I’ve heard from friends and students are mind-boggling compared to the very stable, very safe environment I experienced. I was never worried about being the victim of a violent crime, I walked home alone at night without worry, I tended to sling my bag and camera over just one shoulder. The biggest concern I had was pickpockets – not even because I heard any reports of pickpocketing, but just because tourists are frequently targeted by pickpockets.

So with that general blanket statement thrown on, let’s get specific about solo female travel in Georgia. I think there are two big influences on a traveler’s experience – culture and location.

First, I think it’s important to mention the Georgian social mindset. Georgians don’t do anything alone. A friend once told me his buddy called him to invite him to… the doctor’s. So in general, I think the idea of traveling alone is a bit of a puzzle. And I once asked a group of Georgians if it would be ok to do a multi-day hike, stopping at villages for the night, by myself.

“I don’t think so,” they said. “You could get attacked…”

Yikes.

“…by wolves.”

Oh.

Second, Georgians have no problem staring. At girls or guys – one male expat friend told me every time he went jogging in shorts someone would gawk at him. I had women stare at me as well, to the point that I actually started waving. And when I talk to my local friends about it, they seem confused as to why I’m aggravated. It’s not considered rude, so just… be prepared for it.

Lastly, it depends on where you are.

Tbilisi

As the capital and main tourist destination, Tbilisi operates according to most cosmopolitan social rules. An up-and-coming tourist hotspot, Tbilisi tends to treat most foreigners with polite interest. People would usually ask me questions about who I was and what I was doing in Tbilisi, but I was never made to feel out of place in Tbilisi.

I also felt very safe in Tbilisi. There was little to no catcalling. However, Georgian guys are more forward than most other guys I’ve been around. A handful of times I had one walk up to me on the street and talk to me for a few minutes in hopes of getting my number. And they start conversations at bars with enthusiasm. But despite this bravado and surprising amount of attention, I never felt uncomfortable.

Batumi

Batumi is Georgia’s Pearl of the Black Sea, a beach resort area that gets hot and crowded during the summer. I was there too early for that, at the end of May, and I wonder how different my experience would have been if I had visited during peak tourist season.

I did feel uncomfortable as a solo woman in Batumi, and I can’t recommend it without this caveat. The staring is next level here. I even stopped going to the window of my room – on the third floor – because there was usually a man loitering on his own balcony who would laser lock his eyes on me. I couldn’t figure out if men were making kissy noises at me, or if they all just needed a toothpick.

And the one night of good weather we had, I went to the boardwalk and had three men approach me (at different times). I hadn’t been looking at them, smiling, or making any signs of interest – one time I was even walking and texting, so super oblivious to the world – when these guys made their moves. I really just wanted to enjoy the night on my own. After the second guy eventually left, I felt like I had to keep moving or someone might mistake my pause for an invitation. It was exhausting being hyper aware of who was around me or what they were doing, and I was eager to go home.

But the worst thing happened when I was walking home, down a main street. I heard someone shout, so I instinctively turned my head. Two guys in a car across the street were looking in my direction. The guy in the driver’s seat said something else but I had already turned to look ahead again. About three seconds later, I realized that they had started driving – and they were slowly following me. Cars behind them were honking, speeding up to pass them, but they were staying at a pace that kept them slightly behind me. I turned and doubled back, crossing the street to get out of their line of sight – but not before I saw they had pulled over. I waited a few minutes, then peeked around the corner. They were gone.

I don’t know how guys think a woman might be receptive to that kind of creepy, aggressive behavior. Do not shout at me, do not follow me, do not make me feel like you’re about to pounce.

Look – it’s not me or anything that I’m doing that’s attracting this kind of lovely special attention. I’ve never gotten that kind of attention anywhere else in the world, and I didn’t have a Disney princess transformation in Batumi. But maybe the fact that it’s a party city makes people stupid idiots.

Khulo

Khulo is a small town in the mountains of Adjara, and I’m pretty sure everyone knows everyone’s family going back generations. I was anticipating more stares and whispers here than in Batumi, but besides one adorable run-in with some school children, people seemed pretty uninterested in me – until I opened my mouth and the English came out. Then, they were mostly curious and hospitable.

I came to this tiny mountain village to ride Khulo’s cable car, which takes you to one of the most picturesque coffee spots in the country. The owner of the café was delighted to see me, especially the second morning, and plied me not only with coffee but also wine and compot. Solo travel bonuses.

As I was leaving town, I got some stares from the men hanging out in the main square – but to be fair, that’s kind of why you hang out in the square, to take notes on the going-ons of the town. Including the strange out-of-towner with the giant Osprey backpack.

Kutaisi

I arrived in Kutaisi pretty ragged. It wasn’t a particularly difficult journey – 2 hours from Khulo to Batumi, then three from Batumi to Kutaisi – but the bus to Kutaisi had been so uncomfortable I was nearly shaking from leg cramps. I was also dismayed to see we arrived a lot further from the center than I had expected.

Immediately there was a wizened man asking if I wanted a taxi. I said no, but as soon as he heard I spoke English he went off to find a translating friend anyway.

They first proposed 10 lari, which was outrageous, and soon they backed down to 8. Six was probably the fairest, but I wasn’t going to quibble over less than a dollar. The taxi driver pointed out sights along the way, speaking slowly in Russian so I could understand. And when we arrived and he helped me with my backpack, he gave me a firm and delighted handshake.

I may have overpaid a tiny bit, but we both left the transaction happy.

The owner of the hostel was also charming, and I got feeling like maybe Kutaisi would be a chill place. I went for a walk by myself in the evening, a mild night with plenty of young people out.

And then, as I was walking home, I heard someone making noises like you would call a cat. I ignored them, but when they repeated, I turned my head. A group of young guys were across the street, hanging out on a park bench and watching me walk. One of them grinned and waved. I turned away.

Maybe guys just think it’s all in good fun. One friend told me something a Georgian had told her, that before Facebook and smart phones and the Internet, that’s how they met people. Out and on the street. Doing life. Maybe we’re the ones doing it wrong, swiping and sending gifs and commenting on Instagram posts.

But it’s not that I mind people engaging with me on the street. It’s that I hate being treated like a cat.

Other than that, my time in Kutaisi and the surrounding towns was unremarkable in terms of being a solo female traveler, so I’d just chalk that one experience up to teenage guys being dumb. And that happens everything.

Ureki

Ureki is another Georgian resort area, a magnetic black sand beach on the Black Sea. It’s not a party town like Batumi, reminding me more of towns along the Florida Gulf Coast. I was only in Ureki for a night, and the biggest challenge I had was dealing with the incredulity of the hotel owner that I was alone.

“Только один человек?” Just one person? “Нет подруги?” No friend?

Yes, just one person. No, no friend.

But by the end of my stay, I had won him over and he was bragging about my solo adventures to whoever was around.

Telavi

Telavi is in the center of Georgian wine country, a pretty average city that’s made spectacular with its views of the surrounding plains, backed up by the steep Caucasus Mountains. The only issue I had with being a solo female traveler in Telavi was that all the rest of the people staying at my guesthouse were cute couples cooking vegan dinners with vegetables from the market as they planned their epic Tusheti hikes. I got to sit in my room and do freelance work in the evening, with the sturdy company of a glass of wine.

The standout moments of traveling in Telavi were the moments when people helped me out with transport. The men at the bus station (I don’t know who they were – drivers, staff, locals who just like to hang out around buses) were genuinely helpful in letting me know which bus to take and did not comment on me traveling alone at all. And when I almost missed the stop at Alaverdi Monastery, half the bus shouted out to let the driver know I wanted to get off.

This was also the first place where I had to hitchhike in Georgia.

Listen, the state of public transport in Telavi is a whole other topic, but let’s just say this is the one place in Georgia where my Lonely Planet guide did not match the actual schedule. If there was a schedule at all. I took a marshrutka from Telavi to Alaverdi Monastery, a historic site for its architecture and its wine making, and after poking around for about 45 minutes went to the other side of the road to wait for the returning marshrutka.

And I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I waited for two hours. No marshrutkas went by heading towards Telavi. So finally, hungry, with a dead phone, anxious about eventually needing to get home to Tbilisi that night, I decided to do what everyone says is toooootally fine in Georgia.

I stuck out my thumb.

It took another fifteen minutes after that before someone stopped. An older guy, who didn’t speak any English. Through various miming and broken Russian, I figured out that he wasn’t going all the way to Telavi but could take me part of the way, at least, to a more major road. So I got in.

He did end up taking me all the way to Telavi, but only after we stopped at a hillside monastery, where he motioned me inside and gave me some candles to light. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t apprehensive the entire time, but he turned out to be alright in the end, dropping me off in the center of town and refusing the money I offered him.

Would I recommend hitchhiking in Georgia for solo female travelers?

Um, no. But because I wouldn’t really recommend it anywhere. Hitchhiking seems to be not uncommon in Georgia. When I went to Racha with some Georgian friends, we picked up a guy on the way and took him about forty-five minutes down the road. We probably would have stopped for others if our car hadn’t been so full. And I know other travel bloggers who have done it, but they’re usually guys or couples.

Would I still recommend Georgia to solo female travelers?

Absolutely. I know I’ll be back — and hopefully soon! Barring Batumi, I never felt unsafe in Georgia. Still, solo female travelers should take extra precautions and be particularly wary of going anywhere alone with an unknown person.

But mostly it was, at worst, tiring. You do end up sticking out, and it brings a certain amount of (normally totally benign) attention. But I’m also not so sure solo travel is for me anymore, and perhaps that made me feel extra self-conscious. Because I wanted to get some more opinions, I asked around in the travel community to see how others felt about their travels:

“Ever since my first trip to Georgia back in 2011 I fell in love with the country. I keep visiting it frequently, returning to well known places or discovering the new ones and each trip there is a treat. I’m always amazed about how fast the country is changing and how big of an impact the tourism has there. As a solo female traveler I’ve never encountered any problems, whether it was in touristy places like Tbilisi or Batumi or off the path like Chiatura and Tskaltubo. The only difference I’ve seen over the years is that while during my first trips people were really open, friendly and hospitable literally everywhere now it only happens in those less known places, everywhere else they probably just got used to visitors. On the contrary I keep hearing a lot of stories when locals try to take advantage of tourists with numerous scams and that’s pretty disturbing, even though it never happened to me. But no matter what Georgia is one of my favorite countries ever and I will be returning there over and over again, I already have tickets booked for next two trips!”

– Kami of Kami & the Rest of the World

“My first time in Georgia dates back to December 2014 and if my experience of the country as well as its inhabitants was certainly a positive one, my first evening led to an uncomfortable encounter.

I was then staying overnight in Akhaltsikhe with plans of visiting the cave monastery of Vardzia the next day. As the sun had already gone down, I decided to grab a bite in the restaurant downstairs of my hotel. I remember opening the door: the place was empty, except for a group of around 10 men sitting in the back, cigarette smoke going up to the ceiling. It looked like a mafioso movie, but as I considered it my only option, I sat down anyway. It wasn’t long before one of the men came over and started talking to me. The whole thing felt driven by curiosity and friendliness… until I accepted a glass of wine he offered, that is. He then quickly got closer, his gestures became a bit more invasive. Quite uncomfortable/a bit worried, I left as soon as I could, only to hear him knock at my door a few minutes later. Fortunately, or at least it made me feel safer, the hotel owner was nearby, keeping an eye on the rooms. The man claimed he only wished to say goodnight and left. Maybe it was genuine, maybe not, I will never know.

That being said, the rest of my solo travels in Georgia went incident free. Actually, I went back a few weeks ago in July 2018. A beautiful country with welcoming, generous people!”

– Margaux of Passports and Snaps

“Most of the times I travel with my husband, so I always try to go on at least one solo getaway each year. Last November I travelled to Tbilisi for a conference and I spent one extra week there by myself. It’s a great destination and I recommend it to all solo female travellers! The city is full of interesting sights and activities and it’s easy to tour around on foot, and there are great day trip opportunities just a quick marshrutka (minibus) trip away. On top of that, Georgian food (and wine!) is amazing and inexpensive. I had so many excellent meals in Tbilisi that I will be back soon just to eat some more delicious Georgian food. If you end up travelling to Tbilisi solo, one tip I can give is treating yourself to a private hot sulphur bath session in Abanotubani, Tbilisi’s famous baths. One hour in a private booth is only about €20, and it will leave you relaxed and refreshed! “

– Margherita of The Crowded Planet 

Have you ever traveled solo in Georgia? What were your experiences? If you’re on the fence, feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them!