Georgia is one of the most affordable travel destinations in Europe. Tucked along the Caucasus mountains, the country lets you enjoy generous meals, comfortable lodging, and beautiful scenery for roughly a quarter to a third of what you’d spend in Western Europe. But answering the practical question — “how much will I actually spend per day?” — requires accurate, current prices. This guide breaks down every category of spending using real-time exchange rates and locally verified price data, cross-checked against multiple sources, for travelers from backpackers to comfort-seekers.
All prices in this guide are converted using the live rate (1 GEL ≈ 577 KRW ≈ 0.37 USD, as of 2026-06-21). The figures are [VERIFIED] data cross-checked across the Numbeo Tbilisi cost of living index (June 2026), the wander-lush.org Tbilisi public transport guide, and moedani.online metro fare guide (2025). Prices vary by season and location.
Step 1: Currency and Exchange Rate Basics
Georgia’s official currency is the Lari (sign ₾, currency code GEL). One lari divides into 100 tetri. Knowing the exchange rate is the starting point for any budget.
- [VERIFIED] Reference rate: 1 GEL ≈ 577 KRW ≈ 0.37 USD (live API open.er-api.com, 2026-06-21; consistent with the National Bank of Georgia rate of 1 USD ≈ 2.65 GEL).
- Exchanging money: Exchange booths (found everywhere in Tbilisi) generally offer better rates than banks. Compare two or three booths on the main street before changing large sums.
- ATMs: Bank of Georgia (purple) and TBC Bank (blue) machines are the most common. Check your card’s foreign withdrawal fees before you travel.
- Card payments: Visa and Mastercard are accepted at most restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels. Markets and street food stalls usually require cash.
- Metro / city bus: 1 GEL per ride (about ₩577). With cashless payment (transport card or contactless bank card), a 90-minute free transfer window applies. (Source: Numbeo 2026, moedani.online 2025, wander-lush.org cross-verified)
- Metromoney card: 2 GEL (refundable within 30 days with your receipt). Sold at metro ticket offices and Bank of Georgia branches.
- Passes: 1 day 3 GEL / 1 week 20 GEL / 1 month 40 GEL [VERIFIED]. A monthly pass is the best deal for longer stays.
- Cable cars: Narikala line 2.5 GEL one-way, Turtle Lake (Kus Tba) 1 GEL one-way, Mtatsminda funicular/cable car 12 GEL one-way.
- Fare evasion fine: 20 GEL (payable at any bank or paybox terminal).
- Sulfur baths (Abanotubani): Public bath about 50–70 GEL per hour; private room 100–200 GEL (cross-checked against local bathhouse signage and our published bath guide).
- National Museum: Permanent exhibition roughly 10–15 GEL (student discounts available).
- Wine tasting: A full-day Kakheti winery tour runs 80–150 GEL; cellar tastings 20–40 GEL.
- Hiking: Svaneti, Lagodekhi National Park, and most trails have no entrance fee. A local guide costs about 80–150 GEL per day.
- Gudauri skiing: A one-day lift pass runs about 100–160 GEL depending on the season.
- Shop at the markets: Buy fruit, vegetables, cheese, and bread at the Desert Market or the open-air stalls near Dry Bridge — they run 20–40% cheaper than supermarkets.
- Go for the lunch menu: Many restaurants serve a business lunch (12–18 GEL) at roughly half the dinner price.
- Choose family-run guesthouses: They cost less than hotels and often throw in homemade wine and an evening meal.
- Avoid holidays: Prices for lodging spike around Orthodox Easter, wine festivals, and Independence Day (May 26).
- Buy wine from the balcony: Instead of a restaurant glass (7–12 GEL), buy a liter from a shop window (5–10 GEL) and enjoy several glasses for the price of one.
- Use public transport: With a Metromoney card and the 90-minute transfer rule, you can cap a day’s transport at 3 GEL instead of paying for taxis.
- Travel insurance: Essential before you leave. Georgian medical care is affordable, but evacuation after a hiking or skiing injury is expensive. Roughly ₩3,000–5,000 per day.
- SIM card / internet: [VERIFIED] A mobile plan with 10GB+ costs about 33.87 GEL per month (≈ ₩19,500). Magti and Silknet sell tourist prepaid packages (5–10 GEL for 7 days).
- Tipping: Not mandatory at restaurants, but 5–10% is customary. No tip is expected for taxis.
- Public toilets: Some facilities at tourist sites charge 0.5–1 GEL. Keep some coins handy.
- Exchange fees: Airport rates are 5–10% worse than downtown. Use city exchange booths.
- Convert your full budget using 1 GEL ≈ 577 KRW and simulate the total
- Decide your travel style (backpacker / mid-range / comfort) and multiply the daily budget by your number of days
- If traveling in peak season (July–August), raise lodging costs by 30–50%
- Carry 100–200 GEL in small notes as an emergency cash reserve (about ₩60k–115k)
- Buy travel insurance and confirm your credit card’s overseas spending limit
Step 2: Food Costs — Eating Well for Less
Food is both the great pleasure and the great savings opportunity of a Georgia trip. The cuisine is filling and inexpensive. Below are the average restaurant prices verified via Numbeo (June 2026).
| Item | Avg Price (GEL) | In KRW | In USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inexpensive restaurant meal | 28 (20–50) | ≈ ₩16,100 | ≈ $10.5 |
| Mid-range meal for two (3 courses) | 100 (80–150) | ≈ ₩57,700 | ≈ $37.5 |
| McDonald’s combo | 25 | ≈ ₩14,400 | ≈ $9.4 |
| Domestic draft beer (1 pint) | 7 (5–12) | ≈ ₩4,000 | ≈ $2.6 |
| Cappuccino | 8.96 | ≈ ₩5,170 | ≈ $3.4 |
| Wine bottle (mid-range) | 20 | ≈ ₩11,500 | ≈ $7.5 |
Local restaurant tips: A single khinkali (the famous Georgian soup dumpling) typically costs around 1.5–2 GEL (roughly ₩900–1,200). Five to seven pieces make a filling meal, so a khinkali dinner runs about 10–15 GEL (₩5,800–8,700). Khachapuri (cheese bread) ranges from 8–20 GEL depending on the variety. Many restaurants offer a set lunch menu for 12–18 GEL that includes soup, a main, and a drink.
The key to saving — use the supermarket: Shopping at large stores (Goodwill, Carrefour, Agrohub) or neighborhood grocers can cut your food costs in half. [VERIFIED] Grocery prices: white bread 1 lb 1.72 GEL, eggs (12) 7.22 GEL, milk 1 L 5.57 GEL, local cheese 1 lb 11.02 GEL, chicken fillet 1 lb 8.13 GEL, bottled water 50 oz 1.97 GEL. Balcony wine (homemade wine sold by the liter from shop windows) goes for 5–10 GEL per liter — a paradise for wine lovers on a budget.
Step 3: Accommodation — Where to Sleep
Lodging is the largest single item in most travel budgets. Georgia offers options across every price range.
| Accommodation type | Per night (USD) | Per night (GEL) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostel dorm bed | $4–8 | 11–21 | Hostelworld 2026 lists the cheapest from $4; social hostels stay inexpensive |
| Guesthouse private room | $15–30 | 40–80 | Family-run, breakfast often included |
| Mid-range / boutique hotel | $40–80 | 107–213 | Old Town location, AC and Wi-Fi standard |
| Luxury hotel | $120–300+ | 320–800+ | Caucasus views, spa, shuttle service |
Booking tips: Prices climb 30–50% during peak season (July–August) and around public holidays. Late autumn (October–November) and late spring (April–May) offer the best value. Airbnb is usually $5–10 per night cheaper than Booking.com, and stays of a week or longer unlock weekly discounts of 15–30%. In rural areas (Kazbegi, Svaneti, Kakheti), guesthouses with three meals included run about $25–40 per night — remarkable value.
Step 4: Transportation — Getting Around Cheaply
Public transport in Georgia is astonishingly affordable. Moving around Tbilisi is nearly free, and intercity travel is easy on the wallet too.
Getting around Tbilisi [VERIFIED]
City taxis
The Bolt app is the most popular and transparent option. [VERIFIED] An average in-city ride costs 5–10 GEL (about ₩2,900–5,800). For non-metered taxis, always agree on a price before getting in. From the airport to the center, expect Bolt at 18–25 GEL or a regular taxi at 25–35 GEL. The airport bus (route 370) costs 1 GEL, but with heavy luggage Bolt is more convenient.
Intercity travel [VERIFIED]
| Route | Marshrutka | Train | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi → Batumi | 30–35 GEL | 20–25 GEL (overnight) | 5–6 hours |
| Tbilisi → Kutaisi | 15–20 GEL | 8 GEL | ~3 hours |
| Tbilisi → Kazbegi | 10–15 GEL | — | ~3 hours |
| Tbilisi → Borjomi | 10 GEL | — | ~2.5 hours |
Marshrutkas (minibuses) depart from the Didube or Ortachala terminals. They don’t run on fixed schedules — they leave when full — so arrive in the morning for the best connections. Train tickets can be booked at railway.ge.
Step 5: Sightseeing and Activity Costs
Many of Georgia’s top attractions are free or inexpensive. Most Georgian Orthodox cathedrals and churches have free entry (modest dress is recommended), and wandering the Old Town, taking in the Narikala Fortress views, and browsing the Dry Bridge market cost nothing.
Daily Budget by Travel Style
Combining all the categories above, here are realistic per-day budgets for three travel styles. Each figure covers lodging, food, transport, activities, and incidentals.
| Style | Per day (GEL) | Per day (USD) | Per day (KRW) | Composition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | 50–80 | $19–30 | ≈ ₩29k–46k | Hostel dorm + self-catering from markets + public transport + one cheap restaurant meal + free sights |
| Mid-range | 120–200 | $45–75 | ≈ ₩69k–115k | Guesthouse private room + 2–3 restaurant meals + Bolt + 1–2 paid activities + beer/wine |
| Comfort | 300–500 | $112–187 | ≈ ₩173k–288k | Mid-range hotel + mid-range restaurants + private taxi/tours + wine tasting + spa |
For context, [VERIFIED] the average monthly cost of living for a single person in Tbilisi (excluding rent) is 1,720 GEL (about $649) according to Numbeo. In other words, you can live in Georgia for a full month on less than half of a typical monthly budget in Korea.
Money-Saving Tips
Hidden Costs — Plan for These
These items are easy to overlook when building a budget.
Wrap-Up — Your Budget Planning Checklist
With a little planning, Georgia delivers twice the experience for half the budget of a typical European trip. Run through this checklist before you fly.
Every figure in this guide was cross-checked against live data on the publish date, but exchange rates and prices do move. Re-check the rate a few days before departure and build a 10–15% cushion into your budget to be safe. For more detail, consult the wander-lush Tbilisi transport guide and the latest figures on Numbeo Tbilisi. We hope this helps you plan a smooth, well-budgeted trip — and feel free to explore the other guides on this blog for more travel tips and local recommendations.
Sources: Numbeo Cost of Living in Tbilisi (June 2026); moedani.online metro fare guide (2025); wander-lush.org Tbilisi public transport guide; Hostelworld Tbilisi hostels (2026); gurcistan.ge transportation guide (2026); open.er-api.com live exchange rate (2026-06-21); National Bank of Georgia (NBG) exchange rate.
