Gulo's Thermal Spa

Gulo's Thermal Spa in Tbilisi's Abanotubani district is one of the sulfurous bathhouses in Georgia's capital that preserves the ancient bathing tradition for which the city was founded and named. Tbilisi's thermal springs, flowing from geological fissures in the valley of the Mtkvari (Kura) River at naturally warm temperatures, have supported a continuously operating bath culture since at least the fifth century CE and were celebrated by medieval Arab and Persian travellers as among the finest in the Islamic world. Gulo's private sulfurous bathing rooms, in the domed brick bathhouse tradition of Abanotubani, offer visitors an intimate experience of the Georgian bath culture that is inseparable from the city's historical identity and remains a living social institution rather than merely a tourist attraction.