Tbilisi

I've lived in Tbilisi for one month. In short: the foundations are here for a great and low cost place to work. But the city lacks liveability (parks, healthy food, noisy, polluted).

The pro's: It is easy to get a visa, has a growing expat community, easy to arrange mobile plan, gym, housing, etc and its all super cheap. Its perfect for bootstrapping and costwise even on par with Chiang Mai. Its also easy to take trips to the mountains and Armenia and taxi's itself are incredibly cheap. The city has a growing number of gems to eat, shop and drink.

Even though all the pro's above I personally wouldn't return. Besides expats it was difficult to make connections. The locals can be rude at times and love being dramatic and driving illogically big SUV's. The city was noisy, dirty and it was difficult finding places to run or relax since parks are non-existent and streets are in bad shape. Cheese, meat and wine sounds great at first but it gets boring real fast and it was difficult to eat healthy.

I've lived in Tbilisi for three months. I started in Kutaisi (fly cheaply to Kutaisi with WizzAir) for a few days before hiking through the Svaneti region for four days. Highly recommend getting to the Caucasus!

If you're looking to bootstrap while you retrain yourself or start your online business, then Tbilisi is a great option. I've spent less in Tbilisi than I did in Chiang Mai. They speak better English than what some may suggest. I've gotten the wrong order a few times, but other than that, I have not had a problem with communicating. Internet is copious. I recommend Hurma and Althaus Tea Room for a couple great cafes to work from.

I found Georgians to be rather unfriendly, and it was difficult to make any local friends. Tbilisi is the worst city for gay life that I have ever been to, so if you're LGBT then don't expect much. On the other hand, Tbilisi is exceptionally safe. I walked home alone from the bar at 3 AM on several occasions and never felt any unease. Ohh, and the drivers in Tbilisi are aggressive, and the cars approach pedestrians too closely. Lastly, Georgian ATMs do not charge a fee and the exchange rates are at market rate. So with my Schwab account, I was able to pull money out completely free. Good and bad as with any city, but I will definitely return to Tbilisi, especially with the 1 year tourist visa and Ryan Air's new routes in Tbilisi.

Lived here for 3 months. Fantastic. Special mentions to Rooms Hotel for the best late-night coding and coffee lounge, Urban Garden for best reasonably-priced gym, Restaurant Tiflis (by the bridge), Duqani, Shatre, and Machahkela resturant chain for inexpensive but great food, and Skola Coffee + Book Corner Cafe (opposite Restaurant Tiflis) for best daytime cafes you can work at. Best ice cream (by FAR): The Cone Culture.

Georgians are very friendly and hospitable. It's also the first ex-Soviet country to legalise 🍁, if you're that way inclined (you'll find Georgians willing to share nearly everywhere.)

However it's an Eastern European country and still poor, you gotta be careful.

I recommend you open a local bank account with TBC Bank (very easy process) and then use Transferwise to exchange into GEL.

(connect with me: scaur.nz)