Mtatsminda Park

About Mtatsminda Park

Mtastminda Park, or also known as Bombora Park is a place above Tbilisi, on a hill. Bombora is one of the characters of Georgian cartoons. Well, I remember this cartoon, where Bombora is at school, he's in the first grade and is taught by a nice girl or lady and she wants him to repeat after her: "Ai ia", which means something like: this is a violet, and he suddenly rushes out the classroom. And then, some time later he returns with violets in his hands and says: "Ai ia".

Mtatsminda Park is a place where you can hang out with your friends, family or, even just by yourself. You can see whole Tbilisi from above there. There are drop down ball, horror house, small carousels, small cars to drive, falling into the water with boats, shooting games...

There's a small train going around the park and you can just sit there and watch everybody else from the train, children love it. In addition, you can get your portrait painted by artists, who sit there and wait for people to all then to paint them, or draw _ whatever they like.

There is a fancy restaurant in the park looking down on Tbilisi. Of course, it is not cheap (why would it be, when it is in such an amazing place with a picturesque view of the capital of Georgia?! ), but it is affordable and it's worth every penny, if you ask me. To elaborate, nowadays people spend so much money on food, that they don't realise that, basically, it is almost the same eating in a restaurant or at home or some other place. Well, it's not a statement or a fact or anything, I'm just assuming, but for some people that is very true.

Mtatsminda Park is on a 770 metres MSL and it’s the highest place of Tbilisi. Its history is over 100 years and it covers more than 100 hectares. Park is divided into 3 zones: extreme, for children and for families. Besides attractions, there are restaurants, cafes, shops, relaxation zones, celebration center and a wedding palace.

The park itself is a member of IAAPA. The technical personnel of the park provides technical safety of the park’s attractions and checks their conditions and annually they check their conditions and match them with the modern standards of safety.

How to get there?

There are 7, 5 kilometers from the center of Tbilisi to Mtatsminda Park. It takes about 12-15 minutes by car and about 15-20 minutes by the yellow bus. There are two buses that go to the park: bus No. 124 and No. 90.

So, this 124 bus usually stands on the Rustaveli avenue, in front of the exhibition, so when you go to your right from the Rustaveli metro and you see the Mcdonald’s and then you cross the zebra there you will see a bus stopped there and that is bus No. 124 and there’s written “Mtatsminda Park” on it. And another bus _ bus No. 90 goes from Orbeliani Square.

The shortest way to go from the center of Tbilisi to Mtatsminda Park is the funicular and a cable car. This funicular railway is a great thing and you can get to Mtatsminda Park in just some minutes. The station is on Chonkadze Street and the cost for a return journey is 2 Laris.

The Tiflis Funicular railway was constructed in the 20-th century and it was opened on 27-th of March in 1905. The cabin could take up to 50 people and it took 6 minutes to get to the Mtatsminda plateau. Vaso Kvavilashvili, the first locomotive-driver of the Funicular recalls: “At first people feared that the rope might break and they did not want to climb into the carriage. People were brought in coaches, were paid money, and were urged not to be afraid and to get into the carriage. Later, when people got used to the railroad, there was a long line for tickets. ”

Getting inside

The entrance in Mtatsminda Park is free. You can buy a plastic card in the entrance and then you will use that card to top it up with money and use it on different attractions and for the funicular cab. The plastic card costs 2 Laris and then you can top it up with as much money as you want. Well, one attraction costs at least 1 Lari, I guess, so, keep that in mind!

Attractions

There are many attractions for different ages of people.

There are family attractions:

• “Wood-land”, this is a great place for the kids. There are seesaws, wooden huts, a large ship, hammoks, different colourful wooden toys, etc.
• “Happy Train”, this is a family train, where you can sit with your children or whoever and just enjoy the ride. Usually, you will see the train stopped in the center of the park, and it goes round the park. It can take up to 40 people and it takes 10 minutes to go around the whole park.
• “Tirs”, now, Tirs are great pleasure if you love winning games and you love this shooting and stuff. There are 14 types of Tirs and you can win prizes and enjoy the process.
• “Video Games”, who doesn’t love video games? So, here they are _ in Mtatsminda Park. You didn’t think there wouldn’t be any, did you? You can play bowling, pool, basketball, table hokey, as well as “Super Bike”, “After Burner”, “Let’s Go Jungle” and many others!
• “Big Cars”, there are 10 cars moving around at the same time on the floor and each car can take up to 2 people. You have to be at least 8 years old to drive the car and you should be at least 120 centimetres tall. I love these cars and I love driving them. But I hate it when people try to hit my car with theirs, it’s really annoying!
• “Dancing Tree”, I’ve always loved this kind of dancing trees. This is a great attraction to everybody, I guess. Its height is 9 metres and the “branches” go as far as 12, 5 metres from its axis. This tree goes round and round and it does 14 circles in one minute. The minimum age is 8 years and the minimum height is 120 centimetres.
• “Dinosaurs”, this is something children love _ to see the dinosaurs! And, perhaps even you can’t turn down the offer to go back to the history and see those ancient dinosaurs, that would be a great family adventure!
• “Giant Wheel”, this is the tallest attraction in Mtatsminda Park. Its height is 65 metres, there are 44 cabins and each of them can carry up to 6 people. The Giant Wheel takes 10-12 minutes for a whole circle and it serves about 1, 000 people in one hour. With it you can see the whole city of Tbilisi. It’s a great attraction if you ask me, but if you don’t like heights, just don’t get on it. Once I remember me and my friends went there and it was very windy and they were about to close the attraction because of the wind and we had a chance to hop on it, till they closed it, and it was crazy! The wind just moved the cabin and the adrenaline rushed through the blood vessels, and it was really cool.
• “Quadracycle”, this is a very cool ride and people love it

There are extreme attractions:

• “Log Rafting”, this is a cool attraction with lots of water. It’s very good in a sunny and hot weather, in summer, in fact. It’s the fastest way to cool down in that hotness. It has two heights, from where the logs get into the water, the first one is 6 metres high and the second is 12 metres high. In the log there can be sat up to 3 people
• “Ghost Castle”, this thing is loved by everybody, I think, despite the fact that they get pretty scared sometimes. The castle has three stores, and there are cabins and each cabin can take up to 4 people. There are several horror scenes in the castle. There you can see giant monster, a death man, you will even see some chopped heads and stuff like that, so be prepared not to get all scared and stuff.
• “American Mounts”, well, American Mounts are the world’s popular attractions. This one is 25 metres high and it’s pretty awesome, I can say. It can take up to 24 people and one round takes just 1. 20 seconds!
• “X Bicycle”, you can feel yourself flying. You can regulate it yourself! It can take up to 4 people and if they are willing, they can ride it themselves.
• “Octopus” this is one of the most popular attractions in Mtatsminda Park. It does 8 rounds around its axis in 1 minute and moves clockwise and counter-clockwise both, as well as vertically.

Dining at Mtatsminda Park

There are several places where you can dine with your friends and family:

• “Carousel” _ this is a café located in the children’s zone in Mtatsminda Park and it’s like a children’s world there. They can relax there with their parents and eat snacks and stuff like that. There is some delicious food, fruit juices and a happy atmosphere.
• “Georgian Yard” _ this place offers you traditional Georgian dishes and unique Georgian wines. It also has a distinguished ethnographic interior and you will find yourself surrounded by picturesque Tbilisi scenery. There is also a fireplace!
• “Mtatsminda” _ this is a restaurant in the entrance of Mtatsminda Park. There is a warm environment, lovely interior with finest dishes, the best menu for the lovers of either Georgian or European cuisine, delicious desserts and cocktails, hot beverages, different juices, wine, etc. This is a place where you can plan your celebration days, business meetings, corporate evenings or just visit it with your family or friends, enjoy your time our and just relax. There are beautiful views from up there of the city of Tbilisi that just amazes every visitor.
• “Samtsvade” _ in an open space, in those fur-trees, you will find “Samtsvade”. There is a Georgian Tone and a variety of unique beverages. Here you can see with your own eyes how Mtsvadi is prepared, you can taste Georgian Khachapuri on a grill on a skewer and you can also see how bread is roasted in a Tone!
• “Orangery” _ here is an extraordinary interior with a healthy environment and delicious dishes. You can taste legendary and aromatic Laghidze Waters, choose between different types of Khachapuri, listen to some good music. And here is a free Wi-Fi hotspot!

Just near the Funicular station there is a souvenir shop, where you will find different souvenirs of Georgia. There are traditional things, such as handmade toys, things made from thick felt which are really beautiful, wonderfully ornamented knittings and Georgian ceramics. So, if you want to get something from Georgia, you should definitely visit this souvenir shop!

Now, if you are eager to celebrate your child’s birthday there in Mtatsminda Park, you will find a great birthday center there. There are special packages from 15, 20 and 25 Laris. Those include the funicular, DJ animator, birthday menu, radio congratulation, video games, attractions, etc. You can choose from some additional menus and programmes, too.

Another great place there in Mtatsminda Park is the Wedding Palace! This is a beautiful building full of flowers and all those windows around it. This is a dream come true for a wedding couple. And many couples just love to go there in Mtatsminda Park for their wedding ceremony. There is even a violinist playing for them, and the rose leaves falling from above! There are different packages here also. There are 150, 250, 500 and 1, 250 Laris’ packages.

1, 250 Laris’ package:

• 4 bottles of champagne
• 2 waiter service
• 2 pack of Rafaelo
• Flowers
• Childrens’ service
• Live music
• Stylist’s service
• Seeing off by a train

There are also other things you may like. For example, there are those binoculars like that in “Home Alone 2” when Kevin is looking at the city sights. I’ve always wanted to look through something like that and now that they have those ones in Mtatsminda Park, I was really glad to hear that and I went there just to look into that binoculars and see the city of Tbilisi from up above there.

There is also this open stage, where some concerts are held and stuff like that.

Oh, and, I almost forgot, (how could I forget that?! ) the TV station! Or Georgia Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower. It’s a huge structure that was built in 1972. The tower is 274, 5 metres (901 ft) high on a mountain at 719, 2 metres (2, 360 ft) above sea level. It’s kind of a symbol of Tbilisi and you can mostly find Tbilisi pictures with the Tower on them.