🏞️ Tsivi Tba: The Artificial Lake in Tskaltubo with a Restaurant, Pool and Hotel on Its Shore
What is here besides the water
Tsivi Tba is not a wild lake but a developed spot. Knowing that changes how you plan the visit.
Which leads to a simple conclusion: people come here for half a day, not fifteen minutes. Allow time for lunch by the water, or you will end up ticking a box rather than resting.
Tsivi Tba, the Cold Lake, lies in Tskaltubo, the balneological resort in Imereti seven kilometres from Kutaisi.
The first thing to know: the lake is artificial. It was created on the resort grounds while Tskaltubo was being built up with sanatoriums. In other words it belongs to the same planned composition as the park that surrounds it.
The second: today it is a developed recreation area rather than a natural feature. And people come here for specific things.
The map point and reviews are on the Cold Lake page.
🍽️ The restaurant on the shore
A restaurant serving local food operates on the lakeshore. The tables look out over the water, and that is evidently the main reason people come here for more than a walk.
It is searched for in its own right: 'Tsivi Tba restaurant' has an audience of its own, which is telling for a lake in a small town.
If you are planning lunch, bear the season in mind: summer weekends are busy, while in winter life in Tskaltubo winds down along with the spa season.
🏊 The open-air pool
Next to the lake are the Tsivi Tba pools, a separate site with open-air water.
The logic is straightforward: swimming in the lake itself is not the custom, but people want to cool off in the heat. The pool answers that, and for families with children it is often the main point of the trip.
It operates seasonally, in summer. Discount offers for entry appear on Georgian coupon services, so it is worth checking before you go.
🏨 The hotel on site
On the shore stands the Tsivi Tba hotel, with rooms in several categories, a restaurant serving local and international dishes, and a spa centre.
That changes the scale: not a stop on a walk but somewhere to stay. For anyone coming to Tskaltubo for radon treatments, a base by the water makes sense.
How much time to allow
Four scenarios, depending on what you came for.
🗓️ In winter count on the first two: the pool is seasonal, and Tskaltubo empties noticeably in the cold months.
🌳 How the lake fits into the town
To understand the place you need to understand Tskaltubo itself.
The resort was built to a single plan: in the 1930s the largest municipal park in Georgia was laid out at the centre, with sanatoriums, guesthouses and bathhouses arranged around it in an amphitheatre. The lake belongs to that same composition.
Tskaltubo is known for its thermal radon mineral baths, and that is the primary reason people come. The town has a sanatorium, hotels, a polyclinic and a research institute of allergology, asthma and clinical immunology.
So the lake is not a standalone attraction here but part of the spa environment: somewhere to walk between treatments.
On the town itself, Tskaltubo; on the medical side, the Tskaltubo resort.
The lake is within Tskaltubo, walkable from the central park and the sanatorium quarter.
🚗 Getting there
From Kutaisi, seven kilometres, about twenty minutes. Marshrutkas and taxis run.
From Tbilisi, around three and a half hours: motorway to Kutaisi, then on.
From Batumi, roughly two and a half hours.
If you fly into Kutaisi airport, Tskaltubo turns out to be very close, which suits a short trip.
Within the town everything is walkable: the lake, the park and the sanatoriums stand side by side.
🧭 What else is in Imereti
Tskaltubo is rarely visited on its own, and rightly so: several first-rank sites surround it.
Prometheus Cave, ten kilometres away, the largest developed cave in Georgia, with an underground river.
Sataplia, with dinosaur footprints and a glass viewing platform.
Navenakhevi Cave, the third of the group and the least known.
The abandoned sanatoriums of Tskaltubo, the town's main visual subject and a topic of its own with its own rules for visiting.
Kutaisi, with Gelati and Bagrati Cathedral, seven kilometres away.
And an oddity: Gabzaruli Tba, the 'cracked lake', a siphon lake near the village of Kumistavi in the same municipality. It is sometimes confused with Tsivi Tba, though the two are entirely different.
🗣️ Over to you
Been to Tsivi Tba? Tell us whether the restaurant and pool were open when you visited, how busy it was and whether a table is worth booking. Leave a review on Madloba: there is almost no official information on opening times, and visitors' observations are the most useful thing there is.
Information is current as of August 2026. The restaurant, the pool and the hotel all operate seasonally, so check current conditions before you travel.
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❓Frequently Asked Questions
💬 In the town of Tskaltubo, Imereti region, seven kilometres from Kutaisi. The lake is within the town, walkable from the central park and the sanatorium quarter.
💬 No, it is artificial. It was created on the resort grounds while Tskaltubo was being built up with sanatoriums, and belongs to the same composition as the central park.
💬 Yes, a restaurant serving local food operates on the shore, with a view of the water. Summer weekends are busy, so it is worth checking about a table in advance.
💬 Swimming in the lake itself is not the custom, but the open-air Tsivi Tba pools operate nearby in summer. For families with children they are often the main point of the trip.
💬 Yes, the Tsivi Tba hotel offers rooms in several categories, a restaurant and a spa centre. A convenient option for anyone coming to Tskaltubo for radon treatments.
💬 From half an hour, if you only want to walk the shore and photograph the pier, to half a day with the pool and lunch. With a night at the hotel the lake becomes a base for touring Imereti.
💬 Everything operates in summer, including the pool, though weekends are busy. Spring and autumn are quieter. In winter Tskaltubo empties noticeably along with the spa season.
💬 Seven kilometres, about twenty minutes by marshrutka or taxi. From Tbilisi around three and a half hours, from Batumi about two and a half.
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