What Is It Like Living in Tbilisi, Georgia as a Digital Nomad Family
Last Updated on September 11, 2026
We moved our family from Spain to Tbilisi a month ago, and this post covers exactly why we picked Georgia — plus the honest bits about living in Tbilisi.
If you’re new around here: my husband and I have been working remotely and living abroad, changing countries every few years with our daughter since she was 2 years old. I’m a travel writer, he’s a software engineer, and we’ve lived in Spain, the Netherlands, Mexico and most recently South Africa. Our daughter Kaleya is 11 now, and she’s been worldschooled for nine of those years, traveling to over 60 countries with us.
Travel had shaped her into the adventurous and adaptable little girl that she is today, and we want to keep this lifestyle going for as long as she’s happy. When our year in Cape Town wrapped up in May, we spent this summer in Spain having the same conversation we have every couple of years: right, where next? We narrowed our choices to Montenegro, Thailand, Japan, and Georgia.
Georgia stood out amongst the others for various reasons. I’ve traveled Georgia before and absolutely loved it, and I knew we would have a good time here. In nomad forums and conversations with other travelling families, Tbilisi also kept popping up and it sounded like more digital nomads are staying here than ever. By August we were on a plane here and now a month later we’re settled in our new apartment, with our kid in a new school, a dog who’s adjusting, and an alphabet none of us can read yet.
Why We Moved to Georgia
I’ve had more questions about this move than any other we’ve made. My own mother had to look up where Georgia was. So here’s the full answer — why we chose Tbilisi, what it costs, and how life looks here.
A New Adventure
We’ve lived in Europe for a long time, so we weren’t that interested in moving to a city in Western Europe that we’re familiar with. Georgia is different from the Europe we’re familiar with and unique in many ways.
Travel Insurance for Frequent Travelers
I’ve been using Safety Wing for years now, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made as a frequent traveler. Their Nomad Insurance plan is affordable and provides solid coverage for medical emergencies regardless of where I’m traveling. It’s been super reliable for me, and I think you’ll find it just as helpful on your adventures!
The language isn’t related to anything — it’s a genuine isolate, with no connection to any other language family anywhere. The alphabet is its own alphabet, all loops and curls, and until you learn it you can’t read a single shop sign. Sitting between Europe and Asia, the country is truly a Caucasian nation with its own cultural identity.
I’m starting Georgian classes next week and I cannot wait for the challenge. Kaleya is also learning it in school and she’s excited to share with us all the new Georgian words she’s learning.
Easy Access to the Mountains
After a year in Cape Town with Table Mountain basically at our back door, we knew we couldn’t go back to a city without nature surrounding it. I’d actually been to Georgia once, about 10 years ago, and honestly my favorite thing about the country is the snow-capped mountains.
Tbilisi delivers on this in a way I didn’t expect. The city is green, it’s built into hills, and you can be on a funicular or cable car looking down over the whole thing about twenty minutes after leaving your front door. The Greater Caucasus — proper mountains, glaciers, the works — is a few hours’ drive away. We are heading to the Kazbegi mountains this weekend and we cannot wait!
The Visa Policy is Generous
Georgia lets citizens of around 98 countries stay for a full year without a visa. That makes it so much easier for us. In every place we’ve lived, we usually have had to apply for digital nomad or temporary residency visas, which can be a pain. Here we get the same 365 days, no application, no fee, nothing to organise before flying. If you’ve ever tried to relocate a family, you’ll know what a relief that is.
One important caveat: this is a tourist allowance, not residency. The year resets when you leave and come back, and many people I know who’ve stayed here long-term just do a border run to Armenia or Turkey and start again. Georgia has been tightening up on overstays with bigger fines and entry bans, so if we stay beyond a year we’ll look into a proper residence permit rather than relying on border hops forever.
The 1% Tax Setup
This is the thing every article about Georgia leads with, and it’s usually oversimplified — including in my own Instagram caption, so let me be more careful here.
Georgia has a Small Business Status for people registered as Individual Entrepreneurs. It’s 1% on turnover up to 500,000 GEL a year (about US$185,000), then 3% on anything above that, and if you go over two years running you lose the status altogether. It’s a real registration with real obligations — monthly filings — and certain professions are excluded from it entirely.
Whether it fits your situation depends enormously on what you do and how you’re paid. Mine as a freelance writer and Alberto’s as an employed software engineer are two completely different cases. We’re not tax advisers and this isn’t tax advice — we recommend talking to Expat Hub, who helped us with our IE application.
Great International Schools
We have tried homeschooling, and it genuinely worked — with online classes for 3-4 hours a day, afternoons free for fun activities like rock climbing, robotics and mountain biking. Kaleya has also tried a mix of schools: from small Montessori schools to green schools. But Kaleya is 11 now, and we feel it’s time to enrol her in a fully accredited international school that challenges her.
So she’s back in a physical classroom at an international school here, and so far it’s going really well. There are kids from a dozen different countries in her year, the place runs like clockwork, and the facilities honestly surprised me. She came home after her first week with the names of four new friends and so much excitement! Watching her settle in has reassured me about this move more than anything else.
Tbilisi has genuine choices here, which matters — there are British, American, German, French and Georgian-international options, but fees are that much cheaper than in Western Europe. Most schools I looked at fall somewhere between 10,500 and 50,000 GEL a year (roughly US$3,800–20,000). These are the schools we narrowed down to:
- British International School of Tbilisi (our choice!)
- New School Georgia
- European School of Tbilisi
- QSI International School of Tbilisi
What We Actually Spend Here
The cost of living in Tbilisi is generally lower than in Western Europe — but rent has climbed a lot in the last few years, due to COVID and the Russia-Ukraine war. Honestly, we spend the same here as we do at home in Spain, but we do have a fuller life here. We eat out in restaurants more often, book experiences, go to cafes and take ride-sharing taxis without worrying too much about how much we’re spending.
Some rough numbers (US$1 is about 2.7 GEL):
- Rent – Furnished two-bedrooms in the central areas like Vake, Vera and Saburtaloi generally run from around US$800–1,800 a month. We’re in the Lisi area, right by our daughter’s school, and we pay $2,200 a month for a big 3-bedroom apartment (we need the space as we work from home).*
- Coffee – 5 GEL (US$2) for an espresso at a corner cafe, 12–15 GEL (US$4.50–5.50) for a matcha latte or flat white at a hip modern joint. Tbilisi’s coffee scene is much better than I expected.
- Eating out – A casual Georgian meal is around 15-30 GEL (US$5.50–10.50) per person. International food is more expensive, but you can still easily order sushi or Thai food on Wolt for less than 20 GEL ($7.50) per person. We eat out more often here and the variety of options is impressive.
- Taxis – A Bolt across town is 8–15 GEL (US$3–6).
- Internet – US$10–40 a month for fast fibre and $10 for internet data on our phones. Internet connection has been rock solid so far. Check out Airalo’s eSIMs for Georgia here.
- Utilities – Roughly US$40–80 a month, though I’m told winter heating pushes that up.
*Note that monthly Airbnb rates run 20–30% above what the same flat costs on a proper lease, so it’s worth switching over as soon as you can.
Everything Here is Digital
This is the thing that has surprised me most: Georgia has digitalized a huge amount of ordinary life. Apple Pay works practically everywhere — the bakery, the taxi, the tiny fruit shop on our corner — and I’ve barely used cash since we arrived. There’s an app for everything else too: ordering groceries, booking a cleaner, paying utility bills, getting a ride across town. Errands that would have swallowed an entire morning in Mexico or South Africa take about four minutes on my phone here.
Buying a car is ridiculously easy – we found ours through a fixer, went to the car registration centre in Rustavi and within 10 minutes, we had our new plate and car ownership. Opening a bank account as a foreigner is refreshingly simple as well. No residence permit needed, no months of documents — you turn up with your passport and come out with an account. After what we went through setting up banking in previous countries, it felt almost too easy.
The fiddlier part is moving money between countries. We earn money in USD and Euros, but we pay rent in Georgian Lari, and I send money to my family in Singaporean dollars — so we’re going to open a Georgian account and work out which transfers are actually cheap. If you’re US-based, it’s worth checking how your bank handles this before you move; SoFi, for example, sets out its transfer options and fees plainly.
A Community That’s Already Building
We’re only a month in and we’ve already connected with quite a few people. Tbilisi has a big and growing international community — remote workers, families, people who came for a month and stayed for years — which makes the first weeks far less lonely than arriving somewhere with no scene at all.
We’re really keen to connect with more international families, people with kids Kaleya’s age who’ve also picked up their whole life and moved here. We’ve found people through Facebook groups and the school so far, and I’ll report back properly once we’ve been here longer.
Georgian Food is Amazing
Georgian food is winning us over completely. Khachapuri is a boat of bread filled with molten cheese and an egg yolk you stir in at the table. Khinkali are soup dumplings you eat with your hands and zero dignity. Ojakhuri is exactly what you want after a day in the hills. We’re having a blast trying out local dishes here. What’s impressive is Tbilisi’s array of international food — you can actually find pretty authentic Chinese, Japanese and Thai food here.
We Can Still Get to Our Families
Tbilisi sits at a useful crossroads: getting to Spain for Alberto’s parents is straightforward, Singapore is manageable, and Armenia, Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East are all within easy reach. That’s a whole region we can explore, and having it on our doorstep for a year is a big part of the appeal. We already have plans to travel the ‘Stans soon and visit family during the Christmas holidays!
The Honest Concerns
Of course, nowhere is perfect. We had our concerns about certain things in Georgia too.
- Russia and the politics. Georgia shares a border with Russia and has two unresolved breakaway regions, and there have been significant political protests here.We did weigh it up seriously before committing, but so far we haven’t seen or heard any major protests here. We can see that there are many Russians and Ukrainians living here, but everyone seems civil and respectful.
- Winter. It’s coming, and Tbilisi’s winter has a reputation I’m told is deserved. One of the things that made Georgia so attractive to Kaleya is the snow – apparently Georgia offers some of the cheapest skiing in Europe and there are some beautiful ski slopes here. We’re excited about going skiing this winter, but I’m still worried about grey, gloomy weather. Ask me again in January.
- Leaving people behind. This is the part that never gets easier. We all left good friends in South Africa and Mexico, and we still message them at odd hours because of the time difference. No amount of khinkali fixes that, and it’s the honest cost of this life.
Nine years in, we’ve stopped waiting for a move to feel completely safe, because not one of them ever has.
Was It the Right Call?
Ask me in a year, which is usually when I find out whether a place has actually become home or was just somewhere we lived for a while.
But a month in: Kaleya walked into a classroom full of strangers and came out grinning, the mountains are twenty minutes up a cable car, and we can stay a full year without filling in a single form. That feels like a good start.
If you’re considering Georgia and have questions, drop them in the comments or send me a message — I’m answering a lot of these at the moment anyway, and I’d rather answer them properly here.
In the meantime, here are a few other posts that might help you figure out your own move:
- How We Keep Our Child Safe While Traveling
- My Ultimate List of Resources for Digital Nomad Families
- How We Find the Right eSIM for Travel
- How We Navigate the World as a Digital Nomad Family
- 30 Countries with Digital Nomad Visas
- 20 Best Travel Apps
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links i.e. if you book a stay through one of my links, I get a small commission at NO EXTRA COST to you. Thank you for your support!
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