Chiatura: the Soviet cable cars are gone, the cable cars are not

The old cars that made Chiatura famous are described as closed in recent reviews. An October 2025 review refers to four modern lines that replaced them around 2021, and an April 2025 review mentions one restored vintage line in service. Older reviews from 2018 to 2021 describe closures, outages and only one or two lines running at a time, so the record is of a network that works in pieces. The listing shows 24-hour opening, which reviewers contradict, describing maintenance stops and midday breaks. Confirm the day's status before making the drive.

The praise is for the setting: the views, the industrial Soviet-era backdrop, the mosaics, the abandoned buildings, and locals described as curious and friendly. The disappointment is narrower and specific. Some reviewers say the experience is simply less striking now that the old cars have gone. Others note that there is little at the top beyond mines and apartment blocks, that English-language information is hard to find, and — of the old cabins, where encountered — that the mesh windows are dirty enough to block the view and there is no visible safety mechanism.

Chiatura sits in Imereti, reachable from Kutaisi; one reviewer describes roughly ninety minutes by taxi over poor roads, and the listing shows day trips from both Kutaisi and Tbilisi priced from about 23 to 267 dollars. Most organised trips pair the cableways with the Katskhi Pillar, the church on a limestone monolith about half an hour away. For a visitor already coming to Kutaisi — which the train reaches from Tbilisi via the airport station — the two together make a plausible full day without needing a second overnight.