Chiatura's cable cars cost 50 tetri, and one of them is free

Four lines run from the Central Cable Car Station — Sanatorium, Mukhadze, Lezhubani and Naguti — at 50 tetri one way, free for children under six, paid by tapping a MetroMoney card or a bank card, daily from 8am to 10pm. Separately, the Sashevardno line to Upper Rgani, a 1966 cableway restored and reopened in late 2024, is free, runs on demand from 10am to 6pm and departs near City Hall. A further line, Chiatura-Perevisa, was under restoration with a relaunch scheduled for 2026, so it is worth checking whether it has opened before building a route around it.

From Kutaisi, marshrutkas leave the Central Bus Station roughly hourly between 8am and 4pm, cost about ₾10 and take around two hours; a once-daily train from Kutaisi I leaves about 5:50am and takes three and a half hours, and it does not run in winter. From Tbilisi, vans go hourly from Didube between 7am and 7pm for about ₾20, taking two and a half to three and a half hours. Private transfers through GoTrip start around ₾130 a car from Kutaisi and ₾220 from Tbilisi, which for two or three people is often the sensible choice given how spread out the sights are.

The limestone pillar sits just off the highway before Chiatura, with a sealed-road viewpoint and a footpath to the base; the cloister below is open 9am to 8pm, and climbing the pillar itself is prohibited. From Chiatura, municipal bus #2 runs at set times, passing marshrutkas will usually stop if you ask the driver, and a taxi is about ₾10-15 one way. Chiatura's Local Lore Museum is open 10am to 6pm for ₾5, cash only.

The original network was shut down around 2018, so what runs today is new or rebuilt rather than the rickety Soviet cabins the town became famous for online. The appeal now is a working municipal ropeway system doing an ordinary job — moving residents up steep valley sides — alongside abandoned stations, Soviet mosaics and the Pioneer Palace. It is a place to look at how a single industry shaped a valley, not a theme park, and visitors who arrive expecting the latter tend to leave disappointed.