Vake Park is the big green rectangle at the top end of Chavchavadze Avenue, and it does two jobs at once: a shady flat lawn where locals actually spend their weekends, and the launch pad for the walk (or the one-lari ropeway) up to Turtle Lake. If you have an hour, you sit under the trees. If you have half a day, you climb.
It opened in 1946 as a Soviet victory park, and that history is still written into the layout — a monumental staircase, a cascade of dry fountains, and a war memorial on the ridge that the city has quietly stopped maintaining (Wikipedia). Below all that is the part everyone comes for now: flat paths, a playground, and the cafes of one of Tbilisi’s wealthiest districts a two-minute walk away.
Where it is and how to get there
The main entrance faces Chavchavadze Avenue, right where it ends and the hill starts. That end of the avenue is a short ride from the centre — a metro to Rustaveli then a bus up Chavchavadze, or a Bolt that’ll run you single-digit lari from Vera or the old town outside surge hours.
Vake is a district as much as a park, and worth understanding before you go. It’s the leafy, moneyed, café-heavy side of Tbilisi — think embassies, boutique gyms, and flat whites rather than sulphur baths and balconies. Our Tbilisi neighbourhoods guide puts it in context against Vera, Sololaki and the rest.
The grand staircase and the Victory monument
Walk in and you can’t miss the axis: a wide ceremonial staircase and a run of fountain basins climbing the slope, all of it built to funnel your eye up to the war memorial at the top. This was the whole point in 1946. The park was Victory Park, and everything pointed at the Memorial of Glory crowning the hill.
Here’s the thing people get wrong. The monument wasn’t toppled. It’s still up there — a tall bronze figure over a tomb of the unknown soldier — but it has been left to rot for years, the fountains below it reduced to cracked concrete, the surrounding terrace partly cordoned off (Michael Harrison, 2024). The eight warrior statues that once guarded the tomb were moved out to Gori back in 2009, and the honour guard that used to change on the hour stopped long ago.
You can still climb to it. As of a UK visitor group in July 2024 the eternal flame was even lit, though nobody will promise it on a random Tuesday. Go up if you like faded Soviet grandeur left to the weeds — it’s genuinely striking, in a mournful way. Skip it if you were picturing a polished, floodlit memorial. It isn’t that anymore.
Our advice: treat the staircase as the view, not the monument. Halfway up, turn around. You’re looking straight back down Chavchavadze over the rooftops of Vake, and that framed corridor is the best photo in the park.
Walking up to Turtle Lake, and the ropeway shortcut
Vake Park is where most people start the trip up to Turtle Lake, the small swimming-and-café lake on the plateau above. You’ve got two ways up.
Walk it, and you’re looking at a proper uphill through the wooded slope behind the park — pleasant in spring, sweaty in July. Or take the ropeway. The cable car station sits at the park end of Chavchavadze, and it lifts you over the trees to the lake in about three to five minutes for one lari, paid with a transport card (Like a Local Guide). It runs through the day, roughly 09:00 to 18:00, with hours shifting by season, so it’s not a late-evening option.
One lari for a cable car is close to free — it’s the same price as a metro ride, which for a scenic lift up a hillside is faintly ridiculous. Bring a Metromoney or bank card, because the cabins take no cash. What you actually do at the top — the water, the pedal boats, the restaurants — is its own trip, and we cover it in the Turtle Lake guide.
Cafes and the Vake vibe
The park itself has kiosk coffee and a couple of seasonal cafe pavilions, fine for an ice cream mid-walk. The real eating and drinking is just outside the gates.
This is Vake, so the streets fanning off Chavchavadze are thick with specialty coffee, brunch spots and wine bars — the priciest concentration of them in the city. A flat white here costs what it would in a mid-sized European capital, not what it costs in the old town. That’s the trade: you’re paying Vake rates for Vake polish. If you want a cheap khinkali lunch, eat before you come up.
What the district does well is the unhurried weekend morning — coffee, a slow lap of the park, dogs and prams everywhere. It’s the least touristy way to spend a Tbilisi Sunday, precisely because there’s no sight to tick off.
Playgrounds and going with kids
For families this is one of the easier outings in the city. The lower park is flat and car-free, there’s a decent playground, plenty of open lawn to run off energy, and the ropeway is a small adventure in itself that costs almost nothing.
The catch is the same one every Tbilisi park has: shade and surface. The lower lawns are shaded and easy for a pushchair; the memorial staircase and the walk to the lake are neither, so with a toddler take the cable car up rather than pushing a buggy up the slope. For a wider run of family-friendly ideas across the city, see Tbilisi with kids.
Best times to go
Late afternoon into early evening is the park at its best — the light softens, the heat drops, and the locals come out. Weekday mornings are the quietest if you want the paths to yourself.
Season matters more than time of day. Spring and early autumn are ideal. High summer afternoons in the low thirties make the exposed climb to the memorial hard work, so do that part before noon or after five and save the shaded lawn for the middle of the day. Do the same maths for the walk up to the lake, or just pay the lari and let the cable car do the climbing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Vake Park worth visiting?
As a standalone sight, not really — it’s a city park, not a landmark. As a base for the ropeway to Turtle Lake, a quiet green break, or a look at a decaying Soviet memorial, yes. Most people fold it into a Turtle Lake trip rather than making a special journey for the park alone.
How do you get from Vake Park to Turtle Lake?
Either walk up the wooded slope behind the park, which is a real uphill, or take the cable car from the station at the Chavchavadze end. The lift is one lari on a transport card and takes a few minutes. The walk is free and takes a good deal longer, mostly climbing.
What happened to the war memorial in Vake Park?
It’s still standing but neglected. The 1946 Memorial of Glory on the hill was left without upkeep, its fountains and terraces are in ruins, and the honour guard and warrior statues are long gone. Restoration has been talked about and started in fits but hasn’t carried through.
Is Vake an expensive area of Tbilisi?
It’s the most expensive residential district, and the cafes and restaurants around the park price accordingly. Coffee and brunch cost noticeably more here than in the old town. The park and the ropeway, though, are as cheap as anywhere in the city.
One practical thing to load before you leave: the ropeway takes a transport card and no cash, and the same card gets you the bus up Chavchavadze to reach the park in the first place. Sort out a Metromoney or a contactless bank card early, and the whole afternoon — bus, park, cable car, lake — runs on a handful of lari.
Featured image: Mostafameraji (CC0) via Wikimedia Commons.
Leave a Reply