Gulo's Thermal Spa — Local services in Tbilisi

Gulo's was recommended by a travel blog and people in Tbilisi Facebook group.

Booking: booking was super easy - I messaged them on WhatsApp, they sent the price list, I told them what I want, they confirmed availability and sent the location and that was it. Super easy.

The experience: As this is not my first sulphur bath experience, I knew what to expect. Yet, I was still pleasantly surprised. When I came it was super busy, but they have plenty of waiting area, so all is well. I waited until the room/pool I booked was free, borrowed a towel (5 GEL), asked for kisi (because a sulphur bath is not a bath without kisi), went to the room/pool and started soaking. The room had both cold (smaller) and hot (pool), it was nicely warm, the hot pool temperature was perfect, not too hot - which meant I could stay in it longer. There was the sulphur smell, but it wasn't overbearing.

After a few minutes, the kisi lady came and did the scrub. She was quite gentle and I'm pretty sure we bonded when she poured the cold water over me (it's hot in that room, the body needs to be cooled down every now and then). Then it was back to soaking.

For any first-timers: book your room/pool (in person, over the phone ...) arrive a bit early to pay, confirm any extras, have time to settle and relax before soaking follow a staff member to the room/pool and get ready. Remember to take all the jewellery off. From my experience, you can wear swimsuit or not, depending on how comfortable you are. take a shower hop between the hot and cold pools. Cold one is to ensure your body doesn't overheat. Apparently 10-15min sessions in the hot one should be followed by the cold one, but listen to your body. if you asked for a kisi, someone will knock and come to while you're in the pool 10 min before your time is over, someone will knock to let you know you have 10 min left

The staff was kind, helpful and the kisi lady (mekise) was one of the kindest and gentlest ones I've had so far.

I can genuinely say I enjoyed it so much, I booked another pool/room...

For 1.5 hour private "barh coupe" with 2× scrubs, 2× towels set, and tea - we paid 305 lari.

Pros: works till 2am, very good scrub (sort of hammam), delicious tea.

Cons: if you are from EU then you might get shocked of hygiene. I literally saw it how in one minute they only took out the garbage, cleaned the table and washed the floor with a dirty mop. 1 minute only. and invites other customers. disinfection zero. in the pool itself with hot water (we saw it not immediately) you need to turn off your imagination and pretend that there are mineralization compounds floating (and not the remains of sprem or the residue of plastic slippers). the cold pool was clean. the hammam bed is only washed with a bucket of water. the sofas in the resting rooms are wet from previous customers, so it is better to have your own bathrobe or ask for additional towels (paid). slippers are provided - but they are definitely not disinfected and it is better not to touch them, but to have your own. the hair dryer is only available at the reception and you have to dry your hair in public with other waiting people. 10 minutes before the end of the time - the receptionist starts terrorizing you over the intercom to hurry up and get ready and leave. if you don't have time to answer or confirm her that you hear her, then without knocking she runs into and starys shouting. interesting fact - payment by card was not allowed (although it is possible). only after a long discussion they did allow half of the amount to be paid by card and the other in cash. so we did not understand whether we were cheated on the price (put in our pocket) or not.

in general - go there only in the morning, while the water in the pool is cleaned by filters and only with your own bathrobes, slippers, towels...

My experience was very ok. I heard about this as a good option from a few bloggers. I didn’t make a reservation because it’s July and it was very hot out - I assumed it would be empty, and it was. I was shown to a 2-3 person room (150 gel) immediately but the staff realized it had not been cleaned. She called someone over and told me to wait two minutes. She went to a table a few feet away and had tea and chatted with the other folks while I stood there and waited. Someone came to mop up the floors. Nothing else. Surely enough, once inside I found bandaids and bits of trash left by the previous customers.

The 2-3 person “room” is two floors. The second floor has a seating area (unsure why this is needed) and there are more seats on the first floor, along with a bathroom. Comes with two pairs of slippers. I brought my own towel but you can rent. The hot pool is quite spacious and the cold is much smaller. There are two shower heads that really are a full on tube water dispenser (no diffusing/spraying) so the water kind of hits you hard. The hot tap was not working so it was just cold water. Shampoo and body wash included. At different parts I could smell a strong sewer smell.

The staff asked when I walked in if I wanted kisi (scrubbing service) and I said yes. She came in about 20 minutes in. The scrub covered about 50% of my body - the lady just really quickly went over my body like she was drawing a life size stick figure. Then it was followed by a fun bubble wash she used a pillowcase to make. The bed is literally a slab of rock so quite uncomfortable to lie down on. If you’ve gotten a Korean exfoliation service, you might be disappointed by the lack of thoroughness...