Tbilisi Cheese Festival in Georgia: dates, meaning and how to experience it

By Mariam Lomidze, GTour desk · Fact-checked against the sources listed · Last checked 25 October 2026 · Editorial policy

What it is

The Tbilisi Cheese Festival — in Georgian, ყველის ფესტივალი (yvelis festivali), literally “festival of cheese,” from yveli (cheese) and the loanword festivali — is an annual public showcase of Georgia’s traditional cheeses, organised by the Georgian Cheese Guild and held in the capital. It is not a religious feast or a state holiday but a cultural and trade event: a single day on which small farmstead producers from mountain villages and lowland dairies alike set up stalls side by side in a city park, selling and offering tastings of cheeses that most visitors to Georgia would otherwise only find at a single regional market.

The festival is open to everyone — residents, visitors, chefs, journalists and children — and in practice functions as a meeting point between Georgia’s dispersed cheese-making communities, many of them in remote highland districts such as Svaneti, Tusheti and Racha, and the urban public of Tbilisi. For producers it is a market and a competition; for visitors it is the most accessible single-day introduction to the diversity of Georgian dairy craft, paired with bread, wine and live folk music.

Historical background

• 6th–4th millennium BC — Archaeological evidence from the South Caucasus, including sites in present-day Georgia, points to early cattle and goat husbandry and dairy use, a necessary precondition for cheese-making in the region.
• Classical antiquity — Greek and Roman writers describe the pastoral economy of Colchis, the western Georgian kingdom, where highland herding of cattle, sheep and goats supplied milk, butter and cheese to lowland settlements.
• Medieval period — Highland communities in Svaneti, Racha, Tusheti and Samtskhe-Javakheti develop cheese types adapted to storage without refrigeration, including guda, matured inside a cured sheepskin, and tenili, stretched into fine threads and dried.
• 19th century — Georgian and foreign ethnographers travelling through the Caucasus record regional cheese names and techniques, many of which, such as sulguni and imeruli, remain in everyday use.
• Soviet period (1920s–1980s) — Dairy production is partly collectivised and industrialised through state and collective farms, standardising brine-cheese types such as sulguni for wider distribution while small-scale farmstead cheeses persist informally in villages.
• 1990s — Following independence, farmstead and small-batch cheese-making revives as private herding and dairying resume outside the collective system.
• 2013 — The traditional qvevri method of Georgian winemaking is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, part of a broader international recognition of Georgia’s artisanal food and drink heritage that has since drawn attention to cheese-making as well. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
• 2010s — The Georgian Cheese Guild, an association of producers, begins organising an annual public festival in Tbilisi to present regional cheeses, support small producers and standardise quality and naming.
• Today — The Tbilisi Cheese Festival is held each June at Mtatsminda Park, bringing together more than sixty cheese varieties from across Georgia’s regions alongside bread, wine and regional dishes.

Georgian cheese-making is older than any written record of it. The Caucasus is counted among the world’s early centres of animal domestication and dairying, and the layered geography of Georgia — subtropical coast, river valleys, and high mountain pastures reaching above 2,000 metres — produced dozens of parallel, locally adapted cheese traditions rather than one national style. A highland family in Tusheti and a lowland dairy in Imereti solved the same problem, preserving surplus milk through the warm months, in entirely different ways: brining, smoking, drying, stretching or fermenting in skins, each method tied to a specific climate and to materials at hand.

The festival itself is a modern institution layered on top of this old craft. It did not exist as an organised public event until producers, facing competition from mass-market dairy products and limited access to urban markets, began gathering under a common guild structure to present their cheeses directly to consumers and to buyers in the capital. The choice of Mtatsminda Park, the hilltop park reached by funicular above central Tbilisi, gives the event a stage with space for dozens of stalls, a view over the city, and an atmosphere closer to a country fair than a formal exhibition — intentionally, since the cheeses on sale are themselves products of rural, not urban, Georgia.

Meaning and traditions

At the festival, producers set up tables by region, each offering tastings before a sale. Visitors move between stalls sampling fresh and aged cheeses, often paired with fresh bread (shoti puri or tonis puri, baked in a clay tone oven) and a glass of Georgian wine. A judged competition typically recognises the best examples in different categories, and cooking demonstrations show how specific cheeses are used, most famously in khachapuri, Georgia’s cheese-filled bread, which varies by region according to which cheese is used.

Key terms a visitor will hear: sulguni (a brined, semi-firm cheese from Samegrelo, often smoked), imeruli (a soft, mild brined cheese from Imereti, the base of Imeruli khachapuri), guda (a sharp sheep’s-milk cheese matured inside a sheepskin, from the high mountains), tenili (a stretched, thread-like cheese from Samtskhe-Javakheti and Meskheti, sometimes called meskhuri chechili), dambalkhacho (a strong, fermented cheese from Racha and Svaneti, often crumbled into dishes), and nadughi (a soft, unsalted curd used as a filling). Folk polyphonic singing, a Georgian tradition in its own right, often accompanies the tastings, and families and children’s activities give the day a relaxed, communal character distinct from more formal wine or food trade fairs elsewhere in the region.

Regional cheese fairs also take place independently in producing areas such as Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Samtskhe-Javakheti, usually timed around local harvest or pastoral calendars, but the Tbilisi event is the only one that draws producers from nearly every region to a single capital-city venue in one day.

When it happens

The Georgian Cheese Guild holds the main festival on the first Sunday of June each year, with the exact date and programme confirmed by organisers closer to the time; occasionally the date is adjusted slightly to avoid clashing with movable religious observances. In 2026 the festival took place on Sunday, 7 June. The next edition is expected on Sunday, 6 June 2027, to be confirmed by organisers nearer the date.

The festival is not a public holiday. Government offices, banks, shops and transport in Tbilisi operate on their normal Sunday schedule; nothing in the city closes because of the event. Entry to Mtatsminda Park itself may involve a ticket or entrance fee on the festival day, separate from everyday park admission.

Where to experience it

Mtatsminda Park sits atop Mtatsminda (“Holy Mountain”), the ridge overlooking central Tbilisi, reached by the historic Mtatsminda Funicular from its lower station near Chonkadze Street, or by road. On festival day, stalls and tasting pavilions fill the open terraces and amphitheatre space, with the best vantage over the city available from the park’s observation platforms. Arriving in the late morning allows time to taste before the busiest afternoon hours; the event typically runs through the afternoon into early evening.

No particular church etiquette applies to the festival itself, since it is a secular, open-air public event. Visitors who continue on to the nearby Mtatsminda Pantheon or St. David’s Church, both close to the upper funicular station, should dress modestly — shoulders and knees covered — as at any Georgian Orthodox site. Within the festival grounds, ordinary park courtesy applies: ask before photographing individual producers and their stalls closely, and expect to pay in Georgian lari for tastings and purchases.

Did you know

• Georgia has several dozen named indigenous cheese varieties, most tied to a single region or even a single valley.
• Imeruli cheese, matured for only a few days, is the base of the country’s most widely eaten khachapuri.
• Guda cheese takes its name from the Georgian word for the sheepskin bag in which it is traditionally matured and transported.
• The Caucasus region, including Georgia, is counted among the world’s earliest centres of dairy husbandry, long before cheese appears in any written source.
• Georgia’s qvevri winemaking tradition received UNESCO intangible heritage recognition in 2013, part of wider international attention to the country’s artisanal food and drink crafts, cheese included.

Practical tips for visitors

Reach Mtatsminda Park by the funicular from the lower station near Chonkadze Street, a short walk from Rustaveli Avenue and the Rustaveli metro station; taxis and ride-hailing apps are a straightforward alternative. June weather in Tbilisi is warm, occasionally hot, with the possibility of brief afternoon showers, so light clothing, sun protection and comfortable walking shoes are advisable; the park’s terraces involve some walking and steps. No advance booking is generally required for entry, though checking the Georgian Cheese Guild’s announcements or local event listings closer to the date is recommended, since timing and any ticketing details are confirmed annually. Bring cash in Georgian lari for tastings and purchases, as not every small producer accepts cards.

Combine it with

Pair a June visit to the Tbilisi Cheese Festival with a trip to the cheese-producing regions themselves: Imereti, home of Imeruli cheese and khachapuri; Racha, known for dambalkhacho and highland pastoral cheeses; and Kakheti, Georgia’s principal wine region, for the natural pairing of cheese, bread and wine that defines a Georgian table.

Questions travellers ask

Is the Tbilisi Cheese Festival a religious holiday?

No. It is a secular, organiser-run public event with no connection to the Georgian Orthodox liturgical calendar, unlike many Georgian feast days.

Do I need to buy tickets in advance?

Generally no; entry and tastings are typically paid for on site, though checking the Georgian Cheese Guild’s current-year announcements closer to the date is sensible, as arrangements can change.

Can I buy cheese to take home?

Yes, producers sell cheese by weight at their stalls, and many varieties travel reasonably well for a short period; ask the producer about storage and, if flying internationally, check your destination’s customs rules on dairy imports.

What is the best cheese to try first?

Imeruli, mild and familiar from khachapuri, is an easy starting point before moving on to stronger, more distinctive types such as smoked sulguni or fermented dambalkhacho.

Is the festival suitable for children?

Yes, it is a family-oriented outdoor event with open space, food, and often music and activities, held in a park that also has amusement rides and attractions outside the festival stalls.

What other food is served besides cheese?

Fresh bread, Georgian wine, and dishes built around cheese such as khachapuri are typically available alongside the tastings, along with other regional specialities from participating producers.

Is there a dress code?

None for the festival itself; casual, comfortable clothing suited to a warm outdoor day is appropriate. Modest dress is only relevant if visiting the nearby Mtatsminda churches.

What happens if it rains?

The festival is held outdoors and generally proceeds through light rain, with some stalls offering cover; organisers would announce any significant changes closer to the date in the event of severe weather.

Sources

• Tbilisi Cheese Festival