Tbilisi's best hotel is currently unsurpassable, and Stamba has won new devotees – as well as awards – aplenty since its doors opened in 2018, when the crew behind the adjoining Rooms Hotel Tbilisi unveiled their highly ambitious conversion of a Soviet-era publishing house. Everything about this hotel is on the grandest scale imaginable and will delight the discerning and demanding traveller.
From the moment you enter Stamba's labyrinthine lobby, where bookshelves form the walls and vertical gardens rise to the ceiling, you find yourself in an oasis of subdued calm despite being on Tbilisi's main avenue. The rooms upstairs are enormous book-lined exercises in indulgence, complete with high ceilings, vast open-plan bathrooms, gold-plated claw-footed bathtubs that somehow look contemporary rather than Trumpian, fluffy carpets, modernist pull-down armoires, La Marzocco espresso machines (and yes, even a grinder), a maxi bar and electronic blinds. The entire place is exceptional, if you're lucky enough to be able to afford its significant price tag. If not, you can always enjoy a drink or a meal at its excellent bistro-style restaurant downstairs.
