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Saturday morning: Dezerter Bazaar and the Dry Bridge approach
Start at Dezerter Bazaar on Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, a short walk from Marjanishvili metro on the Saburtalo line. The covered halls and the surrounding street stalls are busiest between 8am and 11am on Saturdays, when farmers from Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli arrive with greens, walnuts, churchkhela and fresh matsoni. Go early for sour plums and tarragon; by midday the cheese counters thin out. Bring small notes and a cloth bag, and expect to spend an hour and a half if you taste as you go.
From the bazaar, walk south-west along Tsotne Dadiani Street toward the Mtkvari. The route passes the ornate facade of the former Soviet-era bathhouse quarter and crosses into the older streets of Chugureti. This is a 25-minute walk at an easy pace, mostly flat, and it drops you near the Dry Bridge flea market on Zviad Gamsakhurdia Embankment. Weekends bring out the antique sellers from about 10am, alongside a few food stalls selling honey and dried fruit.
Saturday afternoon: Dry Bridge to the Deserter's Market
Dry Bridge itself is better for browsing than eating, so treat it as a link rather than a destination. Walk east along the embankment for 15 minutes to reach the junction near Vakhtang Gorgasali Square, then climb into Abanotubani. The sulphur bath district has small bakeries selling shoti bread straight from the tone oven; a loaf costs a couple of lari. The hill up to Narikala is steep, so unless you want the fortress, cut back down to the riverside and head toward the Deserter's Market on Ketevan Tsamebuli Avenue.
The Deserter's Market, known locally as Dezertirebis Bazaari, runs daily but peaks on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings. The upper floor has dried herbs and blue fenugreek; the ground floor handles meat, fish and produce. It is a 15-minute walk from Avlabari metro, or a short taxi ride from Abanotubani for around 5-8 lari. I would book a hotel in Avlabari or Chugureti for this itinerary: both put you within 20 minutes' walk of two of the three market stops.
Sunday: Bazari and the Saburtalo food streets
Sunday morning belongs to the smaller neighbourhood markets. Take the metro to Technical University in Saburtalo and walk 10 minutes to Bazari, the covered market on Mitskevichi Street. It is calmer than Dezerter, with better prices on walnuts, dried figs and sulguni. Sunday is also when family-run stalls set out hot khachapuri and lobiani by the entrance. Arrive before 10am; the selection of fresh herbs drops off sharply after noon, and many stalls close by 2pm on Sundays.
If you are staying near Rustaveli, the walk from Freedom Square to the Saburtalo market takes about 45 minutes, or 12 minutes by metro from Liberty Square to Technical University. Pair Bazari with a stop at the nearby Vake Park food kiosks, where vendors sell grilled corn and churchkhela in summer. Skip the supermarket chains for this loop; the point is the stalls. Book a hotel near Rustaveli or Freedom Square if you want easy metro access to both Saburtalo and the old town.
Making the loop work for a short trip
Two full days is enough. Fly into Tbilisi International, which is 20-30 minutes by taxi from the centre depending on traffic. Spring, from April to June, and autumn, from September to October, are the best months: produce is at its peak and the walks are comfortable. July and August afternoons are hot, so shift the walking to mornings. Winter markets are smaller but still worth a Saturday morning at Dezerter.
Base yourself in the Old Town or Chugureti for the Saturday loop and Avlabari for Sunday. A taxi across the centre is typically 5-10 lari, and the metro costs under a lari per ride. Do not try to combine the Dezerter Bazaar and Saburtalo markets in a single morning; you will rush both. The walking plan above is the one I would book: it keeps you within a 30-minute radius of your hotel and leaves afternoons free for the baths.