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RussiaWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
The ancient Karaite cemetery of Balta-Tiimez is located in the sacred grove of Balta-Tiimez on the outskirts of Bakhchisarai. It is also known as the cemetery in the Josaphat Valley, although on maps this valley is marked in a slightly different place. We went to this unusual attraction, figured out everything and will tell you in the article exactly and reliably where everything is and how to get there.
Balta-Tiimez is not a very well–known and popular tourist destination in Bakhchisarai, since most tourists are limited to visiting the famous cave town of Chufut-Kale in this direction. But it is only necessary to go a little further beyond the cave city, and you will find yourself in this quiet and mysterious place. Although the cemetery is a conditional part of Chufut-Kale, it is still visited as a separate attraction. Moreover, unlike the ruins of the city - completely free of charge.
In addition to the cemetery itself, a walking route to it will be interesting. It will be a good one-day hiking trip. You can do a circular route with a visit to observation deck on Mount Chufut-kale, Yusuf-Chokrak spring (when we were, it was dry), mountain view point at the eastern gate of the cave city, the cave city itself Chufut-Kale, dervish village and Muslim cemetery outside the cave city, Assumption Cave Monastery and several other places along the way. In general, it will be a great one-day walk, during which you will see many interesting places and have fun, so we definitely recommend it. For more information on how to get there and pass it, see our video and read the section How to get there at the end of the article. And now a little bit about the cemetery itself:
Balta-Tiimez is a family cemetery of Karaites, one of the mysterious places of the Crimea. Located at the foot of the cave town of Chufut-Kale, it served as the main necropolis of the Crimean Karaites for many centuries. The oldest tombstones date back to the XIV–XV centuries, and some epitaphs are written in Hebrew and Turkic languages. There are about 7,000 burials here!
Karaites are adherents of Karaism, a special branch of Judaism based on the Tanakh (Old Testament). In Soviet times, adherents of this religion were even classified as a separate nationality – Karaites, although there was no nationality as such. Today there are only about 2,000 Karaites left in the world, and they mostly live in Russia and the CIS countries, and most of all in Crimea and Yevpatoria.
The name of the cemetery translates from Turkic as "the axe will not touch", and perhaps this is due to the legend of the inviolability of the sacred grove: it was believed that anyone who dares to cut down a tree here will die. Karaites believed that this place was sacred, and buried their spiritual leaders and notable citizens here. Today Balta-Tiimez is a unique historical monument, where among the centuries–old oaks and mosses you can see hundreds of carved stones with symbols and inscriptions telling about the life of a disappearing community.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock, it is better to visit during the day.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
The Karaite cemetery of Balta-Tiimez is located four and a half kilometers from the tourist area of Bakhchisarai, further beyond the cave town of Chufut-Kale (Balta-tijmez on the map). There are a couple of options on how to visit it yourself. The easiest way is to work with Chufut–Kale on a round-trip route. And you can go along the ring hiking route. We'll tell you everything now:
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Balta-Tiimez together with Chufut-Kale
This is a suitable way to visit Balta-Tiimez if you don't really like to take long walks. And here everything is simple: you need to get to Chufut-Kale, walk around the ancient city (entrance to it is paid), and then exit through the eastern gate and walk to the entrance to the cemetery only 500 meters or 10 minutes. Follow the Yandex navigator or Yandex Map Editor in the Organic Maps apps, Maps.me and the like, don't get lost. You can go back not through the paid territory of Chufut-Kale, but along the path to the left of it. At the same time, along this path you can visit the village of dervishes (only the foundation remains) and the Muslim cemetery.
In turn, you can get to Chufut-Kale from the center of Bakhchisarai by your own transport (there is free parking at the monastery), or on foot for about 25 minutes and a little less than two kilometers, by taxi from 100 rubles or by city bus no.2. Read more about how and how to get to Chufut-Kale in our separate instructions here.
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The ring route
It is better to plan the whole day for him with a visit to Chufut-Kale. If you have already been to Chufut-Kale, then 4-5 hours will be enough for a walk. You can pass it in any of the directions. We went first to the observation point on Chufut-Kale, then to the cemetery, because it is already a cave city, we talk about this in detail in the video.
Such a hike begins at the end of Proletarskaya Street, a reference point for the recreation center "Halt". Before the gate of the recreation center, you need to turn left onto a dirt road, and then just follow the navigator along the paths in the Organic maps application. First, you will pass through or past the Beshik Tau cemetery, then there will be a dried-up Yusuf-Chokrak spring, and next to it there is an equipped tourist parking lot in the form of a gazebo. Then to the observation deck of Chufut-Kale and then the cemetery.
The route is both technically and physically uncomplicated, there are no height differences. But there is no markup here either, so there is no way without a navigator or an application. You can take tracking sticks, but this is not necessary. Sports or trekking shoes. Do not forget to take water and sun protection in the summer. Protection from ticks is also required, they are here almost all year round. In more detail about ticks in Crimea and how to protect yourself from them here.
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Balaklava with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: