Tickets
Hotels
Tours
Insurance
Trains
RussiaImagine: high cliffs, cut by hundreds of caves, ancient steps leading to nowhere, and the remains of fortress walls that once protected entire cities. In the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, time seems to have frozen – here, among the mountain gorges, unique cave cities are hiding, abandoned by people centuries ago.
These places are not just ruins, but real portals to the past. Generations have lived, prayed, fought and traded here. Some cities were impregnable fortresses, others were spiritual centers, but they all keep amazing stories. You will see dwellings cut into the rocks, ancient temples with tarnished frescoes, mysterious underground passages and dizzying cliffs, from which views of the endless Crimean expanses open.
Cave cities are not museum exhibits behind glass, but a living history that you can touch with your hands. Here every stone breathes legends, and every turn of the trail promises a new discovery. Do you want to feel like an explorer of ancient civilizations? Then let's go – rock labyrinths, forgotten shrines and unforgettable adventures await you!
Medieval cave fortress town of Chufut-Kale
Chufut-Kale is the most famous and visited by tourists cave city of Crimea, and one of the most popular attractions of Bakhchisarai. In terms of popularity throughout the Bakhchisarai district, it competes, perhaps, only with the Khan's Palace. The first mention of the fortress at this place is found in 1254, and the city was then called Kyrk-Er or Kyrk-Or, which means "forty castles" in Turkic. However, even before Kryk-On, an ancient Byzantine city of the V-VI centuries existed on this place. Chufut-Kale emptied naturally by the end of the XIX century already under the Russian Empire, and today an open-air museum operates in its place. Read more about Chufut-Kale here.
🌐 Website: https://handvorec.ru
🕐 Working hours: from 09:00 to 17:00, seven days a week.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price: Adults – 300 rubles, children aged 16-18 and students - 200 rubles, pensioners - 200 rubles. Excursion service is an additional 200 rubles/person. The ticket is purchased at the entrance to the complex at one of the ticket offices at the Southern or Eastern gates, payment is accepted only in cash.
🚶 How to get there: The Chufut-Kale cave complex is located on the outskirts of Bakhchisarai, a couple of kilometers from its tourist area (Chufut-Kale on the map). You can get from Bakhchisarai on foot or by city buses, and from other resorts of the Crimea during the day you can go on an excursion or by your own transport. For more information about all the ways to get there, see the link with a full description.
Medieval fortress town of Mangup-Kale
In the Bakhchisarai district, on the way from Sevastopol to Bakhchisarai, near the village of Khoja Sala, there is Mount Mangup-Kale. And although it is inferior to other mountains in this area in height, its historical value is enormous, since here is one of the most exciting and largest man–made sights of the Crimea - the medieval fortress city of Mangup-Kale. According to many tourists, Mangup-Kale is even much more interesting than Chufut-Kale, popular and well-known to almost every guest of the Crimea, and therefore we definitely recommend it for a mandatory visit during a trip to Bakhchisarai or from other resorts of the Crimea. Read more about Mangup-Kale here.
🕐 Working hours: from 09:00 to 18:00, seven days a week, the ticket office closes at 17:00.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price: Adults – 300 rubles, children aged 16-18 and students - 200 rubles, pensioners - 200 rubles. Preschoolers are free. A tour guide of 100 rubles / person is also offered.
🚶 How to get there: Mangup-Kale is located 20 kilometers from Bakhchisarai and 40 from the center of Sevastopol (Mangup-Kale on the map). You can visit the cave city in one day from almost anywhere in the Crimea by private transport or with an excursion, but it will not be easy to get here by public transport. The main entry point to Mangup-Kale and the ticket office is located in the village of Khoja Sala (entrance to Mangup on the map), and that's where you'll need to get to. Read more at the link with the full description.
The fortress city of Tepe-Kermen
Tepe-Kermen is a monument of early medieval urban planning and architecture of the Crimea in the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, or, in other words, an early medieval fortress city. It is a monument of cultural heritage of federal significance. The fortress is located on the mountain of the same name at an altitude of about 540 meters, and consists of a network of rock rooms, cave temples, rock passages and ruins of entire neighborhoods. This is one of the most striking, but at the same time little-known to mass tourists attractions in the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, which should definitely be visited if you like little-trodden hiking trails. However, you need to be prepared for a difficult and protracted climb up the mountain. Learn more about Tepe-Kermen here.
🕐 Working hours: Theoretically, the open-air museum is open from 09:00 to 18:00, seven days a week. However, in practice, you can visit it at any time, since there are no means restricting access.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price: Adults – 100 rubles, children under 18 and preferential categories - free of charge. A tour guide of 100 rubles / person is also offered. Although the entrance to the route is paid, there are no ticket offices for charging here. In theory, you should first buy a ticket to visit the ticket offices of the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai. And then with a ticket to come here and go on the route.
🚶 How to get there: Tepe-Kermen is located 15 kilometers from Bakhchisarai near the village of Mashino, through which one usually gets to the complex (Tepe-Kermen on the map). Unfortunately, public transport hardly goes here, group excursions are not offered, and therefore you can visit it either on your own transport or with an individual guide-driver. We tell you more about everything at the link with a full description of the attraction.
Cave city of Eski-Kermen
Eski-Kermen is one of the not very popular and little–known historical sights among mass tourists in the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, which we confidently recommend for a mandatory visit. Translated from the Crimean Tatar, Eski-Kermen means "old fortress", although it could be successfully called an "impregnable fortress", because it is located on an impregnable rock up to 30 meters high. The remains of the cave city occupy the plateau of this mountain, in some places located above steep cliffs up to 20 m high. The city consists of many structures: chapels, combat casemates, tombs. There are outbuildings: cattle stalls, cellars, grain pits. All this is part of one museum complex and is visited by one ticket. Read more about Eski-Kermen here.
🕐 Working hours: from 09:00 to 18:00, seven days a week, the ticket office closes at 17:00.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price: Adults – 300 rubles, children aged 16-18 and students - 200 rubles, pensioners - 200 rubles. Preschoolers are free. A tour guide of 100 rubles / person is also offered.
🚶 How to get there: Eski-Kermen is located in Bakhchisarai district about 25 kilometers from the center of Bakhchisarai (Cave town of Eski-Kermen on the map). Unfortunately, there is no way to get to it by public transport, and therefore you will have to get there by taxi, private transport or with excursions. Read more at the link with the full description.
Syuren Fortress and Chelter-Koba Monastery
Although these are two different attractions, they are located in the same place and are visited together, so we talk about them in one article. They are lost in the shadow of more popular places near Bakhchiarai, such as Chuftu-Kale, Mangup-Kaloe, Kachi-Kalyon, Eski-Kremen, but, in our opinion, they are definitely worth a visit, especially if you have already visited the listed places. Here you will see: the ruins of the ancient Syuren fortress on the mountain, the observation deck at the tip of the rocky cape, the ancient cave monastery Chelter-Koba. Read more about the Syuren Fortress and Chelter-Koba Monastery here.
🕐 Working hours: around the clock.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price: officially, the entrance to the route to the fortress is paid: adults – 100 rubles, children up to and including 15 years and preferential categories - free of charge. Moreover, there are no ticket sales and controls at the entrance, you need to buy them at the cash desk of the Khan's palace and then go here.
🚶 How to get there: located near the village of Bolshoe Sadovoye, 16 kilometers from Bakhchisarai (fortress on the map). It is best to visit by your own transport, but you can hire an excursion jeep in Bakhchisarai for a trip around the neighborhood, take a taxi or buses. For more information about the visit route and how to get there, follow the link with a full description.
💥 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: