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Bakhchisarai sphinxes or stone pillars are natural formations of bizarre shape, the sculptor of which was nature itself, namely, natural processes wind and water. Over the centuries, they have weathered and washed away soft rock from the hills, exposing dense stone sculptures of harder limestones, in which, depending on your imagination, you can now see Egyptian sphinxes, and images of people, and bizarre animals. Someone will even recognize them as aliens or, for some unknown reason, the stone monolithic statues of Moai created on Easter Island.
The sphinxes, and there are six of them in total, are located on a hill in the valley of the Churuk-Su river near the tourist center of Bakhchisarai and the Khan's Palace. They are perfectly visible from afar from many places in this part of the city, but, of course, it is much more interesting to walk directly to the stone idols to take beautiful photos and climb to the top of the cliff of the flat Suvlu-Kaya mountain, from where views of the old town of Bakhchisarai open, especially spectacular at sunset. And there is also a climbing wall where climbers train.
🕐 Working hours: around the clock.
💵 Entrance fee / tickets price: free of charge.
🚶 How to get there: Bakhchisarai sphinxes are located along the cliff of Suvlu-Kaya Mountain just a 10-minute walk from the tourist center of Bakhchisarai and Khan's Palace (Bakhchisarai sphinxes on the map). You can get to their foot only on foot, for which there are several trails from the city along the territory of the protected natural park "Natural Sphinxes in the valley of the Churuk-Su River". It is best to use the navigator or apps downloaded to your smartphone like Organic Maps, Maps.me , OSM, etc., which mark the trails to the sphinxes and to the top of the cliff. If you are not well-oriented in maps, then look for exits to the trails from Ostrovsky or Gasprinsky streets, and then follow the signs along the marked trail. In general, it is difficult to get lost here, because the sphinxes are clearly visible, and you just need to move in their direction. When you get to their foot, you can climb to the very top along a steep path for about 40 meters, which is approximately equal to the height of a 16-storey building.
If you do not want to get there on foot, then you can drive by car along a dirt road immediately to the top of the cliff above the sphinxes. To do this, you will have to come from a completely different part of Bakhchisarai, for example, from Pushkin Street. But there is no way to do without a navigator here, since there are a lot of roads, and it's easy to get confused.
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Balaclava with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites:
- 📷 Search for excursions in Bakhchisarai on Sputnik8.com
- 📷 Search for excursions in Bakhchisarai on Tripster.ru