Observation deck on Mount Chufut-Kale in Bakhchisarai

Via Chufut-Kale

This is a suitable way to visit this observation deck if you don't really like to take long walks and you don't have much time in Bakhchisarai. It is possible to manage together with the inspection of the cave city of Chufuktkale in half a day. You need to get to the cave city of Chufut-Kale, take a walk around it (entrance to it is paid, it is a museum), and then exit through the eastern gate and walk to the observation deck a little more than a kilometer. On the way, be sure to visit the Karaite cemetery Balta-Tiimez. 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.

The ring route

It is better to plan the whole day for it with a visit to Chufut-Kale and the cemetery. 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 walked first to this observation deck, then to the cemetery, because the cave city itself is already there.

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 you will get to this observation room. Back to the city, pass through the cemetery and the cave city.

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.