Bus to Bakhchysarai — buy tickets online

About Bakhchysarai

Bakhchysarai is a city in the foothills of the Crimean Mountains, approximately 30 km south-west of Simferopol. With a population of around 27,000, it is a modest-sized town, but one of the most historically and culturally significant places on the Crimean Peninsula. For nearly three centuries — from the early 16th until the late 18th century — Bakhchysarai served as the capital of the Crimean Khanate, one of the successor states of the Golden Horde.

The Palace of the Crimean Khans (Khan's Palace, Hansaray), a rare surviving example of Crimean Tatar palatial architecture, is the centrepiece of the city and one of the most important monuments of Islamic heritage in Eastern Europe. Its ensemble of courtyards, fountains, mosques and residential quarters developed over two centuries of Khanate rule. The poignant Fountain of Tears (Bakhchysaraiskii Fontan), immortalised in Alexander Pushkin's narrative poem, is housed within the palace complex.

The surroundings of Bakhchysarai are equally remarkable. The cave city of Chufut-Kale, perched on a cliff above the valley, was an important Karaite and Crimean Tatar stronghold from the medieval period. The Uspensky (Dormition) Cave Monastery, carved into the sheer rock face of a canyon, has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. The entire valley combines natural scenery, cave settlements and historic monuments in a concentration found nowhere else in Crimea.