Bichanak is the last inhabited village before the Batabat plateau, strung out along the road that climbs from Shahbuz town towards the alpine pastures. Wooden houses, sheep pens, and a small mosque sit in a partly wooded valley at around 2,100 metres — the highest permanent settlement in this part of Nakhchivan and a useful place to stop, fill a water bottle, or buy fresh yogurt and bread from one of the small shops by the road.
Most visitors barely glance at Bichanak on the way up, but the village is a good reference point: from here it is another twenty minutes of dirt road through forest to the lake. The pass above Bichanak gives a wide view back over the Nakhchivan plain and, on clear days, all the way to the Armenian border ridges.