Dariali Gorge

The Dariali gorge is the defile where the Terek has cut through the main range of the Caucasus, granite walls rising sheer for hundreds of metres above a river running fast and grey with rock flour, and for two thousand years it has been the only practical crossing of the central Caucasus, named in classical sources and fortified repeatedly. The road through it is the northern end of the Georgian Military Highway. A large monastery complex with a tall church was built at the gorge mouth in recent years and is the usual stopping point. Rockfall and debris flows close the road periodically; a major flow in 2014 destroyed parts of it.

History

The name comes from the Persian Dar-i Alān, "Gate of the Alans", who held the lands north of the pass in the first centuries AD; the pass was fortified in antiquity by both Romans and Persians as the Iberian or Caucasian Gates, often wrongly called the Caspian Gates, Strabo named it Porta Caucasica, and some authors linked it with the iron gates Josephus said Alexander the Great built. The Sassanids took it in 252-253 with Iberia, the Western Turkic Kaganate in 628 and the Arab caliphate in 644, after which it was held by the Kingdom of Georgia; it lay on the line between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, was occupied by Kabardians in 1597, and passed to Russia with the annexation of Georgia in 1801-1830 (Wikipedia, Darial Gorge).

What's there

• Sheer granite walls - the defile the Terek has cut.
• The gorge as a historic crossing - the only route through the central range.
• The monastery at the gorge mouth - the modern complex and its church.
• The grey glacial river - the Terek running out of the mountains.

When to go

May to October; the road is subject to closure in winter and after heavy rain. Two hours as a stop. The gorge is in shadow much of the day, so midday gives the best light.

Things to know

It is a working international road with heavy lorry traffic and few places to stop. Rockfall and mudflows close it without warning. It ends at a border crossing and photography near the border crossing is not allowed. Carry a passport.

Nearby

Gveleti waterfalls are south; Kazbegi lies beyond them.

Key facts