Darial Gorge - the gorge of the Terek River at the intersection of the Lateral Range of the Greater Caucasus, east of Mount Kazbek, on the border of North Ossetia and Georgia - between the village of Upper Lars and the town of Stepantsminda. For 3 km, cliffs up to 1000 m high rise above the channel. The Georgian military road runs through the gorge, crossing a tunnel and a bridge on the Russian side, and then another tunnel, inside which the Russian-Georgian state border passes.

The Darial Gorge was known to ancient geographers as the "Gate of the Caucasus" ("Alan Gate"). The Alan Gates is the ancient name of the Darial Gorge after the Alans, who owned this important passage through the Main Caucasian Range in the early Middle Ages. The Darial Gorge is sung in the works of A. S. Pushkin (“Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829”), M. Yu. Lermontov (“Demon”, 1837; “Tamara”, 1841) and others.