The steep granite walls of the gorge can be as much as 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) tall in some places.

The Darial originates from Dar-i Alān (در الان) meaning "Gate of the Alans" in Persian.

[4][1][4] Josephus wrote that Alexander the Great built iron gates at an unspecified pass[5] which some Latin and Greek authors identified with Darial.

There was a battle point between the Ilkhanate and the Golden Horde, then indirectly controlled by Safavids and Qajar state,[citation needed] until it was captured by Russian Empire after annexation of Kingdom of Georgia in 1801–1830.

[1] As the main border crossing between Georgia and Russia, it has been the site of Russians fleeing conscription for the Russo-Ukrainian War.