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RussiaWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
Karmadon gorge is a very impressive and picturesque natural landmark, one might even say one of the most famous natural places in North Ossetia-Alania. But, unfortunately, it is known in connection with sad events. It was here in 2002 that a great tragedy occurred – the descent of the Kolka Glacier. Then 125 people died, although 106 of them are still officially missing. Among the dead were 42 members of the film crew of actor and director Sergei Bodrov Jr., who shot the film "Svyaznoy".
After the glacier descended, the gorge was inaccessible for a long time, a very bad dirt rocky road led through it. But in 2024, a new excellent asphalt appeared here. Now it is easy to drive here by any car all the way to the village of Karmadon, only in a couple of places there are a few areas with crushed stone, although they may soon be rolled up with asphalt.
How to visit and what to see in Karmadon gorge
You need to understand that the Karmadon gorge is not one specific point where you can come and see something. This is actually a car route with visits to several places along the way and stops at viewpoints. For a trip here from Vladikavkaz, it is better to lay one day. Along the way, views of rocky cliffs, magnificent mountains open up, and the droga itself leads along the stormy mountain river Genaldon.
One of the famous and especially iconic points that must be visited here is memorial to the film crew of Sergei Bodrov Jr., it is also sometimes called the place of death of Sergei Bodrov. There are also tunnels here, in one of which, it is believed, the film crew tried to hide. You can enter the tunnels, the terrible consequences of the glacier's descent are very clearly visible in them.
If you drive even further and walk a little, you can get to the free natural hot springs Lower Karmadon thermal baths, we told you in detail about them and how to visit the link.
You can also stop by for a walk or relax for a few days in the beautiful resort village of Staraya or Gornaya Saniba. Fans of unusual routes can stroll through the semi-abandoned village of Karmadon, once a former balneological resort.
There is an old ancestral tower on the way to the village of Tmenikau, but a very bad dirt road leads two and a half kilometers to it. If you do not dare to drive along it, you can park the car on the side of the road and walk further.
Finally, after the settlement of Karmadon, you can turn around and go back to Vladikavkaz. And you can continue further along the dirt road to the famous City of the dead Dargavs (8 kilometers on a good rammed primer), and then even further 15 kilometers along the primer to the Upper Fiagdon. We drove this way completely one way in one day with a stop at the main attractions and a visit to the Dead City. It is better to go back from Upper Fiagdon to Vladikavkaz on asphalt through the village of Dzuarikau, and it is even better to stay in Upper Fiagdon, this is also a very interesting place.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock, it is better to visit during the day.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
The Karmadon gorge begins about 22 kilometers from Vladikavkaz along the droga towards the village of Karmadon, and stretches almost to the village itself for almost 10 kilometers (Karmadon gorge on the map). The road here has been repaired, almost everywhere there is good asphalt, you can easily drive any car. The visit involves a day trip by car with a stop at viewing points and near attractions, and back to Vladikavkaz. But you can also drive a circular route with a stop in the City of the Dead Dargavs and even in Upper Fiagdon. But we talked about this in more detail above.
In addition to your own transport, you can come here with excursions. Group tourism is still poorly developed here, so you will have to look for a private guide with a car through social networks, instant messengers, ads or through excursion search sites (links to them below). Private guides take you here even from Dagestan.
We met inexpensive combined group tours to North Ossetia with a visit to the Karmadon Gorge at travel agencies and street distributors of excursions to the resorts of Caucasian Mineral Waters in Pyatigorsk, Zheleznovodsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki.
💥 We remind you that it is more interesting and safer to get acquainted with the sights of North Ossetia–Alania with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: