# Internet gateway connection in Local Zones
<a name="local-zones-connectivity-igw"></a>

Internet gateways provide two-way public connectivity to applications running in AWS Regions and/or in Local Zones. For more information, see [Internet gateways](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/VPC_Internet_Gateway.html) in the *Amazon VPC User Guide*.

In the following diagram, end users access a public-facing application in Local Zone 1. Traffic goes directly to the internet gateway in Local Zone 1 without going through the parent AWS Region. Use this type of connectivity for low-latency use-cases where you want your public-facing applications to be closer to end users than an AWS Region can provide.

![\[An AWS Region with a VPC. The VPC contains two Availability Zones and a Local Zone. Each zone has a public subnet and a private subnet. The VPC also has an internet gateway through which traffic passes between an application in the public subnet of the Local Zone and the end user.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/local-zones/latest/ug/images/local-zones-internet-gateway.png)


For your private applications that require outbound-only connectivity to the internet, use a NAT gateway.