The Most Terrifying Bridges in the World That Will Give You Nightmares

Bridges everywhere are meant to connect places and people, but there are some that feel like they’re designed to test your survival instincts instead. They wobble in the wind or dangle so high that looking down feels like a bad idea. These bridges are usually made of glass, rotting wood, or even living tree roots. Yet people still cross them for necessity, adrenaline, or just to say they did.

Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China

In Hunan’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a glass-bottom span stretches more than a quarter mile across a canyon. It hangs 984 feet above the ground, and the transparent floor leaves nothing to the imagination. Each step is a reminder of just how far the drop is, which is why even steady walkers often slow down once they’re out in the open.

Vitim River Bridge, Russia

This former railway bridge in Siberia forces drivers onto a six-foot-wide path of rotting wood. What makes it riskier is that there are no guardrails. It's often slick with ice, and only wide enough for a small vehicle if you drive dead straight. Siberian locals don’t look thrilled crossing it either, which should tell you something.

Peak Walk, Switzerland

This suspension bridge in the Bernese Alps connects two mountaintops at Glacier 3000. It’s just 2.5 feet wide, with a partial glass floor and sweeping alpine winds. At 9,800 feet above sea level, the bridge sits in thin alpine air where unsteady steps aren’t unusual. Spanning 351 feet, it attracts visitors who want the experience of crossing from one peak to another with open sky on both sides.

Eshima Ohashi Bridge, Japan

This one went viral for looking like a real-life rollercoaster. Photos don’t lie, and it actually does appear to shoot straight into the sky. Its incline is over 6 percent to allow ships to pass beneath. Driving across is technically safe, but your stomach might need a minute to believe it.

Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado, USA

You’ll hear it before you feel it. The wooden planks creak as you walk, the wind howls through the canyon, and the Arkansas River rushes nearly 1,000 feet below. This suspension bridge was built in 1929 and looks every bit its age. Brave souls venture out, but no one lingers in the middle for long.

Puente de Ojuela, Mexico

This suspension bridge was finished in 1898 to link miners to the gold and silver works in Durango. Steel cables keep it standing, but the worn planks and isolated canyon setting still put visitors on edge. Mining ended long ago, and today the bridge is walked for its history and uneasy atmosphere rather than its original purpose.

Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia

The Sky Bridge rests on a single angled pylon and curves across the rainforest canopy. It stands 2,165 feet above sea level, suspended between two peaks of the Langkawi range. Visitors reach it by cable car and a short inclined lift before stepping onto a walkway where open gaps give a clear view of the forest floor below.

Trift Bridge, Switzerland

The Swiss really like testing their nerves with cable suspension. This one hangs above Trift Glacier, and to reach it, you’ll need to ride, hike, and climb. At 560 feet long and open to the elements, it’s one of the longest of its kind in the Alps, and it likes to remind you with every gust of wind.

Musou Tsuribashi, Japan

The bridge is a skeleton of planks and cables strung across a remote gorge. No one’s maintaining it much these days, and every step feels like gambling with gravity. There are no safety nets, side rails, or anyone to hear you scream if a board gives way.

Hussaini Hanging Bridge, Pakistan

This rope-and-plank bridge stretches across Borit Lake in the Hunza Valley. The gaps underfoot, the shifting ropes, and the constant wind turn it into a test of balance and nerve. For locals it’s a routine path, but for outsiders the hardest part often comes when they look down and realize how far there is to fall.

Kakum Canopy Walk, Ghana

It’s more of a forest adventure if you like your walks suspended high in the air. This treetop trail strings together seven rope-and-plank spans 130 feet above the rainforest. Officially safe, the narrow, bouncing path and lack of solid footing make it feel more like a jungle obstacle course than a tourist trail.

Monkey Bridges, Vietnam

These hand-built bamboo crossings require more balance than bravery. Often without handrails, they span small rivers or gullies in rural Vietnam. Locals sometimes carry loads across them, but even walking solo can feel like a circus act. Some communities host competitions where people race bicycles across these narrow, bouncy bridges.

U Bein Bridge, Myanmar

Nearly a mile long, U Bein cuts across Taungthaman Lake on teak pillars first set in place during the mid-19th century. Many of those posts have weakened with time, and seasonal floods push water up against the walkway. Even so, the bridge stays busy each day with people crossing between villages, a reminder that it still functions more as infrastructure than as a monument.

Hanging Bridge of Ghasa, Nepal

Apart from humans, goats, yaks, and even oxen cross this suspension bridge, often all at once. It’s located above the Kali Gandaki River, and has a narrow structure, is busy, and moves far more than you'd like. Some herders actually cover their animals’ eyes. That’s not an option for you, though. You’ll see everything on the way across.

Living Root Bridges, India

In the hills of Meghalaya, villagers guide the roots of fig trees across rivers until they knit into usable crossings. Some have been tended for centuries and can carry steady streams of people. Others are left on their own, twisting into spans that look sturdy until a footstep proves otherwise.