The highest bridge on Earth — 625 metres of air under the deck — opened in 2025, in our prefecture.
What it is
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge carries an expressway across the Huajiang Grand Canyon — locally called the “Earth’s Crack” — a gorge so deep and sheer that the villages on either side used to need two hours to drive around it. The bridge does it in two minutes.
The numbers are the point here: 625 m from deck to water (world record), 1,420 m main span (world record for a mountain bridge), 2,890 m total length. It opened on 28 September 2025 and was named one of TIME’s World’s 100 Greatest Places for 2026. A 50+ km² tourism zone is being built around it under an official master plan.
Watch: CNN’s report from the bridge. Reporter Mike Valerio for CNN, autumn 2026 — “How China’s World’s Highest Bridge Became a Bungee Jumping & Vacation Spot” (YouTube), the video companion to the CNN Travel report linked above.Two minutes instead of two hours. The bridge cuts straight across the "Earth's Crack" gorge — the villages on either side used to drive two hours around it.
In one line: The world’s highest bridge, in Qianxinan — Xingyi is the prefectural capital and the natural base for visiting. From downtown Xingyi: About 1h45m by car each way (allow ~2h with parking & shuttle) — a comfortable day trip. Checked October 2026.
Quick facts
Deck height: 625 m (world record) · Main span: 1,420 m (world record) · Opened: 28 Sep 2025 · From Xingyi: ~1h45m by car (allow ~2h door to bridge) · Nearest airport: Xingyi Wanfenglin (ACX) · High-speed rail: Guiyang–Xingyi ~2h (Panxing line)
What to do there
The bridge was designed for tourism from day one — not a viewpoint bolted on afterwards. Three zones:
Yundu service area （云渡服务区） — the gateway complex beside the bridge: restaurants, local specialty shops, and the main visitor facilities. Free to enter.
Bridge sightseeing zone — the bridge itself. A glass sightseeing hall in the bridge corridor, 625 m above the canyon. A cloud café crowns the bridge tower — but it opens only on holidays and special dates, so treat it as a bonus if it is open on your day. A high-bridge post office where you can send a postcard with a bridge-exclusive postmark. (Yes, there is even a marriage registration point on the bridge.)
Adventure zone — for thrill-seekers. High-altitude bungee jumping into the canyon. Paragliding with a bird’s-eye view of the karst landscape. An aerial rope swing and a high-altitude racing track. These headline experiences are not daily fixtures — they run on holidays and special-event dates (bungee needs booking ahead), so count them as a bonus rather than the plan. The bridge itself is the main event.
Scale of the thing: by late 2025 the area had drawn close to a million visitors, and the average stay stretched from 1.5 hours to 4 hours as the experience zone filled out. This is not a roadside photo stop any more.
The glass sightseeing hall. A corridor inside the bridge structure with a glass floor, 625 m above the river. Part of the bridge sightseeing zone, along with the tower-top cloud café (holiday openings) and the high-bridge post office.
Getting there
From Xingyi — the obvious way. Roughly 1h45m each way by car — allow about 2 hours in total once parking, tickets and the shuttle are counted. We run bridge day trips from Xingyi with a driver — see Local Help.
By air. The nearest airport is Xingyi Wanfenglin Airport (ACX), in the same prefecture as the bridge. Flights from Guangzhou, Kunming and other mainland cities — from the Greater Bay Area this winter only Guangzhou has a non-stop (Shenzhen has none, and Zhuhai’s runs three days a week) — see flights to Xingyi.
By high-speed rail. The Panxing line (opened November 2025) connects Guiyang to Xingyi in about 2 hours; Xingyi South station sits near the airport.
Self-driving. The bridge is on the Liuzhi–Anlong Expressway, well signposted from both the Guiyang–Anshun and Xingyi directions.
Base yourself in Xingyi
Xingyi is the natural base for a bridge visit: real hotels (branded mid-range plus characterful local guesthouses), restaurants, and — unlike anywhere else in the area — on-the-ground support, with AI translation assistance.
A practical plan:
Day 1 — Wanfenglin karst cycling in the morning, drive to the bridge in the afternoon, back to Xingyi for dinner.
Day 2 — Maling River Canyon, the waterfall gorge on Xingyi’s own doorstep — a separate trip from the bridge.
This is exactly the “Guiyang–Anshun–Qianxinan” golden loop the province is promoting — and Xingyi anchors the Qianxinan end of it. See how it fits in the 2–3 day itinerary.
Practical tips
Language: essentially zero English at the bridge site itself — signs, ticketing and staff are Chinese-only. If that worries you, that’s what we’re here for (see below).
What to bring: a windproof jacket (it gets windy at 625 m), sun protection, comfortable walking shoes.
Best time: spring and autumn for clear canyon views; winter is mild here, summer escapes the lowland heat.
Tickets: sightseeing and adventure activities are ticketed separately at the site; the Yundu service area itself is free to enter. Prices change — treat anything you read online as the shape of it rather than a guarantee.
The bridge is a popular domestic destination — go on a weekday morning if you can. Weekends and holidays bring the crowds, and the sightseeing areas feel them.
Visit with local support
We run airport transfers, private drivers and trip planning in English from right here in Xingyi — so the world’s highest bridge doesn’t have to be a pointing-and-guessing experience. Our local help page explains how arrangements work, or just email us.
