There is a bridge in southwest China you can walk through, run along, jump off, and watch at night while 300 drones light the canyon below it. Its deck sits 625 metres above a river — a 200-storey tower — and in its first year roughly 3.3 million people came to look at it.
The Huajiang Canyon Bridge (花江峡谷大桥) is not an attraction beside a road. It is the road: a 2,890-metre crossing on the Liuzhi–Anlong Expressway. What follows is what is on the bridge, what it costs, how to reach it, and the hurdles a foreign passport creates at the booking window.
Guizhou has more than 32,000 bridges and calls itself the world's bridge museum; roughly half the world's 100 highest bridges stand in the province. Most are engineering you glimpse from a car window. Huajiang was designed the other way round: the bridge and about 50 square kilometres around it were planned as one tourism project.
The maintenance passage inside the steel truss was widened into a 796-metre sightseeing corridor. The wind-stabilising panels — hardware that exists only to stop the deck twisting — got a blue rubber surface and became a 1,411-metre running track. A glass observation hall, a low-altitude skydiving platform and 28 safety anchors were built in before the first car crossed.
The result is a bridge you enter rather than photograph. Guinness certified it at 626.01 metres in April 2026, making it the highest bridge on earth; it also holds the record for the highest bridge water-screen light show. Average visitor stay has stretched from 1.5 hours to about four. If you are planning a Guizhou route, this is now the anchor of the west, alongside Huangguoshu Falls — our full Guizhou guide covers the rest.
| Specification | Figure | Why you care |
|---|---|---|
| Total length | 2,890 m | You walk the truss, not the carriageway |
| Main span | 1,420 m | World's longest span for a steel-truss suspension bridge |
| Deck height | 625 m; Guinness-certified 626.01 m | Highest bridge deck on earth |
| Deck width | 30.5 m overall, 25.5 m carriageway | Six lanes plus the internal tourist spaces |
| Opened | 28 September 2025 | A year old — facilities are still phasing in |
| Canyon crossing | 2 hours by mountain road → 2 minutes | Explains why the villages below changed overnight |
| First-year visits | ~3.3 million; 800,000+ vehicles | Mass-market now, not a hidden find |
| Daily cap | 8,000 bridge tickets | Sold out means turned away |
It spans the Huajiang Grand Canyon between Guanling county (Anshun) on the north bank and Zhenfeng county (Qianxinan) on the south — which is why you can approach from either side.
A lift inside the bridge tower takes you into the truss, where a 796-metre corridor runs through the structure with the river 600 metres below. Mid-span is the glass observation hall — the source of most photographs you have seen. This is the core ticket; everything else is optional.
The 1,411-metre track laid over the wind-stabilising panels is, as far as anyone can establish, the highest running track in the world. You are harnessed. Nobody expects you to run it; most people walk a stretch and stop to look down.
The 625-metre bungee is the headline adrenaline product, alongside a narrow-plank walk over the void; a VR version exists for people who want the sensation without the fall. These are ticketed separately and priced on site — check the board at the tower before queueing.
After dark the bridge becomes a screen: a large water-screen projection onto the structure, plus a drone show staged nightly since 1 August 2026 — about 300 drones on weekdays, 1,000 at weekends. This is the best reason to sleep nearby rather than day-trip; the show is weather-dependent.
Six of seven core facilities are open; the anchor-zone study centre and tower-top viewing are not. A 2027 visit will not be identical to a 2026 one.
Since 21 October 2025 ticketing has been online, real-name and reservation-only, capped at 8,000 per day, with 500 slots reserved for free-entry categories. Bookings open 15 days ahead; the bridge runs 08:30–18:00.
| Item | Price (as published) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Half-span sightseeing ticket | ¥99 | Part of the corridor; cheapest way to see the structure |
| Full-span sightseeing ticket | ¥199 | Full walk including the glass hall |
| Shuttle loop 1 / loop 2 | ¥20 / ¥40 | Bought on the day, non-refundable |
| Huajiang Grand Canyon | ¥50 | Canyon floor, chain bridge, old caravan road |
| Full span + shuttle loop 1 | ¥209 | What most first-timers buy |
| Half span + shuttle loop 1 | ¥109 | Budget option |
| Bungee / plank walk / VR | Separate, on site | Not included in any ticket above |
Free entry — still requiring a booked slot from the 500-slot pool — applies to visitors 70+, children under 6, active-duty military, and licensed guides with a group of 10 or more. Children and seniors need one-to-one adult accompaniment.
The bridge sits on the Liuzhi–Anlong Expressway roughly midway between Guiyang and Xingyi. There is no station at the site and no direct public bus from Guiyang to the visitor centre. Be honest about that before booking.
| Starting point | How | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Guiyang (city or Longdongbao Airport) | Car or hired car with driver, expressway | About 2 h 40 min |
| Guanling county seat | Car or taxi | About 1 hour |
| Zhenfeng county seat | Car or taxi | About 50 minutes |
| Huangguoshu Falls | Car, continuing west | About 40 km, roughly 1 hour |
| Guiyang North (rail) | HSR to Guanling (~1 h), then bus/taxi to Huajiang town and the scenic area | About 3 hours, with changes |
| Airports | Guiyang Longdongbao (KWE), Anshun Huangguoshu (AVA), Xingyi Wanfenglin (ACX), then road | 2–3 h from KWE; less from AVA |
By rail: train to Guanling, bus or taxi to Huajiang town, then the scenic-area shuttle — connections are thin and Chinese-language, so a car from the station is the realistic option. Our high-speed rail guide covers buying tickets with a passport, and the 2026 new-lines roundup explains why Guizhou is far easier to reach than it was.
On site, ticketed shuttles do the internal work — visitor centre to tower, tower to the waterfall viewpoint, down to the village and boat dock. Buy them as you board; they are non-refundable.
Guizhou's weather decides your photographs. The canyon is spectacular in sun and genuinely eerie in mist, but the upper walkway closes in extreme weather — unused and unscanned tickets are refunded.
| Season | What you get | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| March–May | Green karst, wild flowers, mild temperatures | Frequent rain and low cloud; views vanish |
| June–August | The province is a cool escape while Chongqing and Guangzhou roast | Afternoon thunderstorms; school holidays |
| September–November | Clearest skies, stable temperatures, best light | Busiest around National Day (1–7 October) |
| December–February | Fewest crowds, dramatic mist, low-season rates | Cold, damp, occasional ice closures; short days |
Avoid National Day week and Spring Festival. The 2026 Spring Festival brought about 550,000 visits, some 78,000 onto the bridge itself. Weekdays outside school holidays are calmer and the cap is rarely hit. Book the earliest slot you can bear: the glass hall is empty before 10:00 and cloud usually lifts by mid-morning.
Leave by 07:00, arrive around 09:45, take the full-span ticket plus shuttle loop 1, spend two to three hours on the structure and at the viewpoint, eat in Huajiang town, back in Guiyang by 19:00. You will miss the night show — if that is the reason you are coming, do not attempt this.
Day 1 — Guiyang to the bridge, arriving by 11:00; bridge in the afternoon, canyon floor and old chain bridge late afternoon, night show after dark, sleep locally.
Day 2 — east to Huangguoshu Falls (about an hour) for the morning, then Anshun for the high-speed rail back, or west to Xingyi for the Maling River Gorge and Wanfenglin.
With a third day, Zhenfeng Ancient Town on the south bank is the natural add-on: the county has been rebuilding its old quarter around the bridge traffic. Comparisons with Zhangjiajie or Guilin–Yangshuo miss the point: this is engineering and adrenaline in a limestone canyon, not a landscape of peaks. Routing from Chongqing, it sits naturally on the way south.
A year ago there were almost no beds. There are now 15 hotels and guesthouses around Huajiang township plus the on-site Qianshan Yijing hotel and 124 new food businesses — over 40 villagers came home from migrant work to open guesthouses, with 13 buildings still going up.
In practice: book ahead for weekends, expect mid-range rather than luxury, and check heating and hot water rather than assume them in winter. Rates remain well below Guiyang's.
Food is Buyi and Miao country cooking: Zhenfeng glutinous rice (贞丰糯米饭), sour-soup fish (酸汤鱼), cured pork with chilli. Huajiang town is also known for dog-meat restaurants, a local speciality most foreign visitors skip; the beef, mutton and river-fish kitchens are the safer order.
Everything runs on Chinese real-name registration. The mini-program is Chinese-only and built around ID cards; passports are usually accepted, but facial verification at the gate is calibrated for Chinese documents and can be slow or manual. Book through your hotel or a local agency that can hold the reservation in your name, and keep the service numbers: 0859-6610050 and 0859-6850880.
Assume cash does not work at the machines — Alipay or WeChat Pay linked to a foreign card is the practical answer, per our payment guide. Guizhou's gateway is Guiyang Longdongbao. Visa-free entry under the unilateral scheme (30 days, running to the end of 2026 for most eligible countries) is simplest; 240-hour transit depends on nationality and on whether your arrival port is approved, so verify first — see the visa-free guide and 240-hour transit guide.
Roughly ¥210 for the bridge with shuttle, ¥50 for the canyon, ¥300–500 for a car and driver split two or three ways, ¥200–400 a night locally, ¥150 a day for food — about ¥1,200–1,600 per person for two days, before flights. See the China budget guide. English is close to absent here; offline translation plus the bridge's Chinese name written down will get you further than any app. Allow a full day: the site is large, shuttles are slow, and the show starts after 19:00 in summer, nearer 18:30 in winter.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 花江峡谷大桥 | Huājiāng Xiágǔ Dàqiáo | Show this to a driver |
| 观光票 | guānguāng piào | Sightseeing ticket |
| 全程 / 半程 | quánchéng / bànchéng | Full span / half span |
| 摆渡车 | bǎidù chē | Shuttle bus |
| 预约 | yùyuē | Reservation — on every sign |
| 玻璃观光大厅 | bōli guānguāng dàtīng | Glass observation hall |
| 蹦极 | bèngjí | Bungee jump |
| 护照 | hùzhào | Passport |
If you are already in Guizhou, yes — it pairs naturally with Huangguoshu and takes half a day. As a standalone trip from Beijing or Shanghai, no: the travel time makes it a two-day commitment.
Only if same-day capacity remains. The cap is 8,000 a day and bookings open 15 days ahead; on weekends and holidays, assume you cannot.
No. Bridge sightseeing, shuttle, canyon and each adventure activity are priced separately — budget ¥199 for the full span plus whatever you intend to jump off.
Not for the bridge, but a driver is close to essential. A day tour from Guiyang or Anshun solves booking, transport and the passport problem at once, often for less than assembling it yourself.
No. Drones, kites and model aircraft are prohibited on the bridge; aerial footage you see online was shot under permit.
The operator refunds tickets for extreme-weather closures, including tickets scanned but not yet used on the bridge. Keep your booking reference and check the official account on the morning of your visit in rainy season.
Related reading: the complete Guizhou guide, Zhangjiajie, Guilin & Yangshuo, Chongqing, the high-speed rail guide, payments, visa-free entry, 240-hour transit and the budget guide.
Last updated November 9, 2026. Sources: Xinhua (10, 22 October 2026); People's Daily Online on the Yundu service area and bridge specifications (25 June 2026); China Daily on Spring Festival visits (4 March 2026); Guizhou Radio & TV (28 September, 6 November 2026); Huajiang Canyon Bridge Scenic Area ticketing announcement (October 2025). Prices, hours and visitor totals are operator figures and may change.