You’re standing on a metal grate barely wider than your shoulders. Below your boots? A 279-foot drop into a rocky ravine. No solid ground. Just air, a bit of steel mesh, and the sound of the wind whistling through the Grabengufer ravine.
The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge isn't just a shortcut. It’s an adrenaline spike.
Honestly, a lot of people see the photos and think it’s a quick tourist trap right off the side of the road. It isn't. You have to work for this view. If you're coming from Randa, you're looking at a steep, calf-burning hike that gains about 2,000 feet in elevation before you even touch the steel.
Why this bridge even exists
Nature is beautiful, but it's also kinda destructive.
There used to be another bridge here, the Europabrücke. It opened in 2010 and lasted roughly two months before rockfalls absolutely trashed it. For years, hikers on the famous Europaweg trail (the two-day trek between Grächen and Zermatt) had to detour deep into the valley, adding hours of grueling descent and ascent to their trip.
The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge was the 2017 solution. Engineers from Swissrope built it higher and longer—494 meters (about 1,621 feet) to be exact—to clear the "splash zone" of falling boulders. It took them only 10 weeks to put it together. That’s insane when you consider they had to fly everything in by helicopter.
The "World Record" confusion
If you Google "longest pedestrian suspension bridge," you’re going to get a messy list of results. For a while, the Kuonen held the top spot globally. Then the 516 Arouca in Portugal opened. Then Sky Bridge 721 in the Czech Republic showed up and took the crown.
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Does the rank matter? Not really when you're halfway across and the thing starts to sway.
It’s still the longest bridge of its kind in the Alps. It’s a narrow, 25-inch-wide needle of steel that connects two sides of a massive mountain gap.
Getting there without hating your life
Most people start in the village of Randa. It’s a quiet spot, much calmer than the chaos of Zermatt, but don’t let the "quiet" fool you. The hike is a loop. You’ve basically got two choices:
- Clockwise: Steeper, faster, more direct. Your knees will hate you on the way down.
- Counter-clockwise: A bit more gradual through the larch forests, but still a workout.
Bring water. Lots of it. There aren't exactly vending machines at 6,700 feet. You’ll see plenty of people huffing and puffing because the air gets thinner up there. If you’re a "mountains-in-flip-flops" person, please don't be that person here. The trail is rocky, and when it rains, those stones get slick.
What it’s actually like to cross
The floor is a grate. You can see the rocks 85 meters below you the entire time. If you have vertigo, this is your nightmare.
You’ll need about 10 minutes to walk across if you aren't stopping for photos every five seconds. Because the bridge is so narrow (only 65 centimeters wide), you'll often have to do the "awkward mountain shimmy" to let hikers coming from the other direction pass.
The view is world-class. You’ve got the Weisshorn and the Bernese Alps framing the horizon, and if the clouds play nice, you’ll catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn.
Pro Tip: Don't cross during a thunderstorm. Steel bridge + high altitude + lightning = a very bad day.
The Charles Kuonen Legacy
The bridge is named after its primary sponsor, Charles Kuonen, who is actually a psychologist and winery owner. It cost about 750,000 Swiss francs to build. While the local government helped, it was private donors like Kuonen who actually got the thing over the finish line.
It’s a masterpiece of Swiss engineering. They used a patented damping system to stop it from swinging too much, but you’ll still feel the vibration of every person walking behind you. It’s a living structure.
Practical things for your 2026 trip
- Check the Season: The bridge is usually open from May to October. If there’s snow on the trail in early May, stay away. It’s not worth a slide.
- Train over Car: Take the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn to Randa. It’s easier than finding parking, and the station is right at the trailhead.
- The "Hidden" Hut: If you have the energy, keep going past the bridge to the Europa Hut (Europahütte). It’s about 30 minutes further up and serves great local food.
- Cost: It’s free. In a country where a sandwich can cost 20 bucks, a free world-record experience is a steal.
If you’re planning to tackle the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge, your next move should be checking the SBB train timetable for Randa and downloading a topographical map of the Valais region. Weather in the Alps shifts in minutes, so keep an eye on the local webcams before you start your ascent.