Sky Bridge 721: (once) the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge – a 2 km trail
- On 13 May 2022, Sky Bridge 721 (located above the ski resort of Dolní Morava) was opened to the public. The bridge spanned 721 meters, linking two mountains in the Králický Sněžník nature park. At the time, it was the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world and achieved the notable feat of being included in Time Magazine’s prestigious “World’s Greatest Places 2022” list.
- Sky Bridge held the record for just 2 years. In June 2024, the Hungarian government unveiled the 723m long ‘Bridge of Nation Unity’, which spanned the Májuskút Valley in northeastern Hungary. While the Hungarian bridge was presumably designed to claim the world record, it has not yet (as of August 2025) made into Time Magazine!
- The Sky Bridge 721 has an almost delicate profile and is hardly visible against the backdrop of the mountain spruce forest. The same cannot be said of its neighbor, the controversial ‘Sky Walk’, a spiraling wood and metal walkway that rises 55m above the ground. Opened at the same time as Sky Bridge 721, the Sky Walk offers a 700 meter panoramic walk, which concludes optionally (and only for the brave) in a 100m plunge down a spiral slide.
- The architecture of the Sky Walk certainly splits opinions. To this writer, the structure is reminiscent of something one might find in an Iron or Steel works. Perhaps it was the intention of the architect to create a connection with the country’s industrial heritage. However, it has to be admitted that it is a popular (if quite expensive) attraction and it does draw families to the mountain areas, which cannot be a bad thing. It is also fair to say that there is a long Czech tradition of building tourist lookout towers on mountain tops; a tradition that dates back to times when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a frequent visitor to the Bohemian mountains. One wonders what Goethe would have thought of Sky Walk.
- Most visitors planning to traverse the Sky Bridge and/or undertake the Sky Walk, will probably want to take advantage of the Sněžník chairlift, which runs through the summer and winter period in the Dolní Morava ski area. There is a ‘combination’ ticket for all the attractions. Overall, the resort has been well planned and there is a wide range of family friendly attractions – not all of which come with a hefty price tag.
- Returning back to the ‘walk’ part of this post, after traversing Sky Bridge there is an easy 1.3 km walk back to the lift station along a wide path, which gently rises for its first 500m or so. It is suitable for strollers. The path has been equipped with a very well done education trail with multilingual (Cz/De,P,En) information boards. The trail is called the “Bridge of Time” and illustrates some important themes in an engaging way.
- There are various refreshment options during the main season, including two self-service restaurants and a snack bar (marked on the map below as the start and end points for the route). It is not gourmet cuisine but for mountain restaurants they do the job pretty well.
- Note: for a longer walk which is combinable with the the Sky Bridge and Sky Walk trails, consider one of the attractive hiking trails that traverse this part of the range that can be accessed from the chairlift. One option is described here.
Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file
Directions
- The entrance to Sky Bridge is immediately opposite the top of the chairlift
- After traversing the bridge, take the marked trail back to the top station, which is partly along the BLUE hiking path
