Salginatobel Bridge

The Salginatobel Bridge is the world's most celebrated thin-shell concrete arch — Robert Maillart's 1930 masterpiece, leaping a 90-metre alpine gorge in a single, impossibly slender curve. It is regarded as one of the most important works of 20th-century engineering and was the first concrete bridge designated an international historic civil engineering landmark.

It is about a 30-minute drive from Schiers up the winding road toward Schuders, or roughly 90 minutes on foot via marked hiking trails from the village. The view is best from the small viewpoint below the deck on the Schuders side; bring a camera and a head for heights. The bridge itself is a public road and you can walk across.

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Robert Maillart designed the Salginatobel in 1929 because his firm submitted the cheapest bid — a Swiss village outsourcing engineering for a remote farmhouse access road. The American Society of Civil Engineers named it the first International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1991. It is still in everyday use.

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