Of all the different natural rock formations on Earth, arguably the most implausible-looking are the natural bridges and archways that form when wind or water erosion carves various pathways through once-solid rock over countless years. Here are 22 of the most stunning bridges or arches on our planet (or in orbit around it).
Related: Bucket-List Spots Around the World Every Traveler Should See at Least Once
Virginia
Take one guess how the Virginia town of Natural Bridge got its name. The bridge itself is rather modest by natural-bridge standards, Today, it's probably best known for being a former property of President Thomas Jefferson.
Related: Historic American Towns Where You'll Travel Back in Time
Utah
This landmark gets its name from the three natural bridges in the landscape. Since 1909, the bridges have had the official names Sipapu, Owachomo, and Kachina. Sipapu is a Hopi word meaning “place of emergence,” referring to the Hopi belief that their ancestors entered the world through that archway. Owachomo means “rock mound,” and “Kachina” is a reference to the ancient rock art on the bridge, similar to symbols commonly featured on kachina dolls.
California
Though this state park gets its name from the enormous rock formation on the shore, it's also a wildlife preserve offering visitors a chance to see seals, otters, sea anemones, and other Pacific coast life.
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Algeria
This national park in the Sahara Desert is home to more than 300 naturally formed rock arches, and also one of the world's largest collections of prehistoric rock carvings and drawings, some of which are as old as 12,000 years. The carvings were made when the Sahara was still a grassland, and feature crocodiles, antelopes, cattle herds and the humans who hunted these animals, long ago when the Sahara was green.
Utah
Given how the forces of erosion work, it's no surprise that most natural bridges and arches look far rougher and more uneven than their human-made counterparts. But Utah's “rainbow turned to stone” arcs almost as gracefully as its namesake in the sky.
Utah
There are over 2,000 arches and bridges in the “red-rock wonderland” that is Utah's Arches National Park. The park's largest and most famous such feature is the free-standing Delicate Arch.
The White Cliffs of Dover are an iconic English landmark, but across the English Channel in Normandy is an even more stunning white-chalk formation: cliffs and three natural arches towering over a white-pebble beach.
There are many stunning formations to be seen as you travel the rocky shores by the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales. Yet one rock bridge stands out even among all that beauty–a magnificent rock bridge topped by (relatively) lush vegetation giving it the name “Green Bridge of Wales.”
Australia
The children's rhyme says “London Bridge is falling down,” but in Australia, it fell already, back in 1990. That's when London Bridge, a double-span natural rock bridge just off the coast of Port Campbell National Park, collapsed into the ocean, leaving the single London Arch to remain.
Argentina
Despite its name, the “Inca Bridge” crossing Argentina's River Las Cuevas was carved by Mother Nature, not the Incas. But the Incas did use the bridge when they needed to cross the river.
Mexico
The Arch of Cabo San Lucas is also known as Land's End. It's at the very tip of Baja California, the strip of land separating the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortez. In addition to stunning scenery and rock formations, the spot is also home to colonies of seals and sea lions.
Greece
Zakynthos is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, and the Blue Caves are one of its most popular tourist attractions. This ancient seaside cave has since eroded into a mostly open series of natural archways and openings accessible by boat.
Pravčická brána, or “Right-Handers' Gate,” is the largest sandstone arch in Europe. Some of the Narnian-landscape scenes from the 2005 film "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" were filmed here — though the scene where the children run across the arch was created in the studio, since the arch itself may no longer be walked or climbed on.
Ohio
The “rock house” in Ohio's Hocking Hills State park is actually the side of a cliff long-since eroded into a sort of natural tunnel with seven “windows” (actually natural arches) along one wall.
Ireland
The Great Pollet Sea Arch is the largest such natural feature in all of Ireland. Accessing the arch became much easier in April 2022, when a new walkway leading directly to the arch opened to the public.
Related: 30 Free Things to Do in Ireland
Iceland
There are not one but two natural archways at the base of this black basalt slab poking above the surface of Iceland's Hunafloi Bay. Hvítserkur is also nicknamed the “Troll of Northwest Iceland.”
Alaska
Look at a map of Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park and you'll notice one body of water is named Three-Hole Bay. That name presumably comes from the three holes, or archways, eroded into the rock protruding above the surface of the bay.
England
The Durdle Door is arguably one of the most iconic sights to be found along England's Jurassic Coast. It's gone by this name for at least a thousand years; the word “durdle” derives from the Old English word “thirl,” meaning to pierce or drill.
Kentucky
The “angel windows” are spectacular rock arches in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Of all natural bridges and archways in the United States, the Angel Windows might be among the easiest to reach, being located at the end of an easy, kid-friendly 0.6-mile hiking trail.
Arizona
The Kolb Natural Bridge is the largest span in Arizona's Grand Canyon. It was named after Emery and Ellsworth Kolb, two brothers who took the first film footage of the Grand Canyon in 1911. The Kolbs' photography studio still stands on the canyon rim to this day.
Jordan
Of all the dry riverbeds, or wadis, in the Jordanian desert, the largest is Wadi Rum, or “Valley of the Moon.” The valley's many spectacular features include a stunning natural bridge crossing high above the desert floor.
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No, this isn't a poetic name, like the “Valley of the Moon” in Jordan; in 2010, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera photographed a natural bridge on the surface of the Moon, specifically the rim of King Crater. Of course the Moon has none of the wind or water activity responsible for Earth's natural arches and bridges; scientists think the bridge at King Crater is the remnant of an ancient collapsed lava tube.
