Double Decker Living Root Bridge

The Double Decker Living Root Bridge, in the village of Nongriat near Cherrapunji, is the most famous of Meghalaya's living root bridges — two bridges of living rubber fig tree roots stacked one above the other, grown and trained by generations of Khasi villagers into a genuinely functional crossing over the river gorge below. Reaching it requires a steep descent of roughly 3,500 stone steps, making the visit as much a physical trekking challenge as a sightseeing stop.

The bridge remains in active daily use by local villagers, distinguishing it from a purely tourist attraction, and its extraordinary combination of biological engineering and centuries of accumulated craft knowledge has made it one of the most celebrated examples of indigenous sustainable architecture anywhere in the world.

Living root bridges are grown by training the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastica) across rivers using betel nut trunks as scaffolding, a process that can take 10-15 years before a bridge becomes fully load-bearing, with well-maintained examples like this one lasting for centuries.

The trek begins at Tyrna village, about 15km from Cherrapunji, followed by a demanding roughly 3,500-step descent and climb.