While many roads and streets around the planet follow a predictable path, others take a much more adventurous route. From the South Island of New Zealand to the northwest coast of Wales, there are some streets with slopes that are built at dizzying gradients — a figure calculated by dividing the vertical height of a street by its horizontal distance. Can you brave six of the steepest streets on the planet? Find out below.
Lombard Street – San Francisco, California
As one of the hilliest cities in the world, San Francisco is known for its steep streets. However, the steepest among them — a portion of Bradford Street in the Bernal Heights neighborhood — isn’t the city’s most famous stretch. That honor surely belongs to Lombard Street. More than 2 million tourists each year flock here to see the so-called “Crookedest Street in the World” — not to mention the many film and TV productions that have filmed on it, including, aptly, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller Vertigo.
The eight rapid-succession hairpin turns on the one-way block between Leavenworth and Hyde Streets make for a dizzying drive down the street’s 27% gradient. The bends were installed in 1922 to make a too-steep roadway navigable by newly popular automobiles, but nearly a century later, the switchbacks now face a potential new challenge. All those visitors tend to create traffic backups and daily nuisances for the residents of Russian Hill, so this stretch of Lombard Street may soon require a reservation. Pedestrians who opt instead for the pretty flower-flanked path alongside the road would almost certainly be exempt — and as always, rewarded with leisurely photo-taking opportunities from top to bottom.
Eldred Street – Los Angeles, California
Given the city’s reputation, you’d be forgiven for thinking San Francisco is home to the steepest street in California. But you’d be mistaken. Eldred Street, located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, boasts a 33.3% grade that extends for more than 400 feet. The stretch was built back in 1912, before the city instituted a maximum 15% grade for new streets. In fact, Eldred Street is one of several super-steep L.A. streets to be built before the restrictions, along with 28th Street in the San Pedro neighborhood and Fargo Street in Silver Lake (home to a popular annual climbing challenge).
As a consequence of its steep grade, those who live on Eldred Street won’t get mail delivered to their mailboxes — instead, the Postal Service uses a special P.O. box at the bottom where residents collect their mail. The city’s waste management service also employs special garbage trucks to serve the notoriously steep street.
Ffordd Pen Llech – Harlech, Wales
The Wales Coast Path, which extends for 870 miles around southwest Great Britain, opened in 2012 as the world’s first coastal path to follow the entire length of a country’s coastline. Those who traverse its length will encounter gorgeous coastal scenery, historic architecture, and notable landmarks along the way, including the U.K.’s smallest city — St. David’s — as well as its steepest street: Ffordd Pen Llech.
Found in the town of Harlech, located in the northwest corner of Wales within Snowdonia National Park, Ffordd Pen Llech has a gradient of 26.8%, according to Guinness World Records. The street is believed to be more than 1,000 years old and is one of several historic attractions in this charming village, which is also home to a 13th-century castle built by Edward I.
Baldwin Street – Dunedin, New Zealand
In 2019, Guinness World Records named the aforementioned Ffordd Pen Llech in Wales the world’s steepest street. The move was considered a bit of an upset, as Ffordd Pen Llech took over the title from the previous record holder, Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand. But local officials in New Zealand weren’t going to give it up without a fight. After arguing that the claimed gradient for Ffordd Pen Llech (37.45%) was inaccurate, Guinness sent a team to reassess the two streets, and Baldwin took back its title in 2020.
Today, many visitors still flock to Baldwin Street to gaze at slanted-roofed homes that appear ready to careen down the asphalt, set at a gradient of 34.8%. Pronounced “done-Eden,” this South Island city sits on a harbor and peninsula belonging to an extinct shield volcano that erupted between 16 million and 10 million years ago. Aside from its record-holding street, Dunedin is also home to New Zealand’s oldest university and its only castle.
Canton Avenue – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Though “avenue” might be overstating the case for something that stretches only about a tenth of a mile, what this quaint, cobbled roadway lacks in length, it more than makes up for in gradient. Located in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Canton Avenue reaches a maximum gradient of 37% — though, like Ffordd Pen Llech and Baldwin Street, this figure has been the subject of debate. Some authorities, including Google Earth, put Canton Avenue’s figure closer to 30%.
Nonetheless, Canton’s incline has been taken as a challenge by everyone from cyclists to runners, who routinely participate in events here. But when a pro race car driver took on the famously steep road during the 2016 Quattro Challenge staged by Audi and Redbull, the result was one of the most memorable car commercials ever — with a skier, biker, and snowboarder barreling down the hill alongside the car.
Waipio Valley Road – Hawaii
Though it doesn’t hold the official Guinness record, Waipio Valley Road on Hawaii’s Big Island might be the steepest street on this list. Though the road’s average gradient is about 25%, some sources have put its maximum grade closer to 40%. The tightly twisting, adrenaline-inducing roadway descends about 900 feet in less than a mile, into a sacred place known in Hawaiian culture as the “Valley of Kings.” It’s where centuries of Hawaiian rulers once lived before the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century.
Unfortunately, if you’re looking to experience the thrill of driving Waipio Valley Road today, you’re out of luck: The road has been closed to nonresident traffic since 2022 due to potentially hazardous conditions, and as of mid-2024, there’s no word of a reopening date.
Featured Stories
