An article published by the Travel and Leisure magazine showcases the scariest stairs in the world, which “can leave just as much of an impact on your memory as the places they lead you”.
As the magazine notes, some of these staircases are so eye-catching they look like they belong in an M.C. Escher painting, while others are downright intimidating, especially when they stand between you and a site you flew half way across the world to experience.
Travelers with nerves of steel follow these stairs because of what they find at the end, which is usually an amazing attraction and also for the feeling they get, the thrill of accomplishment that comes once you’ve taken that last step and you realize that you are still alive!
These are the 10 scariest stairs in the word
1. Angkor Wat Temple Stairs, Cambodia
In amazing monument of Buddhist history, many travelers are bowing down on their hands and knees or pulling themselves up with the provided ropes to scale the nearly 70% inclined stairs of Angkor Wat’s uppermost temples.
2. The Verrückt, Kansas City, KS
This is world’s tallest and fastest water slide, which opened in July 2014. To get to the top, you’ve got to climb the 264 steps that snake up the slide’s tower in 25 turns.
3. Pailon del Diablo Waterfall, Ecuador
The staircase adjacent to these waterfalls was designed to blend in with the tropical landscape. But the stairs of the Devil’s Cauldron can play evil tricks to the unsuspected traveler.
4. Half Dome, Cable Route, California
How can you reach the most iconic peak in Yosemite Valley? You will have to embark on seven-mile hike through the wilderness that culminates with climbing up the rock face along a cable ladder for more than 400 vertical feet.
5. Inca Stairs, Peru
At Machu Picchu, 600 feet or so of steep, slippery, cloud-covered granite rocks the Inca carved more than 500 years ago into the side of Huayna Picchu, the most famous peak, lead to the rarely visited Moon Temple.
6. Statue of Liberty, New York City
The platform’s only access is via a cramped, 146-step double-helix spiral staircase with just six feet of head clearance, which is teeming with tourists.
7. Flørli Stairs, Norway
Norway’s Flørli Power Station’s stairs will make you gasp as there are 4,444 steps that ascend a staggering 2,427 feet from the bottom. It should be noted that this is the longest staircase in the world made entirely out of wood.
8. Mount Huashan Heavenly Stairs, China
There’s no official count of steps on this huge staircase, carved into a sacred Taoist mountain. Perhaps because anyone attempting to conquer it has lost count, distracted by the dizzying drop and its threat of death
9. Janssen Observatory, Mont Blanc, France
The steps are short and sweet. What can make these stairs squeamish is their placement at the summit of the tallest mountain in the Alps, when they’re open to the elements — strong winds and freezing temperatures.
10. Batu Caves, Malaysia
One of the most important Hindu holy sites outside of India is this series of cave shrines nestled into the side of a mountain about eight miles from Kuala Lumpur. The highlight: accomplishing the ascent of 272 steps that lead 330 feet up the rock to the main Temple Cave.
