World’s scariest stairs: Do you dare climb their steps?

Travel Leisure
By Matt Bell, Travel + Leisure
7 minute read
Updated 8:36 PM EDT, Wed September 24, 2014
Angkor Wat's temple stairs in Cambodia were supposedly made steep to remind climbers that heaven is hard to reach.
Angkor Wat Temple Stairs, Cambodia —
Angkor Wat's temple stairs in Cambodia were supposedly made steep to remind climbers that heaven is hard to reach.
LOOK Die Bildagentur der Fotografen GmbH / Alamy
To get to the top of the Verrückt in Kansas, start climbing the 264 steps up to the water slide's tower.
The Verrückt, Kansas —
To get to the top of the Verrückt in Kansas, start climbing the 264 steps up to the water slide's tower.
Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts/FILE
Ecuador's Pailon del Diablo Waterfall —in English, the Devil's Cauldron—are slippery from the mist of the falls. Tread carefully.
Pailon del Diablo Waterfall, Ecuador —
Ecuador's Pailon del Diablo Waterfall —in English, the Devil's Cauldron—are slippery from the mist of the falls. Tread carefully.
Xinhua / Alamy
Yosemite's Half Dome in California has a stunning view--if you can get the permit and the strength to climb up the rock face along a cable ladder for more than 400 vertical feet.
Half Dome, California —
Yosemite's Half Dome in California has a stunning view--if you can get the permit and the strength to climb up the rock face along a cable ladder for more than 400 vertical feet.
iStockphoto
There are 600 feet or so of steep, granite stairs carved by the Inca carved more than 500 years ago into the side of Huayna Picchu at Machu Picchu. The stairs lead to the rarely visited Moon Temple.
Inca Stairs, Peru —
There are 600 feet or so of steep, granite stairs carved by the Inca carved more than 500 years ago into the side of Huayna Picchu at Machu Picchu. The stairs lead to the rarely visited Moon Temple.
National Geographic Image Collection / Alamy
Want to hike up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty, in New York City ? You'll need a ticket and the hamstrings to climb up a cramped, 146-step double-helix spiral staircase with six feet of head clearance.
Statue of Liberty, New York City —
Want to hike up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty, in New York City ? You'll need a ticket and the hamstrings to climb up a cramped, 146-step double-helix spiral staircase with six feet of head clearance.
Steven JM Sinski / NPS
Norway's Florli Power Station has 4,444 steps that will take you up 2,427 feet. Second, It's also the longest staircase in the world made entirely out of wood.
Florli Stairs, Norway —
Norway's Florli Power Station has 4,444 steps that will take you up 2,427 feet. Second, It's also the longest staircase in the world made entirely out of wood.
Karla Brunet
There's no official step count of the Mount Huashan Heavenly Stairs carved into the side of a Taoist mountain in China. But you'll lose count quickly by the end, where you have to walk a three-plank-wide walkway with only a chain to hold, flush against the flat rock wall. Tea awaits you at the top.
Mount Huashan Heavenly Stairs, China —
There's no official step count of the Mount Huashan Heavenly Stairs carved into the side of a Taoist mountain in China. But you'll lose count quickly by the end, where you have to walk a three-plank-wide walkway with only a chain to hold, flush against the flat rock wall. Tea awaits you at the top.
Fredrik Jansson / Alamy
The steps at Janssen Observatory in Mont Blanc, France aren't the challenge. It's where they're located: at the summit of the tallest mountain in the Alps, open to the elements.
Janssen Observatory, France —
The steps at Janssen Observatory in Mont Blanc, France aren't the challenge. It's where they're located: at the summit of the tallest mountain in the Alps, open to the elements.
Derek Latone
The highlight of at the Batu Caves of Malaysia is climbing the 272 steps leading 330 feet up the rock to the main Temple Cave--and making it past the macaque monkeys who might steal snacks and other things out of your bag.
Batu Caves, Malaysia —
The highlight of at the Batu Caves of Malaysia is climbing the 272 steps leading 330 feet up the rock to the main Temple Cave--and making it past the macaque monkeys who might steal snacks and other things out of your bag.
iStockphoto
The spiral staircase to the towers of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, doesn't have a banister to prevent you from falling over the edge while you're walking up or down.
Sagrada Familia, Spain —
The spiral staircase to the towers of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, doesn't have a banister to prevent you from falling over the edge while you're walking up or down.
Kate Hockenhull / Alamy
It's actually illegal to climb the Haiku Stairs in Oahu, Hawaii, and a guard is stationed at the bottom to stop trespassers from trying. <br />
Haiku Stairs, Hawaii —
It's actually illegal to climb the Haiku Stairs in Oahu, Hawaii, and a guard is stationed at the bottom to stop trespassers from trying.
Chris Driscoll / Alamy
There's a steep and slender staircase at the Duomo di Milano in Italy that you'll need to climb to get those spectacular rooftop views.
Duomo di Milano, Italy —
There's a steep and slender staircase at the Duomo di Milano in Italy that you'll need to climb to get those spectacular rooftop views.
Dave Lauridsen
World's scariest stairs

Story highlights

Moon Temple at Machu Picchu can be reached by 600-foot slippery granite steps

The journey to Yosemite's Half Dome requires a long cable ladder

A misstep on any of these staircases can be lethal

CNN  — 

Watch your step as you climb these stairs, whether spiraling up mountains, narrow passageways or sky-scraping attractions.

All is right with the world when you’re gazing down from the rooftop of Milan’s Duomo. That is, until you remember the steep marble stairs that got you there—and are your only way down.

Stairways can leave just as much of an impact on your memory as the places they lead you. Some are so eye-catching they look like they belong in an M.C. Escher painting, while other stairs are downright intimidating, especially when they stand between you and a site you flew halfway across the world to experience.

In Peru, for instance, travelers need to tackle about 600 feet of slippery granite rocks carved into the mountainside to reach the Moon Temple at Machu Picchu. And at Yosemite National Park, you can’t take a selfie at the top of Half Dome without climbing a cable ladder up the rock face for more than 400 feet.

All it takes is a misstep for any old staircase to become treacherous (just ask Jennifer Lawrence), yet some standout for being especially scary.

A set of stairs in Hawaii is so precariously perched that climbing is now illegal. In China, there’s a stairway with an age requirement.

Other stairs are intimidating for more psychological reasons, such as the creaking noises made by the world’s longest wooden stairway in Norway or the eerie atmosphere at “The Stairway to Hell,” part of an abandoned industrial complex in Japan.

Travelers with nerves of steel – and eager for bragging rights – follow these 13 sets of stairs because of what they find at the end, whether a sacred Hindu temple or the top of a spectacular waterfall. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of accomplishment that comes once you’ve taken that last step. Safely, that is.

1. Angkor Wat Temple Stairs, Cambodia

In this super-humid hotbox of Buddhist history, there’s no shame in bowing down on your hands and knees or pulling yourself up with the provided ropes to scale the nearly 70 percent inclined stairs of Angkor Wat’s uppermost temples.

Guides claim the steps were made to be so steep to remind people that heaven was hard to reach—though you might make the same argument about Earth as you try not to tumble on the way down.

2. The Verrückt, Kansas City, Kansas

It takes guts just to reach the starting point of the world’s tallest and fastest water slide, opened 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.

When you’ve summited at 168 feet—that’s one foot taller than Niagara Falls—pat yourself on the back and take a selfie. Then brace yourself for the water slide’s initial 50-foot linear drop, which can reach 65 mph. The only alternative is to turn around and suffer the 17-story walk back down those nauseating steps.

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3. Pailon del Diablo Waterfall, Ecuador

At first it’s lovely to notice that the staircase adjacent to these waterfalls was designed to blend in with the tropical landscape. But consider the name—in English, the Devil’s Cauldron—and the evil tricks the steep steps can play.

They are made of smooth, oversize pebbles that provide little traction, and when you’re looking down, they blend together, creating an optical illusion of a stone slide. They’re also slippery from the constant mist from the falls and even though there’s a metal railing to save you from any spills—but don’t count on that too much—it too is drenched with water droplets.

4. Half Dome, Cable Route, California

What’s between you and the most iconic peak in Yosemite Valley? A seven-mile (one-way) all-incline hike through the wilderness that culminates with climbing up the rock face along a cable ladder for more than 400 vertical feet.

If you’re up for the challenge, snag one of the 300 hard-to-get daily permits available for Half Dome between Memorial Day and mid-October. (Check your footwear and the forecast; rainy conditions have proven fatal.) From the summit, you’ll take in panoramic views of Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra.

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5. Inca Stairs, Peru

At Machu Picchu, 600 feet or so of steep, sl