Imagine walking up a street so steep that every 10 steps forward takes you nearly 4 steps upward. That's the reality of Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand—officially the world's steepest street according to Guinness World Records.

This residential road in the suburb of North East Valley climbs 47.2 meters over just 161.2 meters of pavement, creating a maximum gradient of 34.8% (officially measured as 19 degrees, with some sections hitting 21 degrees). To put that in perspective, most highways consider a 6% grade to be steep.

A Title Worth Fighting For

Baldwin Street first earned its Guinness recognition in 1987, and for decades nobody questioned it. But in July 2019, a Welsh street called Ffordd Pen Llech challenged the record, claiming a gradient of 37.45%.

The title briefly went to Wales, sparking outrage in New Zealand. The dispute came down to measurement methodology—should steepness be measured along the centerline of the road or from the very steepest point? After an extensive review, Guinness ruled that the central axis was the proper standard. Under that measurement, Baldwin Street's 34.8% crushed Ffordd Pen Llech's 28.6%, and in April 2020, the title returned to Dunedin.

Living on a Landmark

The street is fully residential, meaning actual people live in houses along this near-vertical slope. Residents park their cars at extreme angles, and some properties have driveways that require serious engineering. The upper section is paved with concrete rather than asphalt because standard road tar would literally flow downhill on hot summer days.

Baldwin Street has become a tourist attraction, with visitors from around the world making the pilgrimage to walk or run up its 350-meter length. Every year, it hosts the "Baldwin Street Gutbuster," a race where competitors sprint to the top and back down. The street has also been used for charity events where thousands of chocolate candy balls are released to roll down simultaneously.

An Accidental Record

The street's extreme steepness wasn't intentional. Dunedin was planned in London by people who had never seen the terrain. They simply laid out a grid system on paper, and when surveyors arrived in New Zealand, they implemented the plan regardless of hills, valleys, or common sense. Baldwin Street was the result of following that rigid grid over an exceptionally steep hillside.

Today, this planning mistake has become one of New Zealand's most photographed streets—a 350-meter testament to the fact that sometimes the most interesting places are created entirely by accident.

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