Ugh. One look at this street will make your stomach turn. Catch the trolley and get a picture of Lombard Street from above, and avoid walking down this crooked, hilly disaster.

I thought this was soooo cool. Our cable car was blocked by a truck, so the driver let us watch the street. There are always cars going down the hill, and people actually live on Lombard Street's crooked part!!!

http://www.sftravel.com/lomabardcrookedstreet.html

Lombard St. is the most crooked street in the world. It runs from Hyde to Levenworth streets. It's most fun to drive along and hit the sharp turns, rather than walking down the stairs. I wait till the path clears before going down, so I can build up a little speed going down instead of just crawling slowly behind the next vehicle.

 

If doing a driving tour of the city, this street will probably be on your list. It is located between Leavenworth, at the top, and Hyde, at the bottom.

In case you don't know, it's a very steep street that was built back in the 20's, in a back and forth, slow, one-way (down) direction. Thus, the stunning views of the city, the bay, and even the golden gate bridge (far away off in the corner), are accentuated.

The backside of Lombard Street, where you have to wait in line for your turn to go down the other side, is almost as steep going up as the famous other side is going down. In other words, manual or automatic, be good at working your rental's transmission.

Of course, after waiting about 20 minutes for our turn, we got to the very top to see people turning right in front of us from Leavenworth Street, so you may be able to use that as a way to get to the top instead.

Enjoy the pictures!

This is the really famous, really curvy street. You may have seen it in movies, or you may have heard about it. Either way, if you haven't driven it, you haven't experienced it. The most famous strip is really quite short. The streets around the area are also anything but level. You'll find yourself going up and down steep hills, sharing the street with the trolley (cable car?). I found the stop signs at the top of all the hills a bit disturbing. I would advise you to stay away if you have a stick-shift car.