25 Precarious Places Around the World

Known as the Road of Death, the 38-mile Yungas road connects the Amazon Rain Forest to La Paz, Bolivia. There is not a single guardrail and in many places, the road isn’t any wider than 10 feet. With between 200 and 300 people careening through their deaths every year, it is considered by many to be the most dangerous road on Earth.

As one of the highest and longest suspension bridges in the Alps, nothing more than a couple thrift planks of wood and some steel cables separate hikers from the icy glacier hundreds of feet below.

Located in County Clare these cliffs cater to millions of visitors every year with everyone from die-hard adrenaline junkies to laid back photographers enjoying the view.

Yes, what you see is real. With nothing more than a chain to grasp with your hands and flimsy boards nailed into the mountain for your feet, the ascent to the top of this mountain will make your palms sweat just thinking about it.

At over a thousand feet up this long span suspension bridge is one of the highest in the world. Although driving over the top should be relatively safe, working underneath the bridge can definitely make for some precarious situations.

Although in the early 20th century this peak was declared perfectly inaccessible, since then thousands of hikers have made the steep climb up its rocky slope with the assistance of a couple of cables attached to the top.

When you think of precariously positioned places, probably one of the last things to come to mind would be a castle. The Swallows Nest in Ukraine, however, was built directly over the edge of a cliff overlooking the Black Sea.

Legend has it that the hanging temple in China’s Shanxi Province was built by one man. 1500 years later it still stands, or hangs, off the edge of a cliff almost 300 feet above the riverbed below.

This world-famous rock is precariously locked between two cliffs on Mount Kjerag in Norway. Every year it attracts thousands of visitors bold enough to get their picture taken standing (or crawling) on it. Just don’t look down.

On the 116th floor of the CN Tower, there is a sidewalk that loops around the outside of the building. Every year between the months of May and October tourists can strap themselves in and lean out over the city to get a spine-tingling adrenaline rush.