Sydney Cycling Climbs: Mapped, Ranked & Compared

Sydney is full of hills. It always surprises me how much I’ve climbed even on a short day.

The first hill I ever really noticed was Kissing Point. Mainly because I lived at the bottom of it, and my first job was at the Commonwealth Bank at Turramurra — now closed — at the top. Each day I rode that hill on a clunker, in a suit and work shoes. No lycra, no work showers back then.

That hill broke me, and I’ve studied hills intensely ever since. Some I avoid like the plague — Awaba, I’m looking at you. Others I’ve always enjoyed: Bobbin Head East is a favourite. My inner nerd built this app. I hope you enjoy it too.

Here are some of Sydney’s most notorious hills, for your riding pleasure. Tap any climb to load it on the map and run the calculator; tick up to three to compare them side by side. Sort by difficulty to see the toughest first, or by gradient and distance to find the climb that suits the day.

Active Route

Difficulty

Dist

Avg

Elev

Target ascent time 5m 0s

Speed

km/h

VAM

m/h

Climb	Suburb	Difficulty	Dist (km)	Avg %	Elev (m)
Awaba St	Mosman	Brutal	0.4	14.3%	57
Coronation Ave (HQ) 👑	Mosman	Moderate	0.6	7.5%	45
Parriwi Rd	Mosman	Easy	1.4	5.7%	80
Taronga Zoo	Mosman	Moderate	1.8	4.2%	88
Galston Gorge (West)	Galston	Hard	3.1	5.9%	183
Galston Gorge (East)	Hornsby	Hard	3.1	5.2%	161
Bobbin Head (West)	Mt Colah	Hard	2.9	6.0%	174
Bobbin Head (East)	N Turramurra	Hard	3.7	4.6%	170
Berowra Waters (West)	Berowra Heights	Brutal	3.4	5.8%	197
Berowra Waters (East)	Berowra Waters	Brutal	3.8	5.4%	205
Akuna Bay (West)	Terrey Hills	Hard	2.7	5.2%	140
Akuna Bay (East)	Terrey Hills	Hard	3.5	4.0%	140
McCarrs Creek Rd	Church Point	Moderate	2.8	4.1%	115
Church Pt (to McCarrs)	Church Point	Moderate	2.5	4.5%	112
Palm Beach	Palm Beach	Easy	1.5	5.0%	75
Crosslands	Hornsby Heights	Hard	1.6	8.0%	128
Kissing Point Rd	S Turramurra	Moderate	1.5	6.5%	98
Artarmon Reserve	Artarmon	Moderate	0.8	7.5%	60
Coogee Bay Rd	Coogee	Moderate	0.9	6.8%	61
Bronte Rd	Bronte	Hard	0.7	8.5%	60
Maroubra Rd	Maroubra	Easy	1.1	5.5%	60
Military Rd	Watsons Bay	Easy	1.2	6.0%	72
Como to Sutherland	Como	Moderate	3.1	2.6%	95

pointsbrotherhood.com · climbs v1.0

Using the calculator

Drop a target ascent time on the slider and the tool gives you two numbers: the speed that time demands, and the VAM — metres climbed per hour, the figure climbers actually compare themselves on. It’s a quick way to set a realistic goal before you ride a climb, or to work out why your time on a steep one feels harder than the clock suggests.

The label beside each climb — Easy, Moderate, Hard or Brutal — rates how tough it is to ride, not just how steep it looks. A long steady drag and a short savage wall can both earn “Brutal” for completely different reasons: one wears you down over kilometres, the other empties your legs in a few hundred metres. Awaba, all 22% of it, sits at the top despite being one of the shortest on the list.

💡 Pro Tip A short climb with a gentle average can still hide a pitch that empties your legs — which is why the difficulty rating looks at how steep a climb gets, not just its length. Sort by difficulty to line the climbs up by how hard they actually ride, then by gradient or distance to fine-tune.

Where I’ve added a Strava link to a climb, you can jump straight to the segment for the leaderboard and your own times. Those go in as I match them up. GPX downloads are coming the same way — climb by climb, as I record clean tracks.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hardest cycling climb in Sydney?

The hardest climbs on the list are the ones marked Brutal — either long sustained efforts or short savagely steep walls. Sort the table by difficulty or by elevation gain to bring the toughest climbs to the top. The long Berowra Waters and Galston Gorge climbs rank among the hardest, as does Awaba Street for sheer steepness.

What do Easy, Moderate, Hard and Brutal mean for a climb?

They rate how demanding a climb is to ride, taking the harder of two measures: how much height it gains overall, and how steep it gets. That way a long gentle drag and a short steep wall are both judged on the effort they actually take. Brutal is the toughest, Easy the most forgiving — though “easy” is relative on a Sydney hill.

How is each climb’s category calculated?

Each climb is rated on the harder of two things: its total elevation gain, which captures the long grinds, and its gradient, which captures the short steep walls. A climb that’s punishing on either measure is rated accordingly, so a 400-metre ramp at 14% and a near-four-kilometre drag can both land as Brutal — they hurt in different ways, but they both hurt.

What is the steepest climb in Sydney?

Sydney’s steepest climbs are short, sharp pitches rather than long drags — the kind found around Mosman and the eastern beaches, where the road kicks up hard over a few hundred metres. The difficulty rating accounts for how steep a climb gets, so sorting by difficulty brings the steepest efforts toward the top alongside the longer, tougher grinds.

What does VAM mean in the calculator?

VAM is metres of elevation climbed per hour — the number climbers use to compare efforts across climbs of different lengths and gradients. A higher VAM means you’re gaining height faster. Drop a target time on the slider and the tool shows the VAM that time would require.

Are these climbs suitable for beginners?

Some are, some aren’t. The Easy and Moderate climbs are a fair place to start, while the Hard and Brutal ones are long or steep enough to test a fit rider. Filter by category or sort by distance and gradient to find the gentler climbs before working up to the harder ones.

Can I get GPX files or routes for these climbs?

GPX downloads are being added climb by climb as I record clean tracks of each one — where a climb has a file ready, a download button appears on it. Where I’ve linked the Strava segment, you can pull the route from there in the meantime.

Will you add Melbourne climbs?

Melbourne is next — I add climbs as I ride them, so the list grows rather than launching complete. In the meantime I’ve written up plenty of Melbourne riding already, linked below. If a climb you rate isn’t here, it’s almost always because I haven’t ridden it yet — let me know and I’ll put it on the list.

More riding from Points Brotherhood

Melbourne climbs are going into the tool as I ride them, but there’s already a stack of Victorian riding worth your time: the top 5 gravel rides from Melbourne and four gravel rail trails a short drive from the city, all rideable as day trips.

If you’re chasing climbs overseas, I’ve ridden and written up a few: gravel rides out of Munich on the S-Bahn, the EuroVelo 7 from Burghausen to Bolzano, and seven days through Bordeaux and the Dordogne.

Using the calculator

Frequently asked questions

More riding from Points Brotherhood

Drew