Magnetic Hill

A stretch of road that appears to roll uphill — Moncton's signature optical illusion

Address Mountain Rd, Moncton, NB

Magnetic Hill is the Moncton attraction that everyone has heard of and most visitors will tick off in twenty minutes. You drive your car down to the marked line at the bottom of the hill, put it in neutral, and watch it appear to coast backward up the slope. The effect is convincing — even when you know it is an illusion, the brain refuses to read it correctly.

There is a fee for the road itself (collected in a small booth at the top), and the surrounding complex includes a small zoo, a water park, a Magic Mountain amusement park, and a concert venue that hosts large summer shows. The Magnetic Hill experience by itself is cheap; the rest of the complex is more variable. If you can, come on a quiet weekday morning before the tour buses arrive.

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A story
Magnetic Hill has fooled drivers since the 1930s, when local farmers noticed cars seemed to roll back up the slope on their own. The effect is a gravity-hill illusion — the surrounding landscape tilts the horizon so a gentle downhill looks like an uphill — but the show is genuinely strange, and the spot was popular enough by mid-century to become one of Atlantic Canada's first paid roadside attractions.