I was traveling in Norway for 8 days during the summer season. My primary goal of traveling around Norway was hiking. I was planning to hike to Kjeragbolten & Pulpit rock from Stavanger. Stavanger airport is located about 20 minutes drive from Stavanger town. Stavanger is a small port town located in Southwestern part of Norway. Stavanger is the third biggest city of Norway but it doesn’t feel like a big city at all. Stavanger was famous for Shipbuilding and Fish canning before the discovery of Oil in the 1970s. Stavanger is considered as the Oil capital of Norway. It is a small but very affluent city. The cost of living is high here like other parts of Scandinavia. I arrived at Stavanger airport from Amsterdam at around 10 pm. It was not yet dark but there were no Airport buses to Stavanger Town at that time. During summer time you have long days and it is perfect for hiking. The sunset usually occurs at 1030 pm and sunrise usually occurs at 330 am. I took taxi from the Airport to the town. Norway is one of the most expensive countries in Europe and I paid around 50 USD for 20 minutes taxi ride. Stavanger is a beautiful little coastal town of Norway. I stayed in Stavanger for 3 days. I hiked Pulpit rock and Kjeragbolten for two days and one day I used to explore different tourist areas of Stavanger.
1.Stavanger catherdral
Stavanger cathedral is located just at the entrance of Stavanger town center. The architecture of the Cathedral is very unique. I couldn’t enter the Cathedral because restoration work of the Cathedral was going on during my visit. The Cathedral is one of the oldest church of Norway and it was constructed in 12th century. The church was rebuilt once in 12th century and another time in 19th century. The wall of the Cathedral is constructed from carefully placed stones.
2. Stavanger Byparken
Byparken is a small park located near the town center of Stavanger. The park is popular among tourists and locals. The park is located next to Stavanger bus stop. Breiavatnet lake is located inside Byparken park and the lake is famous for the fountain located at the middle of the lake. The park was a great place to relax myself after two tough days of hiking. There are lot of benches around the park. You will see lot of swans and ducks around the lake.
3. Valberg Tower
Valberg Tower is located just next to Market Square. The tower was used as a watch tower. It was built in the middle of 19th century. The tower is located on top of the hill and you get great views of the city from tower. The watchman’s job was to alert everyone in case of fire. The tower was closed during my visit so i couldn’t enter inside the tower. The vibe around the tower is pretty cool and most tourists enjoy the positive vibe around the tower by resting on the garden located in front of the tower.
4. Stavanger Town Center
Stavanger Town Center is very small compared to other Town Centers of Europe. You can easily cover the entire area by foot. The Town Center has a mall at the center. You will find number of restaurants, Cafes and shops around the Town Center. Stavanger Town Center is a great place to take some nice Instagram shots. You will find number of colorful houses around the area. The food at the stalls are really expensive but since you are a tourist you don’t have much alternative.
5. Gamle Stavanger
Gamle Stavanger is located on the other side of the Ovre Holmegate. If you are in the Ovre Holmegate area, then you have to retrace all the way back and walk to the other side of the Vagen bay. Gamle Stavanger is a popular tourist area of Stavanger. Stavanger was heavily damaged during Second World War. Some parts of the town were rebuilt after World War 2. Gamle Stavanger is a old neighborhood of Stavanger. There are around 200 wooden buildings around the area. The wooden buildings are situated on both sides of the Cobblestone lane. After the 19th century preservation work, the neighborhood became one of the most sort after area in Stavanger. Gamle Stavanger is one of the oldest wooden house settlement in Europe. You can easily spend couple of hours at this place during your visit. The area looks absolutely beautiful with colorful houses, flowers and gardens. Gamle Stavanger is located far from the Stavanger town center. I visited the place during afternoon time and there were not enough tourists at the area. I enjoyed the opportunity to click some beautiful pictures. The area is not full of shops and it is not that touristy. You will find some small shops around the area.
6. Stavanger Harbour
Stavanger is a small town established around its harbor. During my visit to Stavanger I spotted a beautiful cruise ship. There are lot of restaurants situated near the harbor. It was a weekend so the place was very crowded with tourists and locals. I also saw a local band playing at the harbor. The waterfront area is beautiful with colorful restaurants and cafes. The vibes around the place was absolutely incredible and you can easily spend hours at the waterfront. The view of Stavanger town is absolutely beautiful from the Gamle Stavanger side of the harbor. You might have to queue long time in order to get an outside table but it is completely worth it. The food is pricey but the atmosphere is completely worth it. The other side of Harbor is very quiet and there are some souvenir shops located in this area. If you are not interested In eating at fancy restaurants then you can always opt to eat at the street food stalls located in the area.
7. Ovre Holmegate
Ovre Holmegate is the most colorful street of Norway. The street went through proper restoration in the year 2005. The street is full of colorful houses. Ovre Holmegate is one of the most Instagram-worthy places in Norway. You will find lot of restaurants and souvenir shops around the street. The street was full of vibrant color and thankfully it was not crowded like the waterfront. I will strongly recommend to take a seat outside a café and enjoy the beautiful vibes. The painting of the houses includes different color schemes like shades of Green, Yellow and Pink. Ovre Holmegate is located towards the east side of the bay. The street is located just next the Town center behind the Harbourfront.
8. Pulpit Rock
Pulpit rock is a popular hike in Norway. Pulpit rock is much easier to hike compared to Kjerargbolten and Trolltunga. The hike is also easily accessible from Stavanger. During summer times it gets really crowded at the top of the rock and you will not get good opportunity to take nice photos of the rock. I decided to start my hike around midnight time so that I can escape the crowd and reach the rock early morning. Most hikers start their hike early morning and they reach the rick around noon time. I had no transport with me that’s why I decided to book my guided tour from Outdoorlife Norway. It was an amazing guided tour and our guide was very friendly. Pulpit rock is flat topped cliff which rises 600m above the fjord. There is a steep drop at the edge of Pulpit rock. I was picked up from my hotel in Stavanger at around midnight and I came back to my hotel at around noon time. The weather was perfect during my hike and I had perfect view of fjord from the rock. The buffet breakfast was included in the hike. I came back from Kjeragbolten hike at around 5pm and my hike to Pulpit rock was scheduled at around midnight. I did back to back hike in a span of 36 hours and I took only 6 hours rest in between. If you are physically fit and if you are in good shape then you can easily manage both the hikes back to back. I have written an entire post about my hiking experience to Pulpit rock with Outdoorlife Norway. Please checkout my blog post here. Recently the Pulpit rock hike has become very popular because it was featured in Mission Impossible Fallout movie. You can check out my post about hiking Pulpit Rock here.
9. Kjeragbolten Hike
Kjeragbolten hike is located far from Stavanger town. I will strongly recommend to join a guided tour if you are planning to hike Kjeragbolten because it is not easiest place to get to. If you don’t have your own mode of transport and you are not planning to take guided tour, then you can take bus from Stavanger bus station to Kjeragbolten hike starting point. The bus leaves at around 7.30 am from Stavanger and reaches the hike starting point at 10 am. The bus return from the hike starting point to Stavanger at around 4pm. So you have basically 6 hours to complete the hike. I didn’t want to rush the hike to Kjeragbolten that’s why i decided to take guided tour. The round trip bus ticket cost about 640 NOK and the guided hike to the mountain costs about 1390 NOK.
I booked my guided hike from Outdoorlife Norway and it was epic. Our guide was very funny and experienced. The hike was long and tedious. We never felt the hike to be really demanding because our guide was entertaining us with nice jokes throughout the hike and he was also educating us about different beautiful parts of Norway. The mountain is located at the height of 1084m.
The mountain is famous for a round rock stuck between mountain crevice. The boulder is a popular spot for photography among tourists. Most tourists stand on boulder and take their memorable photographs. The spot has become more popular in Instagram and more tourists are hiking to take that epic shot. We were a group of six people and only two of us decided to stand on the boulder. I initially backed out because it was too scary. You will directly fall 1000m to the ground if you fall from the rock. Our guide was really helpful and he told me exactly how to do it. I followed his instructions and completed the move. I felt really happy after sitting on the rock because it was in my bucket list for long time and I wanted to do it. I was also really scared because I was not sure whether to do it or not. You can read my complete post about hiking Kjeragbolten here.
10. Lysefjord Cruise
Lysefjord cruise was part of my itinerary during my guided hike to Kjeragbolten. We started early morning from Stavanger and after around 30 minutes ride we stopped at a small pier. We waited at the pier for around 10 minutes for our ferry. The ferry was mostly full of tourists planning to hike Kjeragbolten. After the boat left the pier we immediately went to the open deck area. The view of the fjord was absolutely stunning from the deck. The visibility at higher altitude was not that great because of foggy weather. Our guide pointed us towards Pulpit rock. The top of the rock was completely covered with fog and we couldn’t see anything. The little red colored houses situated on the banks were looking absolutely beautiful. The mountains were almost vertical and they looked like a huge wall. The dark colored mountains were giving perfect complement to beautiful blue colored water of the Fjord. You will also see lot of waterfalls during your cruise. The first stop of our ferry ride was Florli. We saw number of tourists get down at this stop. Florli 4444 is the longest staircase in the world and it is one of the popular hikes in Stavanger area. If you are planning to do just the cruise then you can book our cruise from Rodnecruise.no. After cruising for around 2 hours we finally got down at our spot for Kjeragbolten hike The cruise was absolutely beautiful. We took a normal ferry but If you are not hiking I strongly advice to book a specific tour to Lysefjord. I will strongly advice to cruise the fjord in the afternoon time so that you can enjoy great views of the cliffs from the viewing deck.
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