Preikelstolen or Pulpit rock is a major tourist destination of Norway. Pulpit rock is easily accessible compared to other hikes of Norway. Most people start their hike at around morning time and they reach the rock at around noon. It gets very crowded around noon time at the rock. I wanted to skip the crowd during my trip to the rock that’s why I decided to book my tour from https://outdoorlifenorway.com/preikestolen-sunrise-hike/. I flew from Amsterdam to Stavanger and stayed there for 3 days. First day I went on a guided hike to Kjerarg Bolten. I returned from the Kjerarg hike at around 6 PM. My Pulpit rock hike was scheduled at around midnight.
It is very expensive to travel around Norway if you don’t have your own car. The public transport network is not that great in Norway. It is always a challenging task to reach the hike starting point from the nearby town at your convenience. The taxis are very expensive in Norway. I reached Stavanger at around 10 pm and the Taxi Fare from the Airport to the town was 50 USD. It is always a wise decision to book a guided tour because if you miss ferry or the bus then you might have to wait longer time in order to find suitable accommodation. Pulput rock is situated near stunning Lysefjord fjord. Lysefjord is one of the major fjords of Norway. Pulpit rock is situated 604 m above stunning Lysefjord. Pulpit rock is one of the most photographed spot of Norway.
I was picked up from my hotel at around 1 am by our guide. After driving for about 15 minutes we reached a pier. We were 6 if us in the group from different parts of the world. We waited for the ship for about 10 minutes. The ship was primarily used for helping cars and trucks to cross the sea. We went inside the ship and sat inside the car for 45 minutes. After crossing the fjord we drove for another 30 minutes to reach the hike starting point. The trail to Pulpit rock starts from Preikestolen Mountain Lodge. If you are using public transport then you have to take ferry to Tau from Stavanger. You can take taxi from Tau to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge which is the starting point of the hike. The hike to Pulpit rock is very straightforward from the mountain lodge but we had to start our hike in total darkness. We started our hike at around 3 am and it was foggy. Our guide told us that we should take about 2-3 hours time to reach the Pulpit rock from the Lodge. The hike was properly marked and the path was laid out by the sherpas of Nepal. It was little steep hike for the 1st hour but then the terrain became flat eventually towards the second half of the hike. You don’t need any special hiking gear for this hike. During the summer time the sunrise happens at around 4 am in the morning and we stopped using our lights at around 4 am. We saw lot of waterfalls, streams and small lakes on the way to Pulpit rock. Melting of ice during the summer months created lot of small lakes around the hiking trail. The hike is not that physically demanding because you gain elevation gradually. We didn’t see any other people during the hike so we were very hopefull that we will find the entire rock to just ourselves. You are not allowed to fly your drone near the Pulpit rock area. We saw number of people camping around the Pulpit rock area. Camping is also a great alternative if you are planning to spend a night at the Pulpit rock. I will strongly recommend to have extra caution during the hike because some section of the trail is very narrow. You need to be extra careful while hiking near Pulpit rock area because this part of the mountain is known for steep cliffs. Please don’t deviate from the marked hiking trail.
After hiking for about 2 hours we had the first glimpse of Pulpit rock. The rock was absolutely incredible and I shouted very loud with excitement. There were less than 10 people on top of the rock and it was a great opportunity to take some nice photos. We couldn’t see the sunrise properly because it was foggy and the visibility was low. Pulpit Rock plateau is only 25m *25m in size. The rock was created around 10000 years ago because of the expansion of ice. We waited for around 1.5 hours at the rock and we took lot of photos. Most of the time the weather was foggy and the visibility was poor. But we had a great window of 15 minutes where the visibility was great. I used this opportunity to take some great photos of Pulpit rock. All the people were very friendly and we helped each other to take our favorite pictures. If you start you hike during day time then will most likely see lot of tourists sitting on the rock. I climbed the mountain behind the rock and took some nice photos of the rock from the top. The rock is actually almost square in shape.
We started heading down at around 7am and we reached the hike starting point at around 9 am. The hiking trail looked completely different because we did the hike during night time. We saw lot of group tourists at the start of the trail on our way down. Overall it was great experience with Outdoorlife Norway. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. He shared with us lot of things about the construction of the trail, the animals living around fjords and Norwegian weather.
I paid total 1390 NOK for the guided hike to Pulpit rock. Our hike included return transfer to hotels situated near Stavanger area. Hiking poll and head lamp for the hike were provided by our tour operator. After reaching the car parking area we had a delicious breakfast buffet at Preikestolen Fjellstue hotel. The buffet spread was amazing and it was also included in the trip. I was very tired after the hike because i did Kjerarg hike the previous day and I rested for about 5 hours after the Kjerarg hike. After a heavy delicious breakfast I fall asleep very fast. I believe we must have followed the same path back to Stavanger. I was having a great nap and someone wake me up. Our guide told me that we reached your hotel. I thanked him for being amazing throughout the entire trip. Overall my experience with Outdoorlife Norway was exceptional and I will strongly recommend everyone to use this company if you are planning to take the guided tour.
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