This was one of the main reasons we decided to go to Stavanger a week before everyone else. Hiking Preikestolen is one of those bucket list kind of activities and I didn't want to miss out on hiking up to this world famous spot.
Wet and foggy weather can be a challenge, but we had a perfect day. The reality is I watched the weather forecasts leading up to the hike, and we were kind of keeping the exact date flexible based on the weather. It was the luxury of being in the area long enough combined with my own experiences in the Colorado mountains.
It was an easy 45 minute drive from downtown Stavanger to the parking lot and start of the trail. A lot of the drive was through a tunnel that went underneath the ocean, in order to get over to that part of the area. Side note: but there were so many tunnels in the western part of the country on our trip. There must be a reason it makes more sense that a bunch of bridges, but I digress. It was a great experience alone just driving down, down, down under the ocean and then up, up, up back onto land on the other side.
"Preikestolen (aka Pulpit Rock) is a steep cliff which rises 1,982 ft above Lysefjorden. Atop the cliff, there is an almost flat top of approximately 82 ft × 82 ft. Tourism at the site has been increasing in the early 21st century, with 300,000 visitors in 2024, making it one of the most-visited natural tourist attractions in Norway. BASE jumpers often leap from the cliff. Due to its increased popularity, the most used path to the site (2.4 mi long hike) was improved by Nepalese Sherpas in 2013."
Given how many people visit a year, the start of the hike and parking lots were well developed. There were many facilities, gift shops, and small cafes. As far as the actual hike went, it was pretty easy coming from 7,000 down to sea level and all of us being in pretty decent fitness. Round trip was about 2 hours and 15 minutes of hiking, but we spent just as long at the top and taking pictures. There were all ages and nationalities on the trail, and it wasn't technical but just a few places that were like the Incline. Given the large, panoramic views, it was difficult to tell just how far up we were until some boats came through on the water below. They looked tiny in comparison and gave you a good idea just how far almost a half a mile straight down was in reality.
At the top there were a lot of people, but it wasn't too crowded since we picked a weekday and left early in the morning to avoid too many crowds. The "money shot" picture required standing in a line and waiting for your turn to walk out to the edge while someone with camera was positioned back down the trail a little bit on their own smaller version of a cliff. It wasn't dangerous per se, but it was definitely exposed. It was actually refreshing to see no guardrails or fences anywhere and no one but hikers at the top.
Off to the side of the main area you could climb up a little higher and look back on Preikestolen from above. This vantage point provided the best views and places for pictures. I think this hike alone was worth going to the area, or at the very least, was probably the highlight of the week for this first leg of our trip.
