Pulpit Rock from Stavanger while your cruise ship is in port....

....yes, you can do it!

4 lonely musketeers set out on June 14 to climb Preikestolen aka Pulpit Rock while their cruise ship holding 3000 passengers docked in Stavanger.

The cruise line did not offer an excursion for the hike. We are avid DIY-ers anyways and I did a lot of my own research. I was for once thrilled to find out that our time in port had changed to 7am until 4pm. Since we were visiting Stavanger on a Sunday, the ferry and bus connections to reach the mountain lodge, which is the base for the hike, are fairly limited. E had to catch the 7:30 am ferry from Stavanger to Tau and then take a bus to the parking lot of the Preikestolen mountain lodge, which corresponds with the ferry, to stand a chance.

We waited at the gangway until the ship was cleared and we're off by 7:05. It was an easy 10 minute walk from the ship to the ferry and since Stavanger is not really a big city, it was easy to find. We purchased our one way tickets for ferry( NOK 49) and bus( NOK 80) and arrived at the mountain lodge parking lot around 8:30.

This will be the last opportunity to use the restrooms for the next 5 hours or so, so plan accordingly and take advantage of the facilities while you can! We started the hike soon after. The weather was great, no rain, but cool...

I have to tell you that the hike is physically demanding, but very doable if you are used to climbing or work out on a regular basis and do not have knee issues. Ben and I are in our early 50's and run 3 miles a day. I prepared myself for the hike by setting the incline on my treadmill to 8 while running. Ben rides his Pedal Electric Motorcycle every chance he gets. Both of us really had no issues. There are some very steep, rocky and uneven parts, which are followed by easier sections which allowed us to recover very fast.

I would highly recommend wearing hiking boots for the climb just to protect your ankles. I personally also used trekking poles to take pressure of my knees.

The following photos will show some of the beautiful and breath taking scenery we experienced and hopefully will give you an idea about the difficulty of the hike. I hope it will inspire other cruisers to attempt it.

So, here we are, the base of the trail. 2 hours to go uphill, mastering 1000 feet in elevation on a 2.4 mile long trail

The first part is of the trail is very easy

....yes, you can do it!

4 lonely musketeers set out on June 14 to climb Preikestolen aka Pulpit Rock while their cruise ship holding 3000 passengers docked in Stavanger.

The cruise line did not offer an excursion for the hike. We are avid DIY-ers anyways and I did a lot of my own research. I was for once thrilled to find out that our time in port had changed to 7am until 4pm. Since we were visiting Stavanger on a Sunday, the ferry and bus connections to reach the mountain lodge, which is the base for the hike, are fairly limited. We had to catch the 7:30 am ferry from Stavanger to Tau and then take a bus to the parking lot of the Preikestolen mountain lodge, which corresponds with the ferry, to stand a chance.

We waited at the gangway until the ship was cleared and we're off by 7:05. It was an easy 10 minute walk from the ship to the ferry and since Stavanger is not really a big city, it was easy to find. We purchased our one way tickets for ferry( NOK 49) and bus( NOK 80) and arrived at the mountain lodge parking lot around 8:30.

This will be the last opportunity to use the restrooms for the next 5 hours or so, so plan accordingly and take advantage of the facilities while you can! We started the hike soon after. The weather was great, no rain, but cool...

I have to tell you that the hike is physically demanding, but very doable if you are used to climbing or work out on a regular basis and do not have knee issues. Ben and I are in our early 50's and run 3 miles a day. I prepared myself for the hike by setting the incline on my treadmill to 8 while running. Ben rides his Pedal Electric Motorcycle every chance he gets. Both of us really had no issues. There are some very steep, rocky and uneven parts, which are followed by easier sections which allowed us to recover very fast.

I would highly recommend wearing hiking boots for the climb just to protect your ankles. I personally also used trekking poles to take pressure of my knees.

The following photos will show some of the beautiful and breath taking scenery we experienced and hopefully will give you an idea about the difficulty of the hike. I hope it will inspire other cruisers to attempt it.

So, here we are, the base of the trail. 2 hours to go uphill, mastering 1000 feet in elevation on a 2.4 mile long trail

The first part is of the trail is very easy

Sorry, I am having issues with posting pictures. More to follow tomorrow!

....sorry for the duplicate post above. Hopefully my picture posting issues have been resolved

The trail starts out fairly easy. It was greatly improved by Sherpas who did a great job in creating steps out of larger rocks.

Nevertheless, there are lots of uneven surfaces and roots

In one of our "recovery areas" we got a good view of the lodge, parking area and the buses

A little higher up we could actually spot the Caribbean Princess in Stavanger

The scenery was great

Ssislnadgirl,

Thanks for the useful details about climbing Pulpit Rock. We plan to do the same. Hope that our itinerary also changes to earlier ship arrival. Your photos are lovely.

In some areas a boardwalk leads across mud and soft surfaces

The last steep part of the hike was the most demanding part in my opinion due to large rocks and a serious incline. The red T in the photo below assured us hikers that we were still on the right path

The hike was pretty tough, but the reward was this unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing view of Lysefjord

and then finally around the corner our first glimpse of Pulpit Rock. It was an incredible sight and just about made me cry!

After a few more minutes we arrived at the top of the plateau. As you can see, there are no barriers, ropes or railings. I crawled to the edge to look down. It drops 1800 feet!

Some people sat down on the edge and waived to us

Since it was only about 10:30 in the morning, the plateau was not very crowded at all. We enjoyed the wonderful views for a short while

We decided to have a quick snack and then hike up another 15 minutes to experience the view of Preikestolen from a higher elevation

The obligatory photo.....we did it!!

A few more impressions from up top

We finally broke loose from this fascinating place and decided to start the descent to our "bus terminal".

Since we were hiking on a Sunday, the bus schedule was shortened. I contacted a taxi company ahead of time to pick us up at the mountain lodge and take us to the ferry in Tau. It would have set us back over $100 (NOK 800) for the cab, but it was worth it for us.

Well, to make a long story short....we caught the last bus before their looong Sunday lunch break. We had to run for the last 300 yards up to the parking lot, but we did not need to call the cab. The descent took us about 1.5 hrs trying to go as fast as we could. The trail was getting very busy and we had to stop a lot to let hikers on their way up pass by.

It really was an experience of a lifetime.

All of us are relaxing in the lounge area of the ferry back to Stavanger. Too bad Larry is not in the photo. We should have asked another passenger to take our group shot.

We arrived back in Stavanger with over an hour before "all on board" and took our time walking through the charming town. There are lots of restaurants, cafes and cute little stores. This street was especially picturesque

Our cruise ship is towering above all the houses and can't be missed

We were back on the ship by 3:30, exhausted, sore and hungry, but feeling incredibly accomplished!

Our first day in a Norwegian port was a huge success :) :)

Loving the pictures - great work.

I got vertigo just by looking at them:D

Loving the pictures - great work.

I got vertigo just by looking at them:D

Thanks again, Lars

As said before, we could not have done lots of our excursions without your help! You are the best!

Regards

Petra

Thanks again, Lars

 

As said before, we could not have done lots of our excursions without your help! You are the best!

Regards

Petra

Petra - you make me blush:D:D

Your detailed review and picture will help many wanting to do the same tour.

....cant wait for more...:)

I had no idea Pulpit Rock was doable from Stavanger in the time we had there. I shall store that info up for next time.

Did you climb up to the view point in Andalsnes too? That was an amazing view from the top.

Wonderful review!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What a great review and it whets the appetite for our trip in 3 weeks time.

Like you, we're in our early 50's and researched all options, but for the first time ever we've we opted to book an excursion via cruise company (Holland America) due to time constraints. Thanks again!

Fantastic day. How wonderful. Thanks for the pictures.

If all else fails and you're late, maybe you could hang-glide directly on deck.

WOW! That is incredible and what perfect weather you had!

Thanks so much - I'm hoping to eventually take my family to Norway and can safely say now that I will not be able to hike with toddlers to the top of Pulpit Rock (I'm sure someone braver than me has achieved this goal, but it won't be me!). These are lovely pictures, and it really helps me plan when trips will work.

My wife and I made it up Pulpit Rock last week, organised through the ship due to concerns over time. We met young and old, and on two legs and four! Would highly recommend the trip, even if it's raining.

Hi, myself and my husband would love to do this hike, we are in Stavanger at the start of September on a week day but our cruise ship times are 9am arrival leaving at 5pm. I've looked at the ferry times and there is one at 9:20 arriving at the beginning of the hike by 10:30. Is this doable at all do you think or simply too tight for time? We are both reasonably fit but I'm worried we'll be on the ferry watching our cruise ship leave! It's a shame that our cruise line doesn't offer this as a tour.

Thanks in advance[emoji4]

Hi, myself and my husband would love to do this hike, we are in Stavanger at the start of September on a week day but our cruise ship times are 9am arrival leaving at 5pm. I've looked at the ferry times and there is one at 9:20 arriving at the beginning of the hike by 10:30. Is this doable at all do you think or simply too tight for time? We are both reasonably fit but I'm worried we'll be on the ferry watching our cruise ship leave! It's a shame that our cruise line doesn't offer this as a tour.

Thanks in advance[emoji4]

Hi there,

I think you will be alright as long as you are able to catch the 2:30 pm bus back to the ferry. You should be back in Stavanger by 4pm. The 2:30 departure will give you 4 hrs, which is what we needed. It took us 2 hrs to get to the rock, but we stopped very frequently. The down part was only 1.5 hrs.

The ferry runs every 20 minutes, so you could just call a cab from the mountain lodge if you miss the bus. It is a little more expensive. We were quoted about $100, but there was an extra charge for the weekend. Let me know if you want the phone# for the taxi company. They were very accommodating!

Hope this helps and don't hesitate to ask more questions

Regards

Petra

I actually decided to check my ferry schedule and noticed that the ferry runs every 40 minutes

So if you can't make the bus at 2:30, i would try to catch the 3:20 or 4pm ferry by taxi and you should easily be on board by 5.

I would still take passports and credit cards, etc just in case.

Regards

Petra

Unfortunately, I'd have to say it looks a bit tight.

Our ship arrived at 8am and departed 5pm.

We left the ship by 8.15 and started the actual hike at 9:50. The ferry is very punctual. We reached the rock itself at 11:30 and then climbed above it and had lunch/photos/etc. and started the descent around 12:45, arriving in the car park at the bottom at 14:15. I don't remember the timings much after that as I fell asleep on the coach and ferry ride back to the ship, but we got back comfortably in time.

Your one hour less could make all the difference though!

Thank you both for your opinions and input.

How easy is it to get to ferry from the cruise port? I've read that you buy the tickets for ferry and bus return on-board the ferry?

Weather conditions must make a huge difference to the hike also- so we will be taking note of forecasts of our day in Stavenger.

We are hoping that our cruise ship may arrive early in Stavenger- of course I don't know if this happens but we can be ready to head for the earlier ferry if at all possible and also to forget the hike if we miss the 9.20 ferry.

Petra- if you still have the telephone number of the taxi firm that would be great to have and thank you for the ferry timetables and your help[emoji106]🏻

Stavenger is our last port of call so if we miss the ship it can't be that hard to get back to England!!![emoji6]

I wish we had another hour!

Thanks[emoji4]

Thank you both for your opinions and input.

How easy is it to get to ferry from the cruise port? I've read that you buy the tickets for ferry and bus return on-board the ferry?

Weather conditions must make a huge difference to the hike also- so we will be taking note of forecasts of our day in Stavenger.

We are hoping that our cruise ship may arrive early in Stavenger- of course I don't know if this happens but we can be ready to head for the earlier ferry if at all possible and also to forget the hike if we miss the 9.20 ferry.

Petra- if you still have the telephone number of the taxi firm that would be great to have and thank you for the ferry timetables and your help[emoji106]🏻

Stavenger is our last port of call so if we miss the ship it can't be that hard to get back to England!!![emoji6]

I wish we had another hour!

Thanks[emoji4]

Hello again,

It takes about 10 to 12 minutes from the ship to the ferry, if you know where you are going. To be honest with you, this is one of my concerns. If your ship is just a little late or you don't find the ferry departure point in a timely manner, you won't be able to make the hike. Our cell phone worked with 2G data and Google Maps (very slow loading, but at least it worked),so we really didn't get lost. On the way back you shouldn't need more than that and the cruise ship should easily be visible towering over the houses.

Yes, you buy the ferry tickets on board. We sat down in the upstairs lounge and a gentleman came by to collect. Cash or CC. We bought our first bus ticket just as a one way from vendors next to the ferry landing, prior to the ferry departure. On the way back we just paid when we boarded the bus and then again on the ferry.

Also keep in mind that there are 2 bus companies, Boreal and Tidereiser, who run buses independently from each other. So ck both schedules to see which return bus works better for you. I checked earlier and the tidereiser bus leaves at 2:45 pm with an arrival in Stavanger at 4:10, while Boreal leaves at 2:30pm

The taxi company's name is Strand Taxi. Their phone# is 47-51746411

I talked to Jan, his English was excellent.

Have fun!

Petra