How can I get to Preikestolen (The Pulpit Rock) from Stavanger without a car?
Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, is an incredible steep cliff which rises 604 metres above Lysefjorden, with a large flat area on the top. On a slightly cloudy day, it looks something like this.
The WikiVoyage "Go Next" section for Stavanger mentions ferries and/or buses to get there for those without cars, but is rather vague and lacking in key details.
For someone wanting to hike up to Pulpit Rock in the summer, from Stavanger and without a car, how can you get there by public transport?
Best Answer
You actually have a pretty decent number of options in the summer!
For those just wanting to look at Pulpit Rock, without wanting to hike up it, there's a daily cruise from Stavanger through Lysefjorden which leaves around lunchtime. If you want to both hike and cruise the fjord, they also have a cruise+hike option which leaves earlier, cruises round the fjord, then has a bus take you to do the hike and from there to the ferry home. Both cost a fair bit though.
Alternately, there are two options involving ferry + bus. Both start with the Norled ferry from Stavanger to Tau, which leaves roughly every 40 minutes from the Stavanger ferry terminal (near the Oil museum, a 10 minute walk from the pretty bit of the harbour). The ferry takes foot passengers, and you can buy your ticket on board. Most ferries in the summer are met by buses.
One bus option is the Tide Reiser coach (the white bus), which you can book online, or buy a combined ticket for on the ferry. This costs around NOK 250 for the return. Alternately, Boreal run a bus (green one, they also run the other public transport buses around there) which meets most ferries, and goes up to the Preikestolen Mountain lodge. You buy the ferry and bus tickets separately for this.
Bus tickets are only valid on that one company, you can't use a return ticket to take one bus up and different one back. As such, if you're not sure on timings, it could be worth paying a bit more and paying for a ferry return (NOK 98), then single tickets on the next bus to go whenever you want to leave. (Tide Reiser want NOK 85 for one way for example). Timetables are available online, for Tide Reiser and Boreal
Once you get off the bus at the Mountain Lodge, it's a 2-2.5 hour well marked climb up to the top to Pulpit Rock, then 1.5-2 hours walk back down again. There are no facilities once you leave the lodge, so take plenty of water and food with you, and wear proper shoes! It's worth the climb though, at the top you can see this stunning view!
(To help others, I've also updated the Stavanger WikiVoyage section and Ryfylke WikiVoyage page with these details too)
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How do I get to Preikestolen by public transport?
Go to the starting point of the hike to Preikestolen with the Preikestolen Express bus. The bus leaves from Stavanger city centre and drives directly to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge, the starting point for the hike. The total ascent from the start of the hike to Preikestolen is about 350 m.How do you get Preikestolen?
You can get to Preikestolen in several ways, both by bus and car. Buses depart daily from the centre of Stavanger to Preikestolen Basecamp during the high season. If you take your own car from Stavanger, you'll drive through Ryfast, the world's longest subsea tunnel and an attraction in itself.How hard is Preikestolen hike?
The hike to Preikestolen is of moderate difficulty. In total, the 8-kilometer hike takes about 4-5 hours (round trip). The trail, which has significant shifts in terrain, includes swampland, forests, and stone stairways built by Nepalese sherpas.How long does it take to hike Preikestolen?
The hike to Preikestolen is a total of eight kilometres, and the round trip takes four hours. The hike has an elevation gain of about 500 metres, and some sections are steep. As the hike is graded as medium difficulty, you should have some trekking experience in rough terrain before embarking on this trip.How to hike up to Preikestolen / The Pulpit Rock from Stavanger Norway 2017
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Images: Rachel Claire, Tatiana Syrikova, Karolina Grabowska, Leah Kelley