Hiking the Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) at Stavanger, Norway

The famous Pulpit Rock, inspiration for the Frozen movie

One of my dreams of going to Norway to hike some of the famous landmarks but I realised most of them are quite difficult to reach either with public transport or it's still snowing when I was there in May, one of them being the famous Troll's Tongue. So imagine my surprised when I googled for Pultpit Rock and it's a doable day trip from Stavanger, and Stavanger was not part of my initial itinerary. I decided to cut short my days in Bergen and did a trip to Stavanger, just to hike the famous Pulpit Rock. I read that Frozen's backdrop is inspired by Pulpit Rock and when I was at the top, I know why!

So it began my research on how to get there the most cost efficient way. I read that most people will take about 3-4 hours ascending and descending from the Rock and I budgeted that I would take around 5 hours. 

There is no direct train services from Bergen to Stavanger, so the most reliable option is to get onto a bus, which takes around 4-5 hours. It costs about NOK 400. It's advisable to book the tickets online from the website before reaching there as the bus was quite full when I boarded. 

I booked myself a nice studio apartment at City Housing- Kirkebakken 8 for my two night stay in Stavanger which cost around NOK 1200. I was ready to conquer the Rock! 

Ferry schedule from Stavanger to Tau

The package combination by Tide bus

 To get to Stavanger, you need to first take a ferry from the harbour in Stavanger to Tau,  then transferred to a bus which will take you to the starting point of the hike. There's a package combining both the ferry and the bus but I decided to take it separately as the cost was cheaper that way. The package cost NOK 300 for return but if not mistaken, buying the ferry tickets only cost NOK 110 for return and bus NOK150 return. Be mindful that there are two bus companies to Pulpit Rock and I took the green one (Boreal) instead of the Tide bus (which is package together with the ferry).

The start of the hike

The dramatic drop of the Rock

Enjoying the view

The fjord, alternatively you can take a cruise to view the Rock from the fjord 

Me and the Rock

I started the hike around 9am. The hike is fairly easy at the beginning but turn rocky from the middle towards the end. It took me about 2 hours to reach the Rock and I was rewarded with the most beautiful scenery ever. Feels like singing 'Let me go' on top of the Rock, hehe. To get the view of the Rock against the fjord, I climbed up to another level and just sat there to enjoy the view and had my salmon sandwich, lol.

After that, it was descending time and me being the very clumsy type, managed to slip and fall a few times and got a few scratches from the trip. Painful but very rewarding hike.