Holiday in Stavanger

About Stavanger

Stavanger is Norway's adventure capital – a vibrant harbor city on the southwest coast that serves as a starting point for two of Europe's most spectacular hikes while also impressing with the best-preserved wooden house settlement in Scandinavia, a burgeoning culinary scene, and the rugged beauty of the fjord landscape. For German travelers, Stavanger is reachable by direct flight in just two hours, providing the fastest access to Norway's most dramatic nature. The Preikestolen (Prekestolen), the legendary cliff 604 meters above the Lysefjord, is the region's flagship and one of the most photographed natural attractions in the world. The hike to Preikestolen takes about 4 hours round trip and leads through a varied landscape of moorland, pine forests, and over rock slabs – at the end, one stands on a flat rock terrace directly above the turquoise fjord, and the view is simply incredible. Even more spectacular is the Kjeragbolten, a boulder wedged between two rock walls 1,000 meters above the Lysefjord, where the brave can pose for an unforgettable photo. The old town of Stavanger, known as Gamle Stavanger, is a dream of 173 white-painted wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, lined up along the cobblestone streets above the harbor. It is the best-preserved wooden house settlement in Northern Europe and a wonderful contrast to Norway's modern oil capital, which Stavanger has been since the 1970s. The Norwegian Petroleum Museum at the harbor impressively documents the history of the oil industry, which transformed Stavanger from a sleepy fishing and canning town into Norway's richest city. The Vågen harbor is the social center of the city with restaurants, cafés, and the fish market Fisketorget, where freshly caught seafood is served. Stavanger's street art scene is surprisingly vibrant – the annual NuArt Festival has made the city one of the best street art destinations in Europe. By fjord boat, one can reach the Lysefjord for a trip between 1,000-meter-high rock walls, which appear even more impressive from the boat than from above.