Stavanger lies in the south of Norway, and is the 4th largest city in the country. It was founded in 1125 and its old town is still filled with beautiful 18th and 19th Century wooden houses, but its population is booming due to the development of the local oil industry. It’s also a hugely expensive city – often voted one of the most expensive in the world. If you’re planning a trip in Norway the Stavanger is a great place to add to your itinerary, especially when combined with a road trip up the coast including Bergen, Norheimsund and Balestrand.
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Stavanger Information
How to get to Stavanger
You can fly directly to Stavanger Sola airport from the UK on Norweigan Air, and the airport is about 15 minutes outside the centre of Stavanger. You can combine a visit to Stavanger with a road trip to Oslo round the coast, or a road trip to Bergen exploring all the fjords.
Language, Currency & Time Difference
The language in Stavanger is Norwegian, but English is very widely spoken. The currency is the Norwegian Kroner (not the Euro), and the time difference is +1hr to the UK.
Weather in Stavanger
The weather in Stavanger always comes with a threat of rain, with every month in the year having 11-18 days of rainfall. October to January are the most rainy months. During the winter, temperatures hover around 5°C, and highs in the summer reach around 18°C. Daylight hours during the summer months are long, though in the winter sunrise can be around 10am, and sunset by 3pm.
Things to do in Stavanger
Pulpit Rock
Stavanger is often a stop on people’s itineraries to take a day trip to one of Norway’s most famous sites – Pulpit rock (Preikestolen). It’s a steep cliff almost 2,000ft high above the fjords, with a completely flat top offering epic views. It is one of the most visited tourist sites in Norway and a magnet for BASE jumpers who leap off the cliff! The hike to the top is about 2 miles.
Unfortunately, as you can see, we didn’t get the best weather… We definitely didn’t get the epic views, though you can just about make out my mum in the photo!
Old Town (Gamle) Stavanger
This is the historic part of the town, with all the preserved wooden houses. It’s beautiful with all the flowers in the window boxes so is a lovely area to stroll around.
Valberg Tower
The Valberg tower was the former observation tower of Stavanger, and the Watchmen of Stavanger lived there. One of their duties was to alert the people when there was a fire. There is a lovely little museum in the tower, and beautiful views from the top.
Views from the tower
Swords in the Rock
Swords in the Rock is a monument located by the Hafrsfjord which is where Harald Fairhair united Norway as one kingdom in 872. The three swords symbolise peace, unity and freedom. The monument was unveiled in 1983, and is about an hour’s walk from Stavanger amongst more beautiful fjords.
Fargegaten
This is a street in town which is known for being colourful and home to lots of nice restaurants, bars and cafes. Again it is made up of wooden houses, and a lot of them are painted in fun colours.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this post interesting as a whistle-stop tour of Stavanger. You can also read my other Norway guides here:
Stay safe and happy travelling everyone!
Saasdia Travel Gid
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