The bus from Stavanger to Preikestolen
Who runs it
Two services: Pulpit Rock Tours, operated by Boreal, and Go Fjords. Both leave from Byterminalen, the central bus terminal in Stavanger, and both take you to the trailhead at Preikestolen Fjellstue. This is public-style transport rather than a guided tour: you get a seat out and a seat back, and the walking is entirely your own business.
The season, which is the whole problem
From around 20 June to around 13 September there are up to nine departures a day, and the bus is a genuinely good way to do this. In March and April there are two morning departures, which works if you are organised and are prepared to be committed to a return time. Outside those windows there is effectively no bus at all, which means May, most of June, and everything from mid-September to February. People do not expect that and it is the single most common transport surprise here.
So in the shoulder and winter months the options collapse to a car, or a tour that drives you. Both are laid out on getting out from Stavanger, and in winter the question of a guide stops being about transport: the winter hike.
Tickets
Bought online, in advance. They are not sold on board, so turning up at Byterminalen hoping to pay the driver does not work. I am not quoting fares on this site and the operators change them anyway; what matters is the mechanism, which is that you must have the ticket before you are at the stop. Book the return as well as the outward leg and know which departure you are on.
The timing trap
What works
- No parking to find and no fee to pay at the trailhead: the parking page
- The early departures put you on the trail before the mid-morning crush
- Up to nine a day in high summer means real flexibility on the way back
- It is the cheapest structure available for a solo walker, since nothing else is shared
Worth knowing
- The last bus back is the last bus back, and the walk is 4 to 5 hours
- Two departures a day in March and April leaves no room for a slow descent
- Nothing at all in May, early June, or mid-September to February
- A missed bus from a cruise ship is a missed ship: the arithmetic
The honest warning is this one. If you are on the bus, your day is governed by the return departure and not by how you feel on the plateau, and the descent takes longer than people expect because tired legs on boulder fields are slow. Plan to be back at the trailhead a comfortable margin before your bus, not on the dot. How long the walk really takes is on its own page.
Take the first departure of the day rather than the most convenient one. You get the trail before the crowds, you get the whole afternoon as a buffer against a slow descent, and if the weather turns you can come down early and still have a bus.
What there is to book
Not the trail. Nobody sells a ticket to Preikestolen and nobody can, so anything you pay for is something else: the ride out of Stavanger, the guide who walks it with you, or the boat that shows you the cliff from the water. Which of the three you actually need is set out on the bookings page and in the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a bus from Stavanger to Preikestolen?
Seasonally. Two morning departures in March and April, and up to nine a day from around 20 June to around 13 September, from Byterminalen.
Can I buy the ticket on the bus?
No. Tickets must be bought online in advance; they are not sold on board.
What about in winter?
There is effectively no bus outside the seasonal windows. You need a car or a tour that drives you.