The back-country route over Neverdalsfjellet
What you are trading
You give up a kilometre or so of easy, marked, busy path and you get forest, a hill almost nobody walks, and an arrival at the plateau from a direction most visitors never see. Ralf, from Germany, met three other people on the way. Marion, also from Germany, liked watching the crowds on Preikestolen from above, away from them. If you have read about the queue on the stone steps in July and it put you off the whole idea, this is the listing that answers it.
The group cap does real work here too. Eight people is small enough that the guide can move the route and the pace around the party, which is exactly what Karolina, from Poland, described. Tong, from the United States, found the guide, Sean, patient, helpful and experienced. On back-country ground that is not a nicety; it is the reason the format exists.
The honest caveat about the rating
Five out of five, on eighteen reviews. Eighteen is not many. A perfect score on a small sample tells you that the people who chose this tour got what they came for, which is worth something, but it is not the same evidence as the 467 behind the main guided hike. Read it as a strong signal from a self-selecting group of walkers, because that is what it is.
Included
- Pickup in Stavanger and in Sandnes
- A guide, with the group capped at eight people
- A rarely used route through forest and over Neverdalsfjellet
- Snacks, a packed lunch and water
- The parking fee at the trailhead
Not included
- A shorter walk: this one is about nine kilometres, longer than the main trail
- An easy day — roughly 500 metres of climbing is the upper end of the usual range
- Boots and waterproof layers of your own
- A crowd-free plateau: the summit is still the summit
- A large body of reviews to lean on
What works
- Genuinely empty ground for most of the walk
- Eight people maximum, so pace and route bend to the group
- Food, water and the parking fee are handled for you
- Arrives at the plateau from a direction the photographs never show
- Pickup from Sandnes as well as Stavanger, which nothing else here offers
Worth knowing
- Longer and harder than the main trail, which surprises people who booked it as a shortcut
- Seven hours, and the back-country section is not a graded path
- Only eighteen published reviews so far
- Wrong choice for a first long walk of the year
If crowds are your real problem and distance is not the answer you wanted, the cheaper fix is the clock: start very early or very late on the main trail in late June, when the evening light runs almost to midnight. That trick, and its limits, are on the crowds page.
Book this route
Live availability is below, and the longer write-up is on the review page. If nine kilometres of back country is more than you are after, the standard guided hike takes the main path.
If this one is not right
Picked up at your doorFrom Stavanger: Pulpit Rock Guided Hike with Pickup
From the cruise terminalStavanger: Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) Hike with Local Guide
Boat and bootsStavanger: Lysefjorden Cruise and Preikestolen Hike
Those dates don’t work?
Browse the other Preikestolen hikes and Lysefjord cruises running from Stavanger, and pick the day that suits you — instant confirmation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the hidden trail a shortcut to Preikestolen?
No, it is longer: about nine kilometres and roughly 500 metres of climbing, against about eight on the main path. The main path is described on this page.
How many people are in the group?
Eight at most, which is the smallest group of any listing here. The others are compared on the comparison page.
Is food included?
Snacks, a packed lunch and water are, along with the parking fee at the trailhead. What else to carry is on the packing page.
Can I be picked up in Sandnes?
Yes, this is the only listing here that collects from Sandnes as well as Stavanger. The other ways out of the region are on this page.