How to spend 24 hours in Stavanger city centre!

Stavanger is a city in south west of Norway. This city is the base if you want to hike two of the most famous mountains in Norway – Preikestolen(more commonly known as the Pulpit rock) Trolltunga and Kjerag boulder. This city is also the home to the most colorful street in Norway Øvre Holmegate. Old Stavanger is very charming with narrow lanes and restored white wooden houses from the 18th century.

Recently on my trip to Norway I visited this city from Oslo. We took the NSB train at 14.20 from Oslo station and reached Stavanger at 22.30.

We had only a day to explore the city before we left for Bergen. Here is a walking itinerary that we did. I have marked places with numbers on the map and also given approx time to spend in each place. But you need to take in account the time required( 10-15 min ) to walk in between the stops.

1.  Lake Breiavatnet – (Time required: Approx 30 min)
Lake Breiavatnet is a lake in the city centre of Stavanger. It is a small lake with a fountain and many birds. There are many hotels around the lake. This is a central location as the train and bus station are also close as well as the harbour and old town. We stayed at Thon Maritim hotel( You can check review here) just opposite to the Lake Breiavatnet and 3 min walk to the Stavanger train station, hence I am going start with the lake as the first stop of the walking tour. There is a nice walking path with benches.

The Stavanger Cathedral is located just besides the lake.However this is not open to visitors on all days. They might close it for public if they are rehearsing for some concert so you have to check before you visit.

2. Gamle Stavanger (Time required: Approx 30 min)

After spending time at the lake start walking towards tourist information centre( yellow building )which is at the harbour on Strandkaein 61. Be informed that if you are visiting between December to April They operate only Mondays- Saturdays. The office remains open on Sundays only in summer. And the rest of Stavanger except few restaurants is also closed on Sundays.

Just near the entrance of tourist office, on the left side you will find steps and a sign marked Gamle. You can start climbing and enter Old Stavanger. The cute cobblestone narrow lanes with white house’s and blue/yellow coloured doors will make you feel as if you are walking in a fairytale land. The locals are proud of their homes and they some decorate the outdoors with plants and flowers.

3. Skagenkaien – (Time required: 2 hours -Lunch and relax)
Once you finish walking in Gamle you can come out on the harbour through one of those narrow lanes and then cross over to the other side where there are many restaurants and bars. You can have lunch at one of the restaurants. We had drinks at the Beverly hills pub and because it was chilly in March they had heater under the table to keep  warm so that we could enjoy that cold beer in winter temperatures ;). However they dont have good vegetarian options for food so we headed to Olivia restaurant  in the same area.

Our hotel was just around the corner so we went back to relax for a bit and then started again. Flexibility is the main reason I always recommend to choose a city centre hotel even though its cost is slightly higher than peripheral hotels.

4. Øvre Holmegate / Valberget/ Shopping ( I mean window shopping- come on its norway 😉 ( Time required : Approx 4 hours

This is the area behind Skagenkaien. Head to Kirkegata which is just besides a 7/11 you will see on the corner. This street has many boutique shops. Keep walking until you reach Valberget – this is a small hill with a tower called Valbergtårnet. You can get a view of Stavanger from here.

Next keep walking on Kirkegata and the next horizontal street would be Øvre Holmegate -Stavnager’s Notting hill. Tom Kjorsvik, local enrhusiast and hairdresser desired to do something unique to this street during renaissance and painted it in different hues. This street is now home to quaint cafes and bars as well as niche shops.You can catch up a drink here.

You can move out of the pedestrian area towards the harbour or else walk again on the numerous pedestrian streets crisscrossing. They are laced with cafes and restaurants offering a breather between shopping. This was what a shop had outside in the display window!

It was a pleasure to come across a flower shop with fresh blooms when everything outside was still dry.

5. Residential areas

If you have extra time you can go and walk around the nearby residential areas. There are slopes so be prepared to walk uphill and downhill.

Since it was winter I didnt go for hikes but my recommendation however would be to stay for a few nights in Stavanger and explore the different hikes around the region. Well hopefully I shall cover those when I visit Norway again in summer 😉