Kjerag vs Preikestolen

Kjerag or Preikestolen: which should you choose?

Preikestolen if you have half a day, small children or a fear of heights. Kjerag if you are fit, have a full day and want the harder, wilder hike.

• Pick Preikestolen if you're short on time, travelling with younger kids, coming off a cruise ship or unsure about steep rock. It's a long walk on a built path, not a scramble.
• Pick Kjerag if you're fit, like real mountain terrain, and want the boulder. The plateau view down the fjord is the reward even if you never step on.
• Do both if you have two days in Stavanger and the legs. Preikestolen first is the better order: it warms you up.

How do Kjerag, Preikestolen and Trolltunga compare?

Kjerag is the steepest, Trolltunga the longest and Preikestolen the easiest and closest to Stavanger.

Side by side, from the official tourist boards and trolltunga.com:

Trolltunga is not a day trip from Stavanger. Most people stay in Odda, and the upper car park at Mågelitopp needs a reservation in high season, according to trolltunga.com.

Which is harder, Kjerag or Preikestolen?

Kjerag, by a wide margin. More distance, more climbing, steeper rock and chains you have to use on the way up and the way down.

Preikestolen has a well-trodden path with stone steps in the steep parts, and Visit Norway calls it moderately demanding. Kjerag has no built path. You walk on bare granite following red T markers, and three steep pitches each way require hands on chains. Fjord Norway grades it demanding and asks for good fitness.

Is Kjerag the hardest hike in Norway? No. Trolltunga is twice as long, and Norway has far harder ridge walks. Of the big three, Kjerag is the one that feels most like a mountain. More on that in how hard the Kjerag hike is.

Which has the better view?

Different views. Preikestolen gives you a flat platform and the classic look along the fjord; Kjerag gives you a much bigger drop and the boulder.

From Preikestolen you stand on a square, flat-topped cliff and look along the outer Lysefjord, with room for crowds to spread out. From the Kjerag plateau the fjord is almost a kilometre straight down, and the inner fjord and the hairpins above Lysebotn spread out beyond. The boulder is the thing everyone photographs. The wall of the fjord is the thing people remember.

Photographers often prefer Preikestolen for the classic shot from the slope above. Kjerag wins for scale.

The gentler cliff on the same fjord: a local guide, lunch and transport from the Stavanger cruise terminal, in about six hours.

★ 4.7 · 6 hours

Explore the guided Preikestolen hike → Tour details

Which is more dangerous?

Neither is dangerous on the trail if you stay back from the edge. The deaths that make news at both are falls from edges, and BASE jumpers at Kjerag.

Preikestolen has a sheer edge with no fence and more than 300,000 hikers a year. News reports describe fatal falls in 2013 and 2024. At Kjerag, no death from a fall off the boulder is on record, as far as published sources show; NRK counted 11 fatal BASE jumping accidents up to 2016. The bigger everyday risk at Kjerag is slipping on wet granite or the chains. The full picture is in is Kjeragbolten safe.

Where does Trolltunga fit in?

It's the third of the big three, in the Hardanger region, about 4 hours from Stavanger, and the longest: about 27 km and 10 to 12 hours from the main trailhead.

Trolltunga is a tongue of rock jutting out about 700 metres above the lake Ringedalsvatnet. From Skjeggedal (P2) it's about 27 km with almost 800 metres of ascent; from the reservation-only Mågelitopp car park (P3), about 20 km and 320 metres. Visit Norway gives a main season of 1 June to 31 August, recommends starting before 8, and says winter trips must be guided.

Which is Norway's most famous hike? Preikestolen draws the most people by far; Trolltunga has the longest day; Kjerag has the boulder. If you have time for only one of the big three from Stavanger, it's Preikestolen or Kjerag. Trolltunga needs its own trip.

Can you do Kjerag and Preikestolen on one trip?

Yes, on two separate days. One day for both is possible on paper and miserable in practice: about 10 hours of hiking and 5 or more hours of driving.

Two easy ways to combine them:

• Two day trips from Stavanger: the guided Preikestolen hike one day, the guided Kjerag day another, with a rest day between if your legs need it.
• One two-day trip: Preikestolen and Kjerag in two days hikes Pulpit Rock, adds a fjord cruise, spends the night in Lysebotn with dinner and breakfast, then hikes Kjerag the next morning, already at the foot of the hairpins.

One guest on the two-day trip, Jill, put it simply: "It was perfect. My guide Erlend was amazing." She also noted how much driving the overnight saved.

Both rocks without the back-to-back drives: Preikestolen and a cruise, a night in Lysebotn, then Kjerag on fresh legs.

★ 5.0 · 2 days

Explore the two-day Preikestolen and Kjerag trip → Tour details

Which is more crowded?

Preikestolen, by far. Kjerag gets fewer people because of the long drive and the hard trail, but its boulder still has a queue on summer weekends.

Preikestolen is close to Stavanger and served by buses and cruise-ship excursions, and it draws more than 300,000 hikers a year. Kjerag's crowd is smaller and more spread out, except at the boulder, where one person goes at a time. Midweek and early starts help at both. The best time to hike Kjerag guide has the details.

Frequently asked questions