Kjerag or Preikestolen?
Two sides of the same fjord
They face each other. Preikestolen is on the north side of the Lysefjord, Kjerag on the south, and from a boat on the water you pass below one of them. That closeness misleads people into treating them as interchangeable. They are not. Preikestolen is roughly half the walking, half the climbing and a quarter of the driving, and it is far more visited for exactly those reasons.
What each day actually feels like
Preikestolen is a busy, well-made path to a flat square of rock with a long drop off the front of it. You can do it in a morning and still have an afternoon. Kjerag is a full commitment: up the 27 hairpin bends to Øygardstøl, then three climbs and two descents over bare rock with several hundred metres of chains, then all of it backwards. Add five hours of road and the day is gone.
Picking between them
What works
- Preikestolen if you have one day, average fitness, or children in the group
- Preikestolen if your dates fall outside the Kjerag road season
- Kjerag if you want the harder walk and the boulder photograph
- Both, over two days, with a night in Lysebotn in between
Worth knowing
- Kjerag is not a half-day and cannot be made into one
- Preikestolen is much busier per square metre of rock at the top
- Kjerag depends on a mountain pass that is shut most of the year
- Neither has a fence; see the fence page
If you cannot choose
Do both properly rather than badly. There is a two-day trip out of Stavanger that puts the Preikestolen hike and a Lysefjord cruise on the first day, an overnight in Lysebotn, and the guided Kjerag hike on the second, which removes the two and a half hour drive from the front of the Kjerag morning. That sequencing is the real argument for it, more than the convenience.
If you want the scenery without either climb, the fjord from the water is its own thing: the Lysefjord cruise. And if the question underneath this one is whether Kjerag is too much for you, read how hard is it before booking anything.
If you are doing both in one trip, do Preikestolen first. It tells you honestly how your legs handle four hours on rock, and it is a much cheaper mistake to discover that on the short one.
What there is to book
Not the trail. Nobody sells a ticket to Kjerag and nobody could, because there is no gate and nobody standing at one. What you pay for is the ride out of Stavanger and the guide who walks it with you, and the road up is open for about five months a year. The options are laid out on the bookings page and compared on the decision page.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Kjerag or Preikestolen?
Preikestolen is easier and closer; Kjerag is longer, steeper and higher. Most people with one day and average fitness should take Preikestolen.
Can you do both in one day?
No. Kjerag alone is 6 to 10 hours plus about five hours of road. The sensible version is two days with a night in Lysebotn.
Which one is scarier?
Preikestolen has a flat unfenced plateau; Kjerag has an airy walk and a boulder. See is it scary.