The electric Lysefjord cruise: my review
Verdict: the best-evidenced booking on this site by a wide margin, 4.6 across more than ten thousand reviews, and three and a half hours of the Lysefjord from the water with no walking in it at all. The reservation has to come first, because people arrive here by searching for Kjerag: this cruise does not go anywhere near Kjerag. It turns around long before the mountain and you will not see the boulder from it.
Say the disappointing part first
Kjeragbolten sits about 984 metres above the fjord, far up the Lysefjord on the south side, near Lysebotn at the inner end. This boat goes into the fjord and comes back. It shows you Preikestolen from directly below, the Hengjanefossen waterfall, the Vagabond’s Cave, goats on the rock and sometimes sea eagles. It does not take you to the boulder, it does not land you anywhere you could walk to the boulder from, and no cruise out of Stavanger does.
I have had this conversation across a counter in the other direction too, with people who drove all the way up the hairpins expecting a boat. The Lysefjord is long. The two ends are different days. If Kjerag is what you came for, you want the guided hike or the private one, and getting there explains why the ride is the hard part.
What it is instead, and why ten thousand people rated it
It is the one trip on this site that shows you the shape of the place. From the deck you see how the walls actually stand: the water at the bottom, the Preikestolen plateau 604 metres above it, and the fact that all of this is one fjord rather than a set of separate attractions. You get a waterfall you can feel, a cave in the cliff with a story attached, and a view up at a plateau that half the people on the boat walked onto the day before.
More than ten thousand reviews is a sample that means something. It is also why the rating is 4.6 rather than 5.0, and I would trust 4.6 over that many accounts far more than a perfect score over four. A number that size includes the wet days, the grey days, the people who wanted something else and the people who were seasick. That is what a real average looks like.
The electric part
The boat is an electric catamaran, which matters less for the environment on one trip than it does for what you can hear. A quiet boat in a fjord with walls that high is a different experience from a diesel one. You hear the waterfall before you are at it.
Who this is genuinely the right booking for
Anyone in the party who is not walking. Anyone with a knee, a hip, a small child or a flat refusal to spend six hours going uphill. Anyone off a ship with a few hours in port, because three and a half hours fits a port call and an eleven-hour Kjerag day does not, which is set out on the cruise-ship page. And anyone who has already walked Preikestolen and wants to look up at it from the water, which is the best version of this trip.
It is also the correct answer for a day when the mountains are closed by weather. Strong wind, heavy rain and fog are the conditions to turn back for on the trail, and on a day like that the fjord is still there. Hiking in the rain is blunt about what a wet day on Kjerag is actually like.
What works
- More than ten thousand reviews, which is real evidence rather than a hint
- No walking at all, so nobody in the party is excluded
- Preikestolen seen from directly below, which is a different thing entirely
- Hengjanefossen, the Vagabond’s Cave, goats and sometimes sea eagles
- Three and a half hours, which fits inside a day rather than consuming it
- A quiet electric boat in a very steep fjord
Worth knowing
- It does not go to Kjerag, and you will not see Kjeragbolten from it
- 4.6 is the lowest rating of the six bookings here
- You are on a boat for three and a half hours, weather included
- It shows you the fjord; it does not put you on any cliff
- If you came to Norway to stand on the boulder, this is not a substitute
Included
- Return cruise from Stavanger into the Lysefjord by electric catamaran
- The Hengjanefossen waterfall and the Vagabond’s Cave
- Preikestolen seen from directly beneath it
- Commentary on board
Not included
- Any hiking, any landing and any access to Kjerag
- Meals, beyond whatever is sold on board
- Warm clothing, which you will want on deck even in summer
- Any sight of Kjeragbolten
Dress as if you were going up a mountain even though you are not. A fjord this steep makes its own wind and the deck is colder than the quay in Stavanger by a noticeable margin. The people who enjoy this trip least are the ones who spend it inside because they came in a t-shirt.
If you wanted Kjerag
Then read the guided hike review, which is the eleven-hour day that actually gets you there, or the two-day trip, which does the fjord and both cliffs properly. If you want a cliff today and cannot give up a whole day, the Preikestolen hike is six hours and puts you on the plateau this boat sails under. The comparison page lays the six side by side.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Lysefjord cruise go to Kjerag?
No. It goes into the Lysefjord and turns back, well short of Kjerag. You will not see Kjeragbolten from the water on this trip. To reach the boulder you need the road to Øygardstøl and the hike.
Is there any walking on this cruise?
None. It is three and a half hours on an electric catamaran, which is why it works for anyone who cannot or does not want to hike.
What do you actually see?
The Hengjanefossen waterfall, the Vagabond’s Cave, goats on the rock, sometimes sea eagles, and Preikestolen from directly below its 604-metre plateau.