the whole time we were on the cruise, we went back and forth on if we should drive back down to stavanger once we got our motor home so that we could hike prieskstolen (“pulpit rock”). we had seen the most amazing pictures of this place (and we had seen it from below on our fjord boat ride during our first cruise stop!), and we felt the hike would be challenging but manageable with our kids. when the weather report said perfect weather (clear skies and not too hot!) for the day after we picked up the motor home, we decided to go for it! that meant a lot of driving but it was sooo worth it in the end – we were so glad we chose to hike prieskstolen. it was an incredible experience to share as a family.
so from bergen we drove directly to a campground right near the trailhead for pulpit rock. the six hour drive gave us ample time to settle in to our motor home, ha. the scenery helped the journey pass quickly, and the ferry rides broke it all up nicely. i think we drove onto three different ferries – and they were all awesome, with cafes and shops on board, and even a children’s play area on one!
from the first ferry, we could see several glaciers sitting on top of the mountains. at first we thought it was low-hanging clouds, but all that white is ice!
it was soooo windy on the deck!
we were really nervous about how sleeping with our two small kids in a motor home would go, but from night one it was pretty smooth, phew! we got as good a night’s rest as we could hope for and headed to the trailhead first thing in the morning.
the ascent was challenging, mostly because we had children strapped to us! but the scenery all the way up was so beautiful, and the boys did pretty well, taking it all in from their carriers. it took us a bit over two hours to get to prieskstolen.
as we neared the top, we were stunned by the jaw-dropping views down lysefjord. i couldn’t stop myself from repeatedly saying “wow!” out loud!
there were a lot of people on pulpit rock. i loved that a queue had formed, people waiting to stand at the corner for a photo.
we asked a new friend to stand at the opposite outcropping and take some photos of us (the winner being the one at the top of this post!). and then we soaked in the views as much as we could as our kids were begging to get out of their carriers 😉
as soon as we got sensibly far away from those sheer cliffs, we stopped for diaper changes and for mo to do a little hiking on his feet, which he was so pumped about.
views on the way down…
and sleeping children…
yes, being on top of prieskstolen as a family was worth every minute of driving and hiking!
wright now 
It’s so beautiful there, my husband and I climbed Pulpit rock on our honeymoon and then went back later when our children were old enough to walk and climb for themselves. We loved that it was more than a walk but not too hard a climb, the kids loved the bits where you had to almost jump between the larger rocks and also the parts where you had to use the ropes. We are from West Sussex and I remember how we commented that if this was the UK there would be a fence or rope to prevent you getting too close the edge whereas here you could sit or stand right on the edge. We took turns to sit on the edge and scare the pants off of everyone else. We also loved the helicopters flying lower than we were. Maybe you will go back one day so that your children can climb too, I think our youngest was four. We spent two weeks exploring Norway, did a lot of swimming and fishing in lakes and cooking the fish over a fire. The only expensive part of Norway was eating out.
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you guys are awesome! i would’ve been so scared to be near-ish the edge.
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Me too. I’m actually scared of heights, so this would’ve been no good for me:)
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I am loving this Norway series of posts as well as your travel posts generally. Norway is on the bucket list. Have been really interested to read about the cruise and how that worked with kids. It’s not a mode of travel I’d jump to but it’s been great reading about it. Looking forward to reading the rest. Jenny
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