As your cruise to Stavanger approaches the harbor at Old Stavanger, you’ll be treated to a view that is the essence of a Nordic harbor town. When you book Stavanger shore excursions, you’ll see the full impact of tours designed to show off Mother Nature’s delights, enhancing your shore time in Norway’s southwest region.
While docked in this picture-perfect port from your Norway cruise, you can arrange Stavanger cruise excursions to tour the harbor area and Old Stavanger town. Stroll the waterfront lined with shops and cafes. Walk the cobblestone streets where white clapboard houses with orange-tiled roofs sit side by side and colorful flower boxes and plants adorn the narrow walkways. Visit Stavanger Cathedral, Norway’s oldest church and the only Middle Ages church that retains its original architecture.
Stavanger shore excursions that offer a glimpse into the food traditions of Norway are popular, fun, and enlightening. On a guided tour of the Canning Museum, you’ll see production facilities and offices dating back to the 1880s. Enjoy tastings of Norwegian brislings (sardines), salmon, lefse (Norwegian flatbread), cheeses, and other specialties.
Venture out of town to explore the surrounding area that will immerse you in the Early Middle Ages when Vikings ruled and also into the modern world of the petroleum industry. Travel to the Iron Age Farm, an ancient farmstead reconstructed on the original archeological site. See what life was like even before the Viking age, and enjoy demonstrations of cooking, farming, and herding. Visit the Norwegian Petroleum Museum to delve into the history of Norway’s emergence into the world petroleum market, starting in 1966.
Let Stavanger shore excursions introduce you to some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Ferry to Tau, northeast of the city, where you’ll board a bus to a village chalet on the edge of the Idesfjord to start a hike to Pulpit Rock. On this once-in-a-lifetime experience, you’ll hike along trails with views of mountains and lakes. When you reach the Pulpit, a flat plateau formed about 10,000 years ago by a glacial frost, which stands almost 2,000 feet above the Lysefjord, you are sure to be in awe of Mother Nature’s majesty.
Enjoy the spectacular beauty of the fjords area from another perspective on a boat trip through the Gandsfjord to reach the private island of Sør Hidle, where you’ll behold the Flor and Fjaere Garden, a tranquil space filled with beautiful flowers and great sea views. The garden is the world’s most northerly plantation of tropical palms, bamboo, and banana trees that will have you thinking you’ve suddenly arrived in the tropics even though you’re on a Northern Europe cruise.
