Where to Stay in Stavanger, Rogaland

Stavanger is the capital of Norwegian oil. The city on the coast of the central part of Rogaland grew into the centre of the country's petroleum industry, and the Norsk Oljemuseum on the waterfront tells that story to a steady stream of visitors. Old wood survives beside it.

Gamle Stavanger keeps its lanes of protected white timber houses, while Stavanger Cathedral, completed in 1125, anchors the medieval core.

The waterfront sets the scene. The Norsk Oljemuseum and the Valbergtårnet watchtower stand over the harbour of the central part of Rogaland, with Stavanger Cathedral and the lanes of Gamle Stavanger just behind. Museums fill out the rest.

Museum Stavanger, the Arkeologisk museum i Stavanger, the Stavanger maritime museum and the Stavanger kunstmuseum hold the city's oil, sea and art story, with the manor of Ledaal among them.

The cathedral made Stavanger a city. Its official founding is counted from 1125, the year Stavanger Cathedral was completed, and the town grew around that medieval church on the coast of the central part of Rogaland as a seat of bishops and trade. Timber built the rest.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries the wooden houses of Gamle Stavanger spread across the slopes, and the harbour turned to fishing and the canning trade that fed the growing port. Oil changed everything in the 20th century. The North Sea fields made Stavanger the centre of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and the Norsk Oljemuseum on the quay now marks that turn, while the Stavanger maritime museum keeps the older sailing record.

Growth spilled outward. The detached houses pushed into Hundvåg, Hillevåg and Tasta as the protected core held its small-town shape, and the city settled into its role as the administrative seat of Rogaland in western Norway.

Stavanger sits on its peninsula in the central part of Rogaland, where the mainland breaks into fjords, sounds and islands along the coast of western Norway. The compact old core clings to the slopes above the harbour, while the island suburb of Hundvåg lies offshore and the inland quarters of Hillevåg and Tasta spread back from the water. The sea threads through it all.

Sheltered fjords and a low rolling shore give the city its harbour shape.

The open sea keeps Stavanger mild. Out on the western Norway coast, the harbour city has comparatively gentle winters and cool, damp summers shaped by the Atlantic that washes the shore of the central part of Rogaland. The ocean steadies the temperature.

Frequent rain and soft grey light over the fjords around Hundvåg and the old harbour give the city its mild, maritime seasons.

Stavanger is the gateway of southern Rogaland. The city in the central part of Rogaland is reached by air, by the coastal rail line and by the fjord ferries and express boats that link it across western Norway. Boats run through the harbour.

Travellers arrive overland by train and bus or fly in, then cross to the island suburb of Hundvåg and the wider region by ferry from the quay.