Jæren – The Tungenes hike

Last modified 11.04.2022 | Published 15.04.20122010's, Norway, Norway Hikes

Est. reading time:

This is about the Tungenes hike, one of many hikes on the coast of Jæren, Norway. Make a round trip of only 3.9 km.

 

Orientation

Tungenes – Sandebukta (Randaberg): This is as far north as you get on Jæren, the tip of the Stavanger peninsula at Tungenes. Visit the lighthouse and walk on rocks along the seashore to the lovely sandy beach at Sande. If you come here on a Sunday, don’t miss Jæren’s best home baking at the Tungenes Fyr café.

The hike starts from the car park in Tunge Bay and makes a stop at the lighthouse. We then continue over the rocks between the bays and headlands until the fine sandy beach of Sande. This is the northernmost of all the beaches along the hundred kilometres long Jæren coast. Our trip is on gravel road from the parking lot in Tunge Bay. Apart from the first leg up to the lighthouse, this trip is not suitable for strollers, wobbly legs or normal cyclists. The total trip is 3.9 km one way.

This article presents one of many hikes on the coast of Jæren, Norway. Get an overview and browse the rest here. Check out a map on this link.

 

What to see

The start of the hike

In Tungebukta, we find both parking and a bus stop. There are walks around the headland to Tungenes Fyr (lighthouse), or the other way in the southeasterly direction to Mekjarvik. Near the parking lot there is also a small cultural center with maritime tools and boats. Outside Tungenes we face the shipping lane into Stavanger and Sandnes.

Tungenes Fyr has changing art exhibits and Jæren’s best home baking. From Tungenes there are great views in all directions, hiking options are as short or long as you want, and suitable for all bodily conditions. A peek into the residencial house and the lighthouse itself brings you back to a bygone era, to the time when all lighthouses on the coast were manned.

Out here on the cape, we also have a fine view towards Kvitsøy, the archipelago in the ocean to the west. At Kvitsøy Fyr (lighthouse) there used to be a lighthouse master who once received a royal letter of recommendation and subsequently restyled his name into the noble one of “von Fyhren”.

The middle section

From the lighthouse our hike turns south eventually ending up on Sande beach. As we walk further we are able to see across the Sande bay towards Børaunen on the other side, a faint natural phenomenon with a magnificent boulder beach. That hike is described in another blog post.

Before reaching Sande we pass by a few cabins quite close to the sea. There are boathouses as well in the small bays along this route.

 

The final part

Sande is lovely little sandy beach. The shallow beach is excellent for swimming on a hot summer day, especially for toddlers. Not many people come here, and even in the hottest days of summer it doesn’t get over-crowded.

Sande Beach has a public parking lot and a bus stop up on the main road. This is the starting point for trips of the shoreline to Tungenes lighthouse, to Børaunen, or up the Randaberg Mountain.

 

Front picture of this video is from the lighthouse at Tungenes.

 

Further reading

This article presents one of many hikes on the coast of Jæren, Norway. Get an overview here. The hikes and corresponding articles are sorted in a north to south order. The adjacent hikes are:

North: None

South: Sandebukta – Børaunen (Randaberg): The bay and beach at Sande makes a fine starting point for a walk on the sandy beach, on grass paths, pebbles and boulders out to a headland with two distinct cairns. (2.5 km)

The website Fottur.net has short descriptions and a lot of pictures covering this hike (and more).

Valuable reading in Norwegian from the municipality of Randaberg about walks and cultural assets. “Langs kysten i Randaberg” is an information folder in Norwegian from the municipality. It is available in pdf-format.

 

Jæren artwork - Oskar Sørreime (1919-2007) - Landskap (1986)

Oskar Sørreime (1919-2007) – Landscape (1986)

 

Read more in my special article about Jæren’s geology, flora, fauna, history, people and art: Jæren – The coastline explained.

Les om strandturene på Jæren på “Sandalsand Norge”