Stavanger is situated on a peninsula on the southwest coast of Norway. It is a pretty city surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery Norway has to offer.

In the Jæren area out by the coast to the southwest are white sandy beaches as far as the eye can see. Further inland, the landscape rises somewhat, and gently rolling hills give way to big mountains. To the east of Stavanger are fjords that boast narrow passages inland between tall, extremely steep mountainsides.

The famous Prekestolen (The Pulpit Rock) is a particular highlight, with its square horizontal plateau like a floor on top of a rock that rises 600m (1,968ft) straight up from the fjord down below. 
 
Stavanger's natural riches also extend far out into the North Sea, where big parts of Norway's oil and gas resources are located below the seabed. Stavanger is the oil capital of Norway as most of the oil industry is concentrated here. Not surprisingly, therefore, it is an affluent city with a strong international orientation. Some 4,000 residents working for the oil and gas industry come from abroad.

Yet Stavanger has managed to preserve its local identity in the midst of globalisation, and it still exudes a certain small town charm. A good example of this is Old Stavanger, a part of the city centre that consists of more than 170 small wooden houses mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries.

A significant historical event in the country's history took place just outside Stavanger in AD 880 when Harald Hårfagre (Harold Fairhair) defeated the other chieftains in the Battle of Hafrsfjord, and thereby became the first King of Norway, as he was the first to turn the county into one political unit.

Being a university town and a city with a large international presence, both through academia and the oil industry, Stavanger has a vibrant cultural scene and nightlife, with a concerts, shows and events and a great number of fun and welcoming pubs and bars attracting the crowds every night. It also has some of the best restaurants in Norway.

The city's cultural riches will be celebrated and put on full display in 2008, during which Stavanger is European Capital of Culture. A wide-ranging programme of events will show the world the best of Stavanger and the region surrounding it.