Sightseeing

Oslo is nicely situated at the Oslo Fjord. It is a small and tranquil European capital with not many highlights. From the railway station, where is an information center with a free city map (leaflet) you can walk up for app. two kilometers on the main shopping mall "Karl Johnsgate" to the kings palace.

Karl Johnsgate

There are mainly three things that are from interest in Oslo:

• the museums: first the museum peninsula Bygdøy  and other museums
• Holmenkolmen in the outbounds of the town
• Vigelandpark near the centre

The museum peninsula Bygdøy

viking ship - and Fram Museum (double exposure)

There are five museums at this penisula, each is in walking distance to each other (max. 2km). That is the Vikingskiphuset (viking ship museum), the Fram Museum, the Kon-Tiki-Museum, the Sjofartsmuseum (Seafaring Museum) and the Norsk Folke Museum.

• The Viking ship museums (40 Kr) holds two old excavated Viking ships and displays artefacts from the Viking area  ukm.uio.no.
• The Fram museum (40 Kr) holds the artic vessel Fram, which explored the polar sea from 1893-1896 and tells the discovery trips of the polar and arctic explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen fram.museum.no .
• the Kon-Tiki Museum (40 Kr) holds the Kon Tiki, the balsa vessel "Kon Tiki" and the shilf vessel "Ra" , with which the explorer Heyderdal made trips from South America to Polynesia in the South Pacific (Kon Tiki) in 1947 and to Africa (Ra) in 1969/70. kon-tiki.no
• The subject of the Seafaring Museum is the story of the seafaring with ship models and a feudal room of a luxus liner from 1904
• The Norsk Folk Museum (90 Kr) holds a stave church, some old farm buildings and tells about the Norwegian culture norskfolke.museum.no ,

Bygdoy is at best reachable by boat (ordinary bus ticket on the boat) from the quay at the Oslo town hall "Radhuset" or with Bus No 30, 30b. There are limited parking places for cars. The entrance fee of each museum is about 10 Euro.

Museums in the center
There are about 50 museums in Oslo, here are some more important:

• National Galery (entrance free):  modern and old paintings are arranged to certain themes, very interesting museum. najonalgalleriet.no
• Munch museum (entrance 65 KR) Norways most popular painter whose subjects were illness, death, fear, fright loneliness, jealousy and love. Those themes was set by his life, in which many family members had died and suffered from illness  munch.museum.no ,

Museum in the outbounds:

• Henie Onstatt Kunst Senter Museum of mmodern Art, Bus 151, (entrance 80 Kr, free on wednesday) hok.no

Frognerpark (Vigeland sculptures)

Vigeland sculpture

Vigeland was a very productive artist of sculptures in Norway. More than 100 figures are displayed in the  Frognerpark, which is not far from the city center. It is also a meeting and strolling place of Oslo people on sunny days. No entrance fee. Tram 12.

Holmenkolmen
is the ski-jump situated in the North of Oslo. You can reach it easily by metro No 1 (exit Holmenkolmen). There is a museum and you can climb the ski-jump. From there are great views to Oslo and the Oslo fjord.

 

Info

Getting there
cheap flights with Norwegian to Oslo-Gardermoen and Ryanair to Oslo-Torpe. In Oslo Gardermoen the train station is integrated in the airport building. Our luggage was very quickly dispatched. Fifteen minutes after landing we could have gone further on by train. There are ATM and a money changer for changing money. A map for Jotunheimen 1:100.000 was also available in a bookshop there.

Links: norwegian.no (budget airlines), ryanair.com, sasbraathens.no, sterling.no,

from the airport to Oslo
there are four possibilities: taxi (very expensive), the airport train (20 min.) departs at platform 2-3 and costs 160 Krones, the Bus (departs at the exit) costs at about 120 Kr and the local train (40 min platform 4 ) was the best offer for only 77 Kr (10 Euro). Tickets are available at a ticket office before the platforms and in the train after the ticket office has closed at night.

 

Transport

In Oslo
There are metro lines, tramway, boat and bus lines, that can be used all with one ticket. Tickets should be bought in advance at automates or shops (20 KR) or in the bus (30 Kr). Tickets are valid for one hour to all lines. Children (4-16) and seniors (67 and more) pay half price.
There is a 24-hour pass for 60 KR.

To other parts of Norway
The bus station for buses to other parts of Norway is directly behind the train station. All busses for destinations out of Oslo start here. You pay in the bus. The companies give individual travellers a guarantee for a seat (not groups from 12 persons).
There is a low budget bus that runs for only 50 KR to Bergen or Trondheim . Tickets are available only on Internet, the side is only in Norwegian language.

Links: nor-way.no Bus,  nsb.no (train),

Flights from Oslo to other destinations in Norway: norwegian.no , sasbraathens.no, sterling.no,
 

Accommodation
we stayed in the Ankerhostel, which is app.10 minutes walk from the train station. In September the reception is closed after midnight, the keys are deposited at the Best Western Hotel nearby. But you have to ask, the information policiy of the staff is not excellent. The hostel has hardly any competitors in this price category. You have to have a linen sleeping bag (not ordinary are permitted) but you can rent them at the hostel for an extra fee. The bed in a six-bed dorm was 155 KR (without breakfast around 100 KR), cheap for Oslo prices. A double room in Oslo starts about 500 KR.

Links: ankerhostel.no, bugeurope.com, hostelworld.com, unginfo.oslo.no/useit/

Food
Oslo is not cheap. The best budget meals were two Indian snacks where you can seat and eat for 60 KR. Those were at the Groenlanleirat in the quarter "Groenland", which is next to the train- and bus station. In this quarter are more ethnic restaurants and also some cafés and pubs. Go to SAS building and follow  the shopping mall "Smalgangen".

Shopping
There are some shops in the centre, but Oslo is expensive and not en vogue like London and Paris.

 

Links
unginfo.oslo.no/useit/ a lot about Oslo from the magazine "Streetwise"
visitnorway.com , ntr.no , norwegen.no ,  oslopro.no , oslocityguide.no,
nsb.no (train), nor-way.no (bus), jvb.no, colorline.com , fjordline.com, (ferries), norwegian.no , sasbraathens.no, sterling.no, budget airlines,

Questions, feedback, criticism, news, your links, your experiences, hints to mistakes and better English etc. are welcome!
mail me!!

   kambodschajoe@hotmail.com

Excuse my English, that is not my native language, thanks!
If you translate part of my homepage in correct English or another language, I could translate part of your English/Spanish written homepage in German!

to top