Is Oslo the perfect choice for a weekend city break or is it best enjoyed as part of a road trip in Norway? While this largely depends on what you enjoy as a traveller, we hope our personal reflection will help you decide!
In total, we had an evening and a full day to explore the city which started out hot in the morning but ended with rain. We may not have too many photos from the city but you can get more insight into our trip to Oslo from the travel video we filmed (see below for the link).
Oslo, the first stop on our road trip in Norway
Some say you can’t truly feel the heartbeat of a country without visiting its capital city and that is certainly true. We arrived in Norway by ferry from Denmark at the city of Larvik, located 133 km south-west of Oslo. Being used to driving on semi-boring motorways, Norway took us by surprise with its high mountains, tall trees, and curvy roads.
The route was filled with forests, idyllic wooden houses and farmland. The pace in the capital city indeed seemed faster than what we saw at the start, but it’s still nothing compared with the tempo of cities like Berlin and metropolitan London. We didn’t have much time in Oslo — a late evening to rest and enjoy the sunset, and one full day of exploration lay ahead.
Where is Oslo?
Before we jump into telling you more about our visit to Oslo, you may want to know a little more about it. Oslo is located at the head of the Oslofjord, one of the lowest but still breathtakingly beautiful fjords. According to Wikipedia, the population of Oslo is just over 673,469 and almost 1 million if you count the neighbouring municipalities.
The capital city of Norway is a multicultural city and is often chosen as a holiday weekend destination for neighbours from the Baltics as well as the UK and other European countries. Part of this is thanks to the cheap aeroplane tickets and great ferry connections to countries like Denmark and The Netherlands, but one of the main reasons must be the extraordinary mix of nature and city life that Oslo presents.
Where we stayed | Hotel near Holmenkollen, Oslo
Oskar chose an astoundingly beautiful hotel on the top of the hill called Scandic Holmenkollen Park. Its proximity to the ski jumping centre and remote location has made it a popular choice among Olympians, so their visits and wins are proudly celebrated at the hotel.
The restaurant, De Fem Stuer is the old wooden building which was built in 1894, and even though we didn’t savour any Norwegian dishes there, the view alone was worth it. Both buildings sit 350 meters above sea level and overlook the Oslofjord, making it for a perfect place to wind down after a long day of exploration.
That said though, you don’t have to stay the night to enjoy the views–simply take a train to the Holmenkollen station and walk up the hill for 15 minutes or so to savour them. Sunsets are particularly beautiful.
Oslo’s romantic buildings and parks with statues and fountains
It was hard to tell we were visiting a Scandinavian city in the heat of the summer. Oslo is filled with beautiful buildings in pastel colours and green parks with their refreshing water fountains that provide a bit of cool on a hot day. The statues scattered around the city add to the romantic atmosphere and invite you to explore them up close.
The promenade between the Oslo castle and the pier is a place for tourists no doubt, but it was lovely to walk up and down while soaking in bits of Scandinavian culture along the way.
What do in Oslo to make the most of your visit
Do it like the locals when exploring the city
While travelling, we often ask ourselves: “How would it be to live in the city we are exploring?”, and Oslo was no exception. Away from the tourist attractions, we went on a small detour and explored the less busy streets of Norway’s capital city. We discovered an authentic jazz bar in a small courtyard and saw how Norwegians commute from work, as well as the rural parts of the city.
If you are staying in the heart of the centre, hop on a train to explore areas around it. Contrary to other cities, it was rewarding to stay on the outskirts of Oslo and venture outside. Our hotel was a 20-minute ride away from the heart of the city and the train ride was personally, one of my favourite moments.
Our recommendation to you in Oslo and any other city is as follows: Be more like the locals.
Explore places away from touristic attractions. Spend some time in a park. Visit a supermarket or local shop to restock on your supplies and skip eating out. While in Norway, the latter is the most sensible thing to do and it’s more of the necessity than anything else (see our notes about prices below).
Do something a bit random
No trip is complete without doing something a little unusual. What was special for us was that we bought the Norwegian flag. We fell in love with Norway from when we first entered the country, so we used the flag as part prop for photos and videos, and part for showing respect for this beautiful land.
Take in the magnificent views from the Vettakolen viewpoint
Some of the successes of our trips are all thanks to the great people reviewing places to see and go to on TripAdvisor! While in Oslo, we didn’t want to spend too much time indoors, and one of the activities was to climb to the Vettakolen viewpoint.
This viewpoint didn’t have many reviews or detailed instructions on how to get there, and as we found out, it was a short, 1.2 km hike up the mountain through the forest with breathtaking views of Oslo, despite the rain. This was the perfect way how to end our day of exploring the city, and we recommend hiking here if you have an hour or so to spare.
Note: When researching and deciding what to do in Oslo, taking a boat trip around the bay area and the fjord was definitely a contender. However, we savoured that opportunity for Geirangerfjord (plus, we were on a budget).
Consider the prices and the lack of Norwegian cuisine
It was surprisingly tough to find restaurants or cafes with Norwegian cuisine in Oslo! Maybe we looked in all the wrong places, or Norwegians just aren’t into eating out that much. Either way, there wasn’t one we could both, see and afford so we went with a slightly dull choice and had our dinner at a chain burger place.
Norway is expensive, and that’s something you should anticipate if you are including this city on your road trip or are planning a city break. It’s not just the alcohol–even simple food products like pot noodles or ice-cream.
Note: 10 Norwegian krone (NOK) is about £0.93 or €1.03, currency checked in August 2018.
To put things in perspective, one pack of pot noodles will set you back 23 NOK (twice the price of what you can find in the UK), and one pint of beer will cost you about 110 NOK in a bar or 40 NOK if you buy it from a supermarket). However, we do appreciate that while this may sound expensive to us, this isn’t necessarily true for Norwegians themselves who have some of the highest salaries in the world, earning almost double of the average wage in the UK.
Wrapping up | Our time in Oslo
We had a brilliant time in the city of Oslo, albeit short, it set the tone for our road trip in Norway. So, should you include Oslo to your travel destinations list?
Oslo is most definitely worth the visit, but mind that you won’t see the tall mountains or the fjords like you can see in the advertisements, so including it as part of your road trip seems like the best option!
All in all, we are pretty happy with how much we saw in the 24 hours we had and hope that this blog inspires you to travel more. Let us know what you think in the comments. 😉
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