Oslo: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Until the 1980s Oslo’s waterfront was shipyards, containers and a motorway. The city put the motorway in a tunnel under the fjord and replaced the yards with museums, sea baths and a promenade — all of it built in twenty years. It may be the largest urban project in Europe. Two hours, all flat.
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A short history of Oslo
According to the sagas, King Harald Hardrada founded Oslo in the mid-11th century at the head of a long fjord. In 1624 fire destroyed the city, and the Danish king Christian IV rebuilt it next to Akershus Fortress and named it Christiania. In 1905 Norway separated from Sweden and the city became the capital of an independent state, and in 1925 it returned to its old name. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded here since 1901. In 1993 the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, drafted in secret talks in Norway, were named after it. In 2008 the opera house on the edge of the fjord was opened.
The ten best sights in Oslo
1Oslo Opera HouseYou walk on the roof, and it costs nothing
2Munch MuseumThirteen floors, and three versions of the Scream rotate
3National MuseumThe largest in the Nordics, opened in 2022
4Fram MuseumThe ship that went furthest north and furthest south. Go aboard
5Kon-Tiki MuseumThe balsa raft that crossed the Pacific in 1947
6Viking Ship MuseumClosed for rebuilding until 2027. Check before you go
7Norwegian Folk MuseumA stave church from 1200, moved here plank by plank
8Akershus FortressNever taken by siege in seven hundred years. The grounds are free
9Nobel Peace CenterThe peace prize is the only one given in Oslo, not Stockholm
10Astrup Fearnley MuseumRenzo Piano, on the water, and a beach behind it
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Oslo →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Oslo:
Free walking tours in Oslo
The Waterfront
Until the 1980s Oslo’s waterfront was shipyards, containers and a motorway. The city put the motorway in a tunnel under the fjord and replaced the yards with museums, sea baths and a promenade — all of it built in twenty years. It may be the largest urban project in Europe. Two hours, all flat.
- Oslo Opera House · The whole roof is a public square of white marble that rises out of the fjord, and anyone may walk up it at any hour for nothing. The architects said they wanted a building you could stand on top of rather than only look at.
- Munch Museum · Munch left the city everything in his studio when he died in 1944 — about twenty-eight thousand works, including painted versions of the Scream. They are shown in rotation because the pastels cannot take continuous light.
- Akershus Fortress · Built around 1300 and besieged repeatedly for seven centuries without ever being taken by force. It was surrendered without a fight in 1940, and the Norwegian resistance museum now sits inside the walls.
- Aker Brygge · Akers Mekaniske Verksted built ships here for a hundred and thirty years and closed in 1982, putting two thousand people out of work. The city kept the crane rails and the hall frames and built the promenade through them.
- Nobel Peace Center · Alfred Nobel left the peace prize to a committee chosen by the Norwegian parliament and the other five to Swedish bodies, and nobody knows why. Norway and Sweden were one kingdom when he wrote the will.
- Sørenga sea bath · A container terminal until 2008, and now a free swimming jetty in the fjord with a diving tower, two hundred metres from the opera house. Oslo swims off it from May, and the water is tested daily.
One Man’s Park
In 1921 Gustav Vigeland signed the strangest deal in the history of art: the city would give him a studio and a salary for life, and he would leave it everything he ever made, down to the last sketch. He worked twenty years on one park and never saw it finished. Two hundred and twelve sculpture groups, free, unfenced. Two hours.
- Vigeland Park · Every figure is naked and nobody is a god or a king — they are people at every age, fighting, carrying, falling, holding children. Vigeland would not explain any of it, and the park has no plaques.
- Frogner Park · The sculpture park sits inside a larger one that was the garden of a manor farm, and the manor house is still there with a museum of the city in it. In June the rose garden holds fourteen thousand roses.
- Royal Palace · Built for a king who was also king of Sweden and who visited Norway rarely — it was finished in 1849 and he died before moving in. The park around it has no fence and no gate, and anyone may walk through at any hour.
- Karl Johans gate · A straight line from the station to the palace, laid out so that a king could see his parliament and his palace from the same spot. The parliament deliberately sits lower than the palace, and the slope is the argument.
- National Museum · Opened in 2022 and the largest art museum in the Nordic countries. The Scream hangs in it — the painted 1893 version — in a room the museum deliberately kept small, so that you come upon it rather than queue for it.
- Oslo City Hall · Two brick towers that Oslo hated when they went up in 1950, and the main hall inside is covered floor to ceiling in murals of Norwegian life. The peace prize is handed over in that hall every tenth of December.
The River and the Forest
The Akerselva is why Oslo became an industrial city: it drops a hundred and forty metres inside the town, and the falls drove mills and textile works. Today a continuous path follows it eight kilometres from the fjord to the forest, through every quarter the industry built. Two and a half hours, uphill.
- Grünerløkka · Built in the 1860s for the workers of the mills along the river, four and five storeys, and by 1900 it was the most crowded quarter in Norway. It emptied in the 1970s, filled with students, and is now where Oslo eats.
- Mathallen · An iron foundry that cast machine parts until the 1960s, and the roof trusses and the crane beam are still in place above thirty food stalls. It is closed on Mondays, which catches people out.
- Akerselva · The path passes more than twenty waterfalls and the shells of the mills they turned. For a century the river was so polluted that nothing lived in it; salmon came back in the 1980s and now run up it to spawn.
- Damstredet · Two cobbled lanes of crooked wooden houses from the early 1800s, which survived only because the quarter was too poor to rebuild in brick when the fire regulations came in. They lean, and they are lived in.
- Ekebergparken · Munch stood on this hillside and heard what he described as a scream passing through nature — the view from the path is the view in the painting, and the city has marked the spot.
- Frognerseteren · The metro climbs four hundred and thirty-five metres to its last stop and the doors open onto a forest — Nordmarka, which is larger than the city itself and where Oslo goes skiing on a weekday evening, by underground.
Getting to Oslo and getting around
- Gardermoen Airport · The ordinary train is half the price of the express, 23 minutes
- Oslo Central · Everything starts here, and the opera house is three minutes away
- Oslo Bus Terminal · Buses to Bergen and to the fjords
Cheap eats in Oslo
Eight counters where Oslo eats standing. Norway is expensive and nobody pretends otherwise — these are the places where a meal is twenty pounds instead of sixty: a sausage kiosk that has not changed since 1979, a dockside hall of immigrant kitchens, and a bakery in a former foundry.
- Syverkiosken · About 60 kroner, standing, cash preferred
- Vippa · A full plate for about 150 kroner, and the view is free
- Mathallen · Thirty stalls in an iron foundry. Closed Mondays
- Fiskeriet · A fishmonger with eight stools, and the fish soup is the thing
- Hos Thea · A dining room in a flat, open since 1988, and you must book
- Østbanehallen · The 1854 station hall, and the trains are through the wall
- Grønland bazaars · Four streets of Turkish and Pakistani shops, half the price
- Vulkan · The yard beside the food hall, and the bakery opens at seven
Museums in Oslo
- Fram Museum · 140 kroner, and the ticket includes the Gjøa next door
- Munch Museum · Thirteen floors, and he left the city 28,000 works
- National Museum · 200 kroner, and the Scream is in a small room on purpose
- Kon-Tiki Museum · 140 kroner, small, and an hour is enough
- Norwegian Folk Museum · 160 buildings moved here, and a stave church from 1200
- Astrup Fearnley · Renzo Piano, on the water, and a beach behind it
- Deichman Bjørvika · Free. A library with a cinema, a studio and no tickets
Parks and gardens in Oslo
- Vigeland Park · Free, unfenced, open all night
- Nordmarka · Free, and the metro ticket is the only cost
- Ekebergparken · Free sculpture in a forest, and the Scream view
- Hovedøya · Ten minutes by ferry, a ruined abbey, and you may swim
- Sørenga sea bath · Free, in the middle of the city, and the water is clean
- Holmenkollen · A lift to the top of the jump, and a zip line down it
Things to do in Oslo with kids
- Teknisk Museum · Free under 18, and everything is meant to be pulled
- Fram Museum · A whole polar ship to climb through, below decks too
- Natural History Museum · In the botanical garden, and the garden is free
- Oslo Reptilpark · Small, central, and exactly what a wet day needs
- Langøyene · The swimming island, and the ferry is a city ticket
- Vigeland Park · Children find the angry boy in four minutes. It is free
Live music in Oslo
- Blå · Sunday jam is free, and it starts at nine
- Rockefeller · A 1910 bathhouse, and the balcony is the place to stand
- Parkteatret · A 1907 cinema in Grünerløkka, four hundred people
- Oslo Konserthus · The Philharmonic’s house, and student tickets are 100 kroner
- Den Norske Opera · Tickets from 100 kroner, and the roof is always free
- Sentralen · A 1899 savings bank turned into halls and a courtyard
Nightlife in Oslo
- Torggata · The pedestrian street Oslo drinks on, end to end
- Grünerløkka · Bars round the squares, and everyone sits outside in June
- Vulkan · The yard by the river, and the brewery is in it
- Aker Brygge · Expensive, on the water, and the sun sets into it
- Youngstorget · A square of bars behind the labour movement’s old house
- Grønland · The cheapest beer in Oslo, which is still not cheap
Frequently asked questions about Oslo
What is there to see in Oslo?
The top sights in Oslo are Oslo Opera House, Munch Museum and National Museum. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Oslo?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Oslo without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Oslo?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Oslo, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The Waterfront.
How do you get to Oslo and get around?
The main ways are Gardermoen Airport, Oslo Central and Oslo Bus Terminal. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Oslo, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Oslo that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Oslo for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.