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What makes Oslo unique?

Travel tips for Oslo by Thomas Johannessen, Visit Oslo

Oslo – Norway’s capital

and the largest city in Norway, with some 600 000 inhabitants. The city is beautifully located by the scenic Oslo fjord, with an extensive shoreline. The city is surrounded by hills of woodland and forests. Due to the shape of the city, the forest areas are within easy reach from all parts of the city.


Nordmarka outside Oslo by Tord Baklund, Visit Oslo

Hiking in Nordmarka

Nordmarka forests:

The forested hills of Nordmarka represent important recreational areas for the inhabitants of Oslo, both for hiking during the summer months and for cross country skiing in the winter. Nordmarka is easily accessible by the well developed public transport system of Oslo, with tube lines and trams. In fact, one of the unique features of Oslo is seeing people carrying their skis on the tubes and the trams in winter.

The scenic Sognsvann lake offers an easy, flat hike of 3 kms around the lake – easily accessible by tram & underground.

Homenkollen Ski Jump by Marco Boella, Visit Oslo

Frognerseteren café & restaurant

The Holmenkollen Ski jump is an important landmark in Oslo, located at the edge of the Nordmarka hills – a popular hiking and skiing area.

In the same area you find the tiny, wooden Holmenkollen Chapel  (external link) and the popular wooden Frognerseteren chalet restaurant, offering a beautiful view of the city and the Oslo fjord.

Oslofjord by Thomas Johannessen, Visit Oslo

Oslofjord in summer

The Oslo fjord:

The scenic Oslo fjord is also an important recreational area in summer – with tiny islands, the beautiful Bygdoy peninsula and picturesque summer houses. There are scheduled boats to the islands as well as fjord sightseeing trips. There are nice beaches at the Bygdoy peninsula as well as at the islands.

Further down the Oslo fjord you find the most picturesque, tiny town of Drobak, with tiny wooden houses and narrow streets, as well as a year around Christmas shop. It is well worth a visit, only a 45 minutes boat trip from the centre of Oslo.

Coffee shop in Grünerlokka by Sabine Zoller, Visit Oslo

Coffee shop at Grünerlokka

Coffee shops & popular in Oslo:

Coffee shops, authentic areas & classic in the city: Oslo is the number one city when it comes to the number of coffee shops per inhabitant – the people of Oslo simply love their coffee shops!

Popular among the inhabitants of Oslo: Grünerlokka and the Akerselva river on the east side, Solli plass square and Frogner area at the west side.Classic in the city centre: the library/lobby bar & restaurant at the Bristol hotel, the Grand café, Dagligstuen at Hotel Continental.

Munch Museum Oslo by Tord Baklund, Visit Oslo

Munch Museum in Oslo

Main sights of Oslo:

Most of the main sights are within walking distance of the city centre, like the National gallery, the Opera house, the Royal palace, the City Hall & the Akershus fortress. We recommend a scheduled city sightseeing to see the sights outside the city centre, like the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, the Fram & Viking ship museums and the open air Folk Museum at Bygdoy penninsula.

You can easily take a tram to the Frogner park / Vigeland sculpture park, but this park is also included in some of the city sightseeing trips. The Munch Museum at Toyen is easily reached by the underground.

Read more about Oslo here



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  • Thank you for assisting us with our trip to Norway. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Kirkenes and the Snow Hotel. The arrangements you made for us were perfect. The lodging was comfortable and the excursions were fun. Tom and I rarely use the services of a travel company when we travel; you enriched our trip and made the planning easy.

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  • On behalf of the group I would like to thank you and your colleagues for organizing our wonderful tour of Norway. Everything went very well including the weather, which was spectacular. We enjoyed all the hotels, the central locations you chose and the amenities, especially the lavish breakfasts. Three extra days in Oslo allowed us to tour the city at our leisure and to enjoy more of the important sights including the newly opened National Museum. The Norway in a Nutshell tour was amazing and made much easier by using your recommended porterage service between hotels in Oslo and Bergen. Both the train journeys and the boat trip were spectacular, and combined with a night in the beautiful Kviknes Hotel made for an unforgettable two days. We were very impressed by the Hurtigruten cruise, particularly the way they combined a working ship with a cruise ship, the comfortable accommodations, the food and service. It was fascinating to visit all the various ports, islands and fjords and the two included tours were excellent and informative. In the end we were glad to have the extra night in Kirkenes, to visit their lovely museum and take a trip to the Russian border. It was a good way to end the tour. Again, thank for staying with us through 2 years of pandemic postponements and changes. We certainly will recommend Fjord Travel in the future.

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