From stunning landscapes, modern architecture, and buzzing food courts, to some of the most detailed and immersive museums and galleries I have visited, Oslo certainly lives up to the bold and adventurous aspect of its nickname, ‘Tiger Town’. Ironically, given the nickname, its also worth noting that I felt incredibly safe exploring the city on my own! For anyone planning a visit to the city, I thought I would include a few highlights from my trip, as well as some tips and recommendations for eating out and getting around that I learned along the way.
Hit the Streets!
One of my favourite ways of exploring and getting to know a new city is to book a walking tour with a guide. The tour I went on in Oslo was the free 90 minute walking tour with Nordic Freedom Tours, which covered many of the major sites and points of interest in the city, including Aker Brygge, the Oslo Stock Exchange and City Hall buildings, the National Theatre, and the Storting (the Norwegian Parliament). Our guide was very friendly and gave us lots of interesting facts about Oslo, from the Medieval period to the modern day, as well as recommendations for places to visit (the Freia chocolate shop on Karl Johans Gate was one of them, and I can thoroughly recommend it). I actually ended up doubling back after the tour and re-visiting the route to explore the grounds and buildings around Akershus Fortress. Taking a walking tour really is a great way to get your bearings when you are new to a city, as well as learning about its history, culture, and traditions.
Budget Friendly Options for Eating Out in Oslo
If you are looking for healthier, more budget friendly options for eating out, Oslo has some great food courts! On my first evening in the city, I ended up visiting the food court at the Steen & Strøm Department Store, located on Nedre Slottsgate, and would definitely recommend it. From tacos (Los Tacos) and soup (Whatsoup) to sushi (Jonathan Sushi) and Thai cuisine (Eat Thai), there are a variety of options available to cater for different tastes. For me, this was a particularly good option when I wanted something light and easy to eat that wasn’t bread based! At around 5:00pm-6:00pm on a Saturday, it was also surprisingly quiet; perfect if you are looking to rest a bit from the busy shopping area of Karl Johans Gate!
Oslo Street Food, located at Torggata 16, is also a fantastic location for budget friendly, delicious food, with a modern setting (I believe the building used to house Oslo’s largest indoor swimming pool, now transformed into a food hall) and a vibrant atmosphere that is evidently a popular meeting place.
There are a variety of different food stalls serving dishes from India, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Colombia, Mexico, and Hawaii, to name just a few. I can definitely recommend the butter paneer masala from the Der Peppern Gror stall!
There is also a clear focus on sustainability within the venue, including using recyclable materials and reducing waste.
The Mathallen Oslo food court is also a ‘must visit’ location for lunch or dinner whilst in Oslo! For the more adventurous eaters, you will be able to find a variety of seafood dishes, as well as the opportunity to try reindeer stew and burgers, wild boar, and moose. There are also a number of booths serving everything from goulash, ravioli, and pulled pork and chicken, to sweet pastries, cheeses, and bubble tea.
As with the Oslo Street Food court, I also noticed that there was a definite focus on green solutions, with plenty of stations for recycling and cleaning and re-using plates.
Norwegian Dishes and Snacks to Try
Skolebrød
Particularly for those with a sweet tooth, this snack is a ‘must try’ while you are in Norway! Skolebrød is a sweet dough bun with a vanilla custard centre, covered in desiccated coconut. Traditionally given to school children after lunch, hence the name ‘school bread’, you will be able to find this snack at most bakeries and cafes in Oslo.
Kjøttkaker (Meatballs)
This dish was on the top of list of foods to try while I was in Norway, and I can definitely recommend Sofie’s Mat & Vinhus (located at Sofies Gate, a short walk from the city centre) for a lovely sit-down meal where they are on the menu, served with lingonberries and pea purée.
Visit the Munchmuseet (MUNCH)
Dedicated to the life of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, this striking building designed by Spanish architect Juan Herrero houses over 26,000 of his works, including the famous ‘Scream’, which is on permanent display. The collection is beautifully displayed in a way that conveys the complex themes and emotions driving Munch’s work, and actively encourages visitors to take an open and fresh interpretation of it.
Prior to my visit, while I was aware of ‘Scream’ as a well-know piece of artwork, I really was not very familiar with Munch and his work, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to delve into his way of communicating and method of working. I definitely loved the raw, realistic emotional context of the works, and the fact that he deliberately chose not to shy away from taboo, often macabre, themes. Some of my favourite pieces in the collection were ‘The Dance of Life’, ‘Melancholy’, and ‘Love and Pain’ (also known as ‘Vampire’).
For those hoping to catch a glimpse of ‘Scream’, there are currently three different versions of it on rotating display; a painting, a drawing, and a lithograph. While one version is on display, the other two will remain covered to protect them, and the version on display is switched every hour. I was lucky enough to see both the lithograph and the painting when I visited the museum, and it is quite an exiting experience to see the version on display being switched, as a crowd gathers in anticipation of the display windows being closed on the current one and opened slowly to reveal the other!
The glass facade of the thirteen floor building also gives visitors some stunning panoramic views of the city, and it is worth just stopping to sit and enjoy the views! My visit to this museum was certainly one of the highlights of my trip to Oslo.
Go Exploring at the Fram Museum
As someone who can remember hearing about Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to Antarctica as a child, and was recently engrossed in the BBC series ‘The Terror’, this museum, dedicated to Norwegian polar exploration, was the attraction I was most excited to visit! The museum exhibits focus predominantly on three Norwegian polar explorers; Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, and Otto Sverdrup, with visitors having the opportunity to go onboard two Arctic exploration vessels; the Gjøa and the Fram.
The Gjøa was the first vessel to successfully transit the Northwest Passage (a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Arctic Ocean). Eagle eyed viewers of ‘The Terror’ will know that this is a feat that Sir John Franklin’s doomed exhibition in 1845 had previously attempted to achieve.
The Fram was initially constructed for Fridtjof Nansen’s 1893-1896 expedition to explore Arctic drift theory and attempt to reach the North Pole. She was subsequently used in a second expedition under Otto Sverdrup in 1898-1902, which involved conducting extensive scientific research and surveying of the Arctic islands off northern Canada, and in 1910-1914 transported Roald Amundsen and his team on their famous expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole.
The amount of detail that has gone into the exhibits in the museum is outstanding, to the extent that you really do feel as though you are part of the story as you walk around and read. As a fan of ‘The Terror’, I was interested to see all the references to the 1845 expedition, and how the subsequent rescue attempts inadvertently went on to generate further research into the Arctic region, as well as inspire polar explorers like Roald Amundsen.
In addition to exploring the ships themselves, one of my favourite sections of the museum was dedicated to the 1910-1914 expedition to Antarctica, and the subsequent ‘race’ between the Norwegian and British teams (led by Roald Amundsen and Captain Scott) to be the first to reach the South Pole. The exhibition really brought home the human element of the expedition - exploring everything from how the men on the Norwegian team prepared supplies and adapted the kit and sledges to suit the conditions, to how they bathed and kept clean - as well as the sheer scale of what they were attempting to achieve.
The exhibitions throughout are full of photographs and first-hand accounts through the diary entries of the men themselves. I particularly enjoyed reading the accounts of how the men spent Christmas onboard the Fram during the 1893-1896 expedition!
Outside of the museum you will find statues of the five men who formed the team to reach the South Pole, and some stunning views looking out across the fjord. If you only have time to visit just one museum during your trip to Oslo, make it this one!
Head Outdoors and Visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park
Oslo has some beautiful outdoor spaces, and one of the best places to grab some fresh air and escape the ‘hustle and bustle’ of the city centre for a while is the Vigeland Sculpture Park, located in Frogner Park. The park, which is free to access and open 24 hours a day all year round, houses more than 200 sculptures in granite, bronze, and iron by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland.
The sculptures themselves are wonderfully graphic and realistic, depicting different stages of human life and relationships, from romantic to familial. One of the key features of the park is a 17 metre monolith depicting 121 intertwined human figures, from men and women of a range of ages to children and babies; an intricate and stark representation of human mortality and beauty.
I visited the park in October, and the autumnal colours were vibrant and beautiful. There were also very few people around (mostly local residents taking their dogs for a walk), and the atmosphere was peaceful and tranquil; perfect for just wandering, enjoying the surroundings, and contemplating.
Using Public Transport
For some of the museums and other attractions in Oslo, including the Fram Museum and Vigeland Sculpture Park, your best way of getting to them is going to be either by bus or by tram. I found that the best way to work out the routes and purchase tickets was to download the app for Ruter (the public transport authority). You can operate it in English, register a credit or debit card, select your current location and destination, and purchase your tickets. It will not only tell you the number of the bus or tram you need to take, the name of the direction you need to go in, and where to pick it up, but will also give you the number and name of each stop on the way. Once you have paid for your ticket, the app will give you a QR code you can scan on entering the bus or tram. If you need to change buses or trams, the app will also indicate this (I found I had to change buses once coming back into Oslo from Bygdøy for the Fram Museum, which was very simple and easy to do). When I used it, the price of a 24 hour ticket for an adult was 117 NOK (roughly £10.00).
As a side note, if you go on the Oslo Sightseeing boat tour, they will stop at Bygdøy for the museums on the way back into Oslo, and pick you up later in the day when another tour comes past. I believe there is also a regular ferry service into Oslo from Bygdøy from April to October.
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