Soooo here goes! My last post was all about Prague which I visited in February, and after that my next trip was to Oslo in Norway in April. This was a surprise 21st Birthday present for my boyfriend, which made the trip all the more exciting because it was a secret and I had planned it all myself!
Oslo is a great city full of things to see and do, and was the most snow filled place I've ever visited! It was an interesting city and not like anywhere else I have been to before, and not just because of the snow. My friend Poppy spent her university year abroad in Oslo, so we partly went out there to visit her, meaning we had our very own expert tour guide to show us round! So read on to find out my opinion on the best things to do in Oslo!
THINGS TO DO IN OSLO:
Opera House:
I'm not one for going to watch an opera, however I actually recommend going to the opera house! Although I'm sure the performances there are amazing, we actually went to walk UP the building. And yes, I mean you can actually walk up the building, up the sides and on top of it! It was a rather miserable day when we went up, so it meant there was hardly anyone around which made it quite a peaceful experince. However, I can imagine in the summer it's an amazing place to sit and watch the world go by in the sun. There were great views from the top, but in photos this doesn't quite come across due to the grey skies!
The opera house is definitely something different to see and do in Oslo:
https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/eastern-norway/oslo/oslo-opera-house/
City Centre:
The city centre is the hub for all transportation, something I have mentioned more about in 'top tips' at the end of this post. It is also the centre for all things shopping and eating. However, something I really need to mention is how expensive Oslo is, so expensive that we avoided eating out at all costs which we love doing :( (again something I will mention more about in top tips)! So although we visited the city centre regularly, it wasn't for eating out sadly!
This is a famous tiger statue found in the centre of the city.
Shopping again is expensive, however there are shops such as H&M and Zara which are the same prices as in the UK. We also visited 'Tiger' which is a Scandinavian shop which is also in the UK and sells loads of random bits and bobs. 'Sostrene Grene' is a great shop that we visited which is full of random things also, including home and interiors as well as kitchen and office things: https://sostrenegrene.com/
The Royal Palace is also in the city centre, home to the King and Queen of Norway. There is the changing of the guards every day at 1:30pm and guided tours in the summer:
https://www.visitoslo.com/en/product/?TLp=181645
Aker Brygge:
Aker Brygge is an interesting area Poppy took us to which has a marina and pier area. There are lots of restaurants here and it is a very modern part of the city. It was quiet when we wandered round, however Poppy told us in the summer it is buzzing with so many people out for food and drinks in this more up-market part of town.
https://www.visitoslo.com/en/product/?TLp=282572
Frogner Park (sculpture park):
The sculpture park was one of my favourite things we visited in Oslo. The ground was covered in snow, and in some areas it was really deep. The whole park was very quiet and it made it have an eery, but tranquil feel to it. I know for sure this city would be a completely different place in the summer, however I loved it in the Spring because of there still being areas like this with lots of snow and ice.
The
sculptures were somewhat... interesting! The park itself was quite big
but it didn't take us too long to walk around the sculptures.
https://www.visitoslo.com/en/product/?TLp=229519
https://www.visitoslo.com/en/product/?TLp=229519
Grunerlokka:
Grunerlokka is regarded as the more 'hip' area of the city. It has vintage shops, cafes and lots of independent shops and restaurants. It's a really nice interesting area to walk round and it is in fact where we stayed (more details on this further down).
https://www.visitoslo.com/grunerlokka/
Natural History Museum:
One of the days we were in Oslo it rained unfortunately, however this meant that we set out to find musuems to visit! We were in luck, because it was a Thursday and on Thursdays the Natural History museum is free, yay! Normally it is half price for students, so if you're a student make sure you bring your student card with you. The museum is in the grounds of the Botanical gardens, but due to it still being snowy, this was pretty non-existent in April! In the summer however, it is free to walk round so I'm sure it's a lovely area.
The museum had lots of interesting displays, including dinosaurs, fossils and lots of animals: https://www.nhm.uio.no/english/visiting/admission/index.html
One of the days we were in Oslo it rained unfortunately, however this meant that we set out to find musuems to visit! We were in luck, because it was a Thursday and on Thursdays the Natural History museum is free, yay! Normally it is half price for students, so if you're a student make sure you bring your student card with you. The museum is in the grounds of the Botanical gardens, but due to it still being snowy, this was pretty non-existent in April! In the summer however, it is free to walk round so I'm sure it's a lovely area.
The museum had lots of interesting displays, including dinosaurs, fossils and lots of animals: https://www.nhm.uio.no/english/visiting/admission/index.html
Nobel Peace Centre:
The Nobel Peace Centre again was the ideal place to go to get out of the rain and cold. I'm so glad we found it as it was such an interesting place. On the ground floor there was a really interesting exhibition which I believe changes every so often from what the website says. The exhibition that was on when we were there was about celebrities and consumerism, with lots of weird and wonderful stories and photos on display.
The Nobel Peace prize display was in a dark room that was lit up by the faces of the prize winners creating a trail around the room. Each face as you walked up to it told you their story of how they achieved the prize. Such an interesting museum! Again it is cheaper if you are a student: https://www.nobelpeacecenter.org/en/
Island Hopping, Hovedoya:
Island hopping was one of the best things we did in Oslo! If you get a travel pass (explained in the 'top tips' section below), it allows you to visit the islands for free!
Luckily we did this on our last day when it was sunny, woohoo! So with the sun shining down on us, we hopped on a random boat and headed to the island of Hovedoya. There are lots of different islands you can go to, this one was just the closest and quickest to get to, taking only about ten minutes on the boat.
The
island had lots of patches of snow on it still, however these were
melting quickly with the sun being out! We wandered around the little
island and enjoyed having lunch by the sea. We aimed to go to more than
one island but ended up spending longer in Hovedoya than we had planned because it was so nice!
Sognnsvan park and lake:
As we were with my friend Poppy who was studying at the University in Oslo, we went to visit her halls where she was living.
This was a bit further out of the city, so we then travelled onto a park and lake that her and her friends often went to. This was the path walking down to it; I've never seen snow piled up so high before!
There was honestly so much snow I couldn't believe it. The lake was completely frozen over and you couldn't even see where it was because of all of the snow on top of it! We sat on top of a table because it was so deep in the snow we couldn't sit on the benches because they were buried somewhere beneath us! I'm very short as well so the snow was incredibly hard to walk on because as I sunk into it, it went up past my knees, haha! Below is a photo of my boyfriend Matt standing on the path next to the snow at it's deepest - he's 5 foot 9, so that shows how thick it was! It was definitely an experince and I couldn't believe how pretty it was. I would recommend it also in the summer too, as Poppy told us they went there for barbeques all year round!
WHERE TO STAY:
As mentioned before, Oslo is an expenisve city! Therefore finding cheap accommodation proved pretty tricky... Air Bnb seemed to be the way forward though! I found a cosy room available in an apartment in Grunerlokka, where Poppy had recommended we stay.
The room was small, but was absolutely fine for just the two of us for a few nights. We were greeted by the lady who lived there and she was really nice and had two very cute cats! It was ideal because we were able to use her kitchen whenever we wanted, and this was something we had planned on doing due to the expense of eating out! The apartment was two minutes away from a supermarket too. Round the corner also was a tram stop and the tram only took ten minutes to get to the city centre which was great and so easy!
I would definitely recommend this Air Bnb if you're visiting Oslo as a couple and want to be in an accessibly location and want to have a kitchen to use!
https://abnb.me/wRIXZTkTCP
TOP TIPS:
- Something I have briefly mentioned is getting a travel pass. We downloaded the 'Ruter Billet' app and got a week's pass. Although we were only there for a few days, this was the best and cheapest option! With the pass, it meant we were able to get on any public transport across the city, so that included buses, trams, the metro and boats! This was how we were able to go island hopping for free! The city is potentially doable to walk around without using transport, however for us due to it being cold and due to our apartment being a bit further out, it made a lot of sense doing this.
- Now, again I have mentioned this, but Oslo is EXPENSIVE! So before we went, I decided it would be best if we ate in the apartment in the evenings rather than going out for dinner, as well as making our own lunches and getting cereal bars for breakfast. To be prepared, I took tupperware boxes with us to take our lunches out in everyday. I also planned for us to make pasta one night and eat the leftovers for lunch, and make paella the next night and do the same again. On the last night we bought an oven pizza from the shop. So this meant I brought pasta and rice with me from home, as well as lots of snacks!
- The cheapest supermarket nearby was one called 'Rema 100'. This was very close to our apartment which was ideal. We bought everything else here that we needed to make the pasta and paella dishes, trying to keep costs as low as possible!
- My friend Poppy is vegan and one of her favourite places to eat out for a snack, which was reasonably cheap compared to other places, was called Max Burger. We often bought chips and chicken nuggets from here. So this is a great place to stop off at for a snack, particularly if you're vegetarian or vegan - Poppy recommends it highly! Plus we had the vegan chicken nuggets and they tasted very much like real chicken nuggets!
- Make sure if you're a student to take your student card with you to again help make things cheaper as lots of places give students cheaper entry.
Overall, Oslo is a great city to visit and even though it was a little chilly, I would still really recommed going in the Spring or Winter as this didn't stop us from doing things and seeing the snow in the parks was amazing! However any time of year it would be lovely as there's lots to see and do and the best day was definitely when the sun came out as the whole city seemed so much happier, busier and brighter! Oslo is the perfect place to go for a mini city break! I hope this helps anyone thinking of going to Oslo and maybe persuades anyone to go who hasn't been before.
Thank you for reading! :)
