Review: Oslo, Norway

Mitch Buchannon

Hey Guys, Im just back from Oslo and I thought I'd post my impressions of the place. I was there from Thursday afternoon to Sunday Morning,
We flew with SAS from Dublin. You can get into the city a few ways.. Cab, Bus, Train and the Airpot Express Train. I used the Airport express train. The station is under the terminal. The cost of the express train is NOK 170,00 (EUR 21.67) oneway. The train takes about 20ish minutes and drops you in the central station Oslo which is at the bottom of the Main Shopping Street of the city, This street is called Karl Johans Gate.

We stayed in a very central hotel just off the main street. The staff were very helpful, the room was quite small but it was clean. We had booked a twin room and to be fair it was but the beds were so close it actually looked like a double.

I wont go through all the sights we went to see. A few that stood out for me were The Viking Boat Museum and the Fram Museum (Polar Exploration), The Nobel Peace Centre and the Opera House. Unfortuatelly I didnt get out to see the Holmenkollen Ski Museum & Tower. I was looking forward to that but I ran out of time.

One thing to note is - Norway is not cheap. Here is the cost of some of the food & drink we had:
We went out for dinner on Thursday evening and we each had a starter, a main and 2 beers. Bill came to EUR130.00. The beers which were there most expensive we came across were EUR10.00 each. The cheapest we found beers at was EUR7.50.
A meal in McDonalds (Medium Big Mac Meal) cost EUR13.00.
2 coffees a muffin and a cookie cost EUR16.00.

The people are friendly and were very chatty. Most thought we were English which isnt a big deal but when we mentioned we were Irish they seemed even friendlier. I dont know why and I didnt ask. They asked the usual stuff about Ireland (is it really all green, guinness and the troubles in the north). Most of the people we spoke too seemed very clued up on the political issues here, the economy and the recession etc.

Anyway, if you have any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.


HANDY WEBSITES:

Oslo Tourism: http://www.visitoslo.com/en/

SAS: http://www.flysas.com/en/ie/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=IE16&vst=true

Hotel: http://www.bondeheimen.com/index_eng.htm

Airport Express Train: http://www.flytoget.no/eng/

Holmenkollen Ski Museum & Tower : http://www.visitoslo.com/en/holmenkollen.52099.en.html

Fram Museum: http://www.fram.museum.no/en/

Viking Ship Museum: http://www.khm.uio.no/vikingskipshuset/index_eng.html

Nobel Peace Centre: http://www.nobelpeacecenter.org/?1=1

Oslo Opera House: http://www.oslooperahouse.com/

Nortcider

Went there during Eurovision week. Didn't realise that was on until I seen Marty Whelan & Larry Gogan outside the train station. Nearly made me go back home again.
Flew Ryanair into Rygge and got a bus to central bus/train station. Bus took around an hour so not bad. Around €20 return I think. Way dearer than airfare though.
I managed to find a reasonably priced hotel (€75 a night single for b&b) 10/15 minutes walk from station. Interestingly, there were some good hotel deals available all over the city for travel in August .
Oslo IS very dear. I wish I'd seen a pint for €7.50. I'd have saved a fortune. I got a Big Mac meal for €10 though so saved a little bit there.
I took a day long boat/bus trip (€80) that covered all the main attractions. In my opinion the only thing worth seeing is the ski jump. Unfortunately, it was under reconstruction when I was there so we couldn't get to the top of it. The views must be awesome from up there.
Would I go again? No.
I would like to visit other parts of Norway though, particularly the fjords. Probably would do that on some sort of cruise but if the ship stops off in Oslo, I'm staying on board.

Paulj

We went last year for a weekend around october and i quite enjoyed the place. We stayed at a hostel for around 30e/night and picked up a guide there called 'Cheap Guide to Oslo' or something like that. That was a godsend because it told us all the cheap bars and restaurants which really helped with the cost of things. The cheapest pint we got was about 5.50 which wasn't too bad considering how much you can pay.
I found the people to be very friendly. Both nights we were out we were asked by locals to join them at their table. I thought that was a lovely gesture of friendliness.
I thought the Arctic Explorer museums was really good. You can walk around the purpose built boat that was used a hundred years ago to navigate the arctic.

ivietnamtravel

With its population of around 550,000, Oslo is one of the smallest capitals in Europe and is flanked by nature on almost all sides. The city's public transportation system is convenient, with buses, trams, a subway system, trains and ferries. This extensive network will take you all around town, into the wilderness or out to one of the islands of the inner Oslofjord, all in less than 20 minutes.
City Center & Karl Johans Gate


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