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Oslo and Bergen Travel Guide (updated 2024)

NORWAY

There are about 13 Norwegian Krone to the pound. Dividing by 13 is annoying, instead you could times by 8 and divide by 100.
eg a litre of milk is 22 NOK. Times by eight is roughy 170, so say £1.70

OSLO

Getting there

The Flytoget train from the airport is 230 NOK one-way to the city centre.
Leaves every 10 minutes, takes 20 minutes to get there.

Where to stay

Park Inn by Radisson, right in the centre, around £120 a night

There are lots of highly rated hotels in the Thon chain, the largest hotelier in Norway, starting at £100 a night

We made the mistake of booking the Radisson Blu Park Hotel, which is in Lyseker, a bus and train ride from the centre, and with poor facilities – avoid.

Sightseeing

When shopping or sightseeing in Oslo you will spend most of your time walking between the National Theatre and the Central Station along Karl Johans Gate.

Buy the Oslo Card - you can choose when it starts and then you have 1, 2 or 3 days to travel and sightsee for free. 520 NOK for 24 hours up to 895 NOK for 72 hours.

A new National Museum was constructed on Vestbanen and opened in June 2022, replacing the Museum for Contemporary Art, Art Industry Museum, and the Museum of Architecture.
Closed Monday

Nobel Peace Prize Museum, Brynjulf Bulls plass 1
Closed Monday

Oslo City Hall
Open daily, but closed for several dates in May, so do check

To get to the island of Bygdoy, you can catch bus 30 from Central Station, City Hall Solli plass every 10 min. It stops at all the museums on this list.
Or even better, get the ferry from Rådhuskaien (City Hall Pier) from April to October every 20 min. Stop nr. 2 Bygdøynes, 200 meters away from the Kon-Tiki Museum.
Fram, the Polar Exploration Museum is open, and well worth a visit.
Maritime Museum
Folkemuseum (Museum of Cultural History)
Museum of the Viking Age reopens in 2026/27

Sadly the Stortinget (Parliament Building) tour is not currently running. Keep an eye on the website at https://www.stortinget.no/en/In-English/About-the-Storting/Guided-Tours-of-the-Parliament-building/ 

Vigeland Park is full of weird nude sculptures, being gawped at by 30 coachloads of old bored American tourists. Catch trams 2 or 3 from the Central Station. There’s also a museum about the artist.

Other attractions we’d recommend on the Oslo City Pass:
Astrup Fearnley Museet of contemporary art
Historical Museum
MUNCH (aka The Munch Museum) https://www.munchmuseet.no/en/visit-us/ 
Museum of Oslo
Natural History Museum
Norway's Resistance Museum at Akershus Fortress
Oslo Transport Museum
Popsenteret https://www.popsenteret.no/eng (Basically good Norwegian music is a-ha, Röyksopp and NO OTHER BANDS) 

Eating out

Cafe Europa is quiet and has good service. On the corner of St Olavs Gate and Tullins Gate.

Clodion Art Cafe is a trendy cafe with great decor and does great house specials. The street it's on, Bygdøy allé 63, has lots of nice design shops. Get off buses 30 or 31 at Frogner Kirke or Olav Kyrres Plass.

Dolly Dimples has many branches. You eat with your hands unless you ask for cutlery. The pizzas are big and one 40cm pizza will do for 2 people.

Shopping

Karl Johans Gate is mainly clothes shops and tacky tat. There are some good bookshops at the National Theatre end.

For internationally-known stores and some decent food courts try Oslo City, just north of the Central Station

Narvesen are the equivalent of WHSmith and are everywhere. Founded in 1894 they got the contract to run a shop in all stations on the rail network.

You should visit the regeneration of the lovable Salgshallen in Storgata, an original Sales Hall built in 1932. The transformation is led by Tove Sivertsen, who aims to breathe new life into the dilapidated building, constructing an Arts and Culture hub and shopping destination.
BERGEN

Scandic Hotels and Thon Hotels are the two main Norwegian chains, with a variety of locations and prices.
We stayed at Scandic Hotel Norge, Nedre Ole Bulls plass 4
It's very central and you can walk with your cases from the station round the lake, though you may prefer to take a taxi.It has a fitness centre with a swimming pool, which must be booked in advance.

The Bergen Card gets you into almost everything free. 380 NOK for 24 hours up to 620 NOK for 96 hours.

The Floyen funicular runs close to the centre of town, from 7.30am every 15 minutes. For a fun ride, catch the 'kindergarten express' at 8.30am weekdays. This gives views from East of Bergen city centre.

Mount Ulriken is a cable car to the South of the city. Open from 9am each morning, closed in winter on Mondays. It starts a good distance from the city centre, so you’d need to get an Ulriksbussen or tram 2 as well.

KODE Art Museums are Bergen's public museums for arts and crafts, which include four buildings along Lille Lungegårdsvann in the city centre.

Bryggens Museum, Dreggsallmenningen 3, at the West end of Bryggen
Open daily
An archaelogical history of the area

Museum of the Hanseatic League, Øvregaten 50, behind Bryggen
Open daily

Maritime Museum, Haakon Sheteligsplass 15, southwest of the city centre
Open daily

Festningsmuseum – with special exhibitions on the Resistance Movement in and around Bergen  and the Underground Press 1940-45, he history of Bergenhus Fortress, Women's Contribution to the Armed Forces, Norwegian peacekeeping forces abroad, and the Enigma machine
Bergenhus 30, behind Bryggen
Open daily

Hakon’s Hall, built 1247-1261, Bergenhus 10 in Vågen
Open daily

Bergenhus Fortress, Bergenhus 4 in Vågen
Open daily

Bergen Cathedral and other churches

Norway In A Nutshell is a must.
You get to go on the Bergen Railway to the high point of Finse at 1222m. Take the breathtaking Flåmsbana railway, one of the steepest normal track railway lines in the world, dropping 2,824 feet in just under an hour. See the Aurlandsfjord and the narrow and dramatic Nærøyfjord on an electric boat, and take a bus trip via Stalheim through the Nærøydalen valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You can start the tour in Oslo or Bergen and can be completed in several ways. You choose the route, length, and which activities to fit into your itinerary. Pick up leaflets and timetables and plan which time you want to travel. 

The main shopping centres are Galleriet in the centre of town, and Storcenter near the station. They have good supermarkets and cheap eateries. There’s also Xhibition, and Kløverhuset.

The tourist shops along Bryggen are nice, but notorious for short-changing tourists. It happened to us twice in one day!

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