City Weekend Oslo

The Norwegian Capital is full of surprises – whether you are looking for food, culture or nature! Check in to a city center hotel, and you are never more than 20 minutes away from a range of amazing experiences.

Day 1-3: Oslo

The capital of Oslo is one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities. International media is constantly writing about Oslo’s innovative architecture, museums, and neighbourhoods, as well as everything that moves on the food, fashion, art, and music scenes.

Over the last few years, several new quarters have been established in the city centre, with exciting new activities and attractions. The high-rise buildings in Barcode and captivating landmarks like the Opera House, Munch Museum, National Museum and the Astrup Fearnley museum are changing the face of the city.

Oslo is a green city and was awarded the prestigious title European Green Capital in 2019. More than half of the municipality of Oslo is covered by forests and parks, and the fjord extends all the way to the city centre. The centre itself is becoming increasingly car-free and easy to explore on foot or by bike. An efficient public transport system makes the rest of the city easily accessible.

The capital is full of green experiences, whether you want to swim, kayak or go island hopping, relax in lush parks or walk, cycle or ski in the forest. And when was the last time you were in a big city with urban farms and a separate motorway for bees? In the Botanical Garden you can visit the Nordic region’s first Climate House and see exhibitions on climate and climate change. And in addition to all of this, more and more restaurants are focusing on green menus, while the number of environmentally certified hotels is increasing every year.

Highlights or suggested excursions

Munch Museum

MUNCH’s collection, left to the city of Oslo by the artist himself, consists of paintings, graphical prints and drawings. It is the largest collection of art by one single artist. Edvard Munch has a unique position among Nordic painters and is considered a pioneer in expressionism.

In addition to Munch’s art, world class contemporary art is exhibited in the 13-floor building. By constantly changing the exhibitions, the museum makes sure that one can always experience something new during a visit there, such as solo exhibitions honouring the winners of the Edvard Munch Art Award.

The Astrup Fearnley Museum

The Astrup Fearnley Museum is one of Scandinavia’s most notable museums for contemporary art. Beautifully situated by the fjord, it has become a popular landmark along Oslo’s harbour promenade.

The museum consists of two buildings. The main pavilion hosts rotating exhibitions and new commissions by artists from all over the world. A scenic bridge takes you to the second building, where a selection of works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection is on display. The collection includes significant works by Matthew Barney, Paul Chan, Trisha Donnelly, Félix González-Torres, Rachel Harrison, Anselm Kiefer, Glenn Ligon, Bjarne Melgaard, Julie Mehretu, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons.

Norsk Folkemuseum

Travel back in time at one of the world’s largest open-air museums.

The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History shows how people have been living in Norway since the 16th century and up until our own times.

In the open-air museum, you’ll find 160 historic buildings situated in beautiful surroundings. Walk between different parts of Norway, from cities to the countryside, while you envision the joys and struggles of everyday life through the centuries.

Sod roofed farm houses from different regions are surrounded by pastures and grazing farm animals behind picturesque fences. The museum’s old town includes homes, stores and workshops of different kinds, tied together by cobbled streets. Don’t miss the popular Gol stave church, built in the 1200s.

Historic furniture, clothing, sliver wear, altarpieces, Sami handicrafts and the interior of Norway’s first parliament are on display in indoor exhibition halls.

Holmenkollen Ski Museum and Tower

The Holmenkollen Ski Museum, located underneath the famous ski jump, is the oldest of its kind in the world. An exhibition with 2500 pairs of skis, some of which have belonged to Norway’s most famous skiers and members of The Royal Family, takes you through 4000 years of skiing history.

The museum also shows artefacts from the expeditions of Norwegian polar heroes Nansen and Amundsen, and an exhibition on snowboarding and modern skiing. Kids will enjoy the special children’s room Blåkollen (‘the blue hill’), which includes several slides, playhouses and exciting nooks and crannies.

Vigeland Sculpture Park

Sculpture park in the Frogner Park with more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943) in bronze, granite and cast iron, including The Angry Boy (Sinnataggen in Norwegian), The Monolith (Monolitten) and The Wheel of Life (Livshjulet).

Vigeland was also responsible for the design and architectural outline of the park, which is one of Norway’s top tourist attractions, with more than one million annual visitors.

The park is free to enter and open all year round, 24 hours a day.

Ekebergparken

A few minutes outside Oslo City Centre by tram lies the Ekebergparken sculpture park. The park combines its long history, beautiful nature, stunning views and impressive sculptures in a unique way. The artworks that are spread around the whole park are by internationally renowned artists like Louise Bourgeois, James Turrell, Dan Graham, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst and Roni Horn.

In addition to the sculptures, you can also find traces of Oslo’s long and diverse history in the park, from rock carvings and ruins from the stone age to cemetery’s that date back to 900-400 BC.

The park is always open, year-round and free to visit.

Restaurants

Oslo has emerged as Norway’s culinary hot spot and there are some very nice Michelin rated restaurants (*) .  Here we have listed some of our personal favorites:

Top end restaurants

• Stadsholdergaarden (1*)
• A`laise
• Noode in the Sky
• Einer
• Omakase by Vladimir Pak (1*)
• Palace Grill
• Kontrast (1*)
• Maaemo (Only 3* restaurant in Norway)

Mid-range restaurants

• Bon-Lio
• Fyr
• Dinner
• Hmrir
• St. Lars
• Le Benjamin
• Hos Thea
• Restaurant Rest
• Geita
• Smalhans
• Arakataka
• Vaaghals
• Happolati

Great value restaurants

• Beijing Palace
• Trancher
• Mathallen Vulkan
• Torggata Bad
• Koie Ramen