Olso, Norway: Advice Needed!

[coldfingerscoldheart]

Hi,

I’ve just booked a spur of the moment trip to Oslo, Norway. We - my husband and I - will be going for three days at the end of May.

I know NOTHING about Oslo or Norway!! We’d like a mixture of time in the city (museums, galleries, etc.) and time walking in beautiful rural areas (I’m imagining mountains and fjords!). We’ll have access to a car, so as long as we can get there and back in a day, we can easily travel out of Oslo itself.

Does any have any recommendations for where we should go/what we should do?

Or any Oslo/Norway advice on general?

Thank you!

The city is fairly small so you can walk lots in it. The Opera House is beautiful and fun for kids as you can walk up the outside of it - look at photos and you'll see what I mean! It's on the harbour side and there are nice views from the top.

The sculpture park is fun & has good views.

We did a variant of the [[https://norway4u.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/norway-in-a-nutshell/
Norway In A Nutshell]] tour by train and it was amazing - the mountains and fjords are stunning. Look it up - it's a self-guided route on trains/boats/buses depending on which variant you do. I'm not suggesting you do that tour as you're already booked into Oslo, but it may give you some inspiration. It's kind of "highlights of Norway in a hurry"

We loved our trip there. We spent one night in Oslo, then caught the train to the mountains for the tour, stayed 2 nights in the mountains near Flåm and did hiking and kayaking and a speedboat safari, then got the Express Boat to Bergen. The boat took you through all these fjords and past lots of tiny islands and we stood out on deck - it was so exhilarating and beautiful, I will remember it forever.

Oslo is beautiful, lucky you. The Viking ships in the museums are brilliant and well worth a visit, so is the opera house. There is an excellent hop on/off bus that takes you around all the tourist sites. Not that expensive and beautiful to see all the different areas of Oslo city. The flower market is lovely and there is a beautiful park with sculptures which is romantic walk.

It’s a bit expensive for eating out and drinking in some places, do some online research before you go. Take some Norwegian Krone (you may have to order it, as some exchange places don’t keep it in stock), also take some euros. A lot of the shops and restaurants accept euros, sometimes they give a slightly better exchange rate, but you have a choice you can pay in euro or krone. Check out the tourist website for offers.

Other parts of Norway are also gorgeous (been many times) with the scenery and waterfalls, Flåm is sublime catch the steam train from Flåm to take you you up the mountain and along the fjords with waterfalls every few minutes, stavanger, gerainger are smaller with traditional Norwegian Houses with picket fences all gorgeous, but as this is your first trip you could just enjoy Oslo. Not sure if you need a car in Oslo as it’s built for walking around lots of architecture, pedestrianised areas and large open spaces, it’s amazingly clean and the people are very friendly. Have a fantastic time.