#1

I finally got it together to arrange an Oslo trip. I’ve got some ideas but any advice from llllllllers about music, cultural stuff to check out next week? Exited!

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#2

i’m from the US and not much of an experienced traveler or anything, but i happened to be able to go to Oslo last summer for cheap and it was great. honestly, i would recommend buying some fresh fruit. the strawberries i had there were the best i’ve ever had in my life. probably because i’m unconsciously used to how they taste with pesticides here, but of all things, that was actually a standout moment haha. also, the seltzer/sparkling water! if that’s your thing, there’s a brand called Olden and it’s incredible. it’s so crisp and refreshing. and lastly, grab a Troika candy bar! i’ve never had anything like it, sooo goood.

i know this is all really basic stuff and if you live in a very nice place in Europe like Oslo anyways these things probably won’t be a big factor, but i’m from the US and i was astonished at the quality of food and drink over there. :heart_eyes: safe travels!

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#3

Went there for our honeymoon… one of our favorite vacations ever.

Viking Biking was a great way to take a guided tour of the city. It got us well outside of the hotel bubble that we tend to stay in as tourists. We got to check out the royal palace and a lot of great parks.

Statholderens Mat & Vinkjeller is in the basement of Statholdergaarden, a Michelin star restaurant. I can’t vouch for the fancy place upstairs, but the lower cost basement restaurant was one of the best meals we’ve ever had.

Be sure to visit the opera house. We didn’t really go inside, but it was fun to climb the outside and look at the views.

#4

Hey @bellemnop thanks, sometimes the little things make a big impact. I’m from London so, yeah it’s nice, but in a different way (our fruit and veg sucks for a start). Never really thought about there being much difference between sparkling water but I’ll try olden and broaden my horizons.

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#5

timely thread. I’ll also be in Oslo for a couple days in August before catching the train to Bergen, so I’m similarly interested in recommendations.

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#6

Definitey have a clamber/wander over the opera house, it’s a lovely way to see the harbour.

I’d also strongly recommend a trip to the Viking Ship Museum on Bygdøy; it’s such a simple space, a large cross-shaped building largely holding three… thousand-year-old boats that were sailed across the North Sea. Genuinely awe-inspiring.

I also greatly enjoyed the Frammuseet around the corner from it - a whole museum built around Amundsen’s Fram - but I rather like polar exploration.

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#7

If you’re in Bergen, try to get a reservation at Cornelius. It’s a seafood restaurant on a small island. Locals come by and fish off of their dock. They’ll then bring the fish to the kitchen to cook. My brother-in-law bought us dinner there as a wedding gift, so we got to do a tour beforehand. During the tour, the owner had some employees jump into the water to catch fresh scallops. I’ve never had better seafood. They also have a wine cellar built into a cave. It’s just a very cool place.

There are some excellent hikes around Bergen. I can’t remember the name of the trail specifically, but if it helps we took a tram up to the top of a large ridge. We then walked into the woods around that area.

If you have spare time in Bergen, the peak of our vacation was the Fjordsafari tour in Flam, which is northeast of Bergen.

@infovore: I forgot about the Viking Ship Museum! That place is incredible. Bygdøy is a very good idea for an afternoon trip.

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#8

Coming from the US I was pretty floored by how aggressively expensive it is, esp. if one drinks or smokes. Don’t know how it compares to the UK. Vigeland Park and the Opera House are definitely typical tourist destinations but totally worth it, esp. Vigeland Park. The interior of the Opera House is actually also pretty cool. There are some other nice parks too.

Taking the train from Oslo to Bergen was priceless, also doing a quick fjord trip from Bergen. Oslo is the ‘big city’ with much more going on but I got along with Bergen better.

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#9

Yup. It’s just expensive; taxes and duty, basically. I drink, I don’t smoke and… I just drank less when I was there. It was not a worse city for less alcohol. Most things are a bit more expensive - though, on the flipside, I largely ate excellently when I was there.

If you’re a coffee head, a trip to Tim Wendleboe is worth every second: they just do aeropress, it’s divine, and you can sit and enjoy.

(When I say ‘expensive’, we mean £8 for a pint of beer, for reference.)

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#10

Yeah, a burger, fries, and a beer at a random restaurant ended up costing close to $40. However, our 10+ course tasting menu with wine at Statholderens was $80 each. Not a cheap meal by any means, but cheaper than a fancy tasting menu at a similar place in LA, NYC, Chicago, etc.

In general, everything is closer to an expensive middle. Smaller stuff is way more expensive (i.e., a pint of beer was typically around $12, a scoop of ice cream from a stand was something like $10), but then the extravagant stuff tended to be cheaper. Part way through the vacation, we ended up abandoning the idea of grabbing a quick, cheap meal anywhere (like the eye-watering burger above).

Hotels were oddly cheap. $80-120 per night everywhere we went, even with prime locations.

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#11

Without going into detail we had the misfortune of flying into Oslo for a gallery show that got cancelled on us so instead of a prepared ‘woo vacation in Oslo’ our situation was a little more chaotic and budgetarily tight, and it definitely colored the experience.

Beautiful city and country though.

#12

I’m from Norway and been living in Oslo the last seven or eight years, and can recommend a couple of cool places to check out.

Lufthavna MIR is a cool underground concert venue. A lot of free form improvisation, experimental and noise music stuff. Kafé Hærverk is a pretty similar venue in terms of music / scene. Blå is another venue down by a river called Akerselva - also a lot of cool shows both there and a nearby venue called Ingensteds. Be sure to check out the program at Parkteateret too. Parkteateret is located in one of the more trendy parts of town called Grünerløkka. A lot of nice cafés and bars there.

The best record ships is Big Dipper and Tiger. For music equipment go to Filter Musikk. The prices are pretty steep here though.

For food and drinks I can recommend Isakaya which is a very cosy Japan styled bar. Kamai for some really good asian food. Vippa is basically a hangar at the docks with a lot of food stands with all kinds of food. The weather has been great the past month, so if this continues Vippa is a fantastic place to go and to sit outside watching as boats and ships go by.

I would also recommend to take the ferry out to the islands in Oslofjorden. A pretty short ride and inexpenssive ride. I would especially recommend Gressholmen where you can buy food and drinks at a little restaurant - or you could just bring your own and have a picnic.

Astrup Fearnley is a nice museum for contemporary / modern art. There’s a pretty cool sculpture park called Vigelandsparken, you should check that out.

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#13

+1 for the train ride to/from Bergen, beautiful town and an incredible ride. i listened to Biosphere’s record “Substrata” during most of the ride and it was so fitting (he’s from Tromsø after all). didn’t get to spend much time there but it was my favorite part of the trip. the tram up the mountain and hiking spot in the woods that someone had mentioned was really enjoyable and had some fantastic views. i went to a record store/cafe in Bergen as well called Apollon, if i remember correctly and grabbed a cd on a whim, cozy little place.

also kind of random, but there’s a neat pedal company based out of Bergen who seem to be doing workshops fairly regularly that might be worth looking into if you’re in the DIY mood? they’re called Pladask Elektrisk.

https://pladaskelektrisk.com/

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#14

Thanks plym. I was hoping you’d have some tips after I saw in the norns thread that you were in Oslo. I’ll be sure to check out at least a few of these things, especially the art and music venues, not sure how much nice food stuff i’ll be able to afford, going to see when I get there. I’m in Copenhagen at the moment and it’s really warm here, I guess it’ll be a bit cooler up there which suits me fine.

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#15

@Plym is on the dot. Can recommend all the stuff he just mentioned!
You can also check the program for Victoria National Jazz Scene. Lots of cool stuff happening there always if you are into jazz or experimental stuff.

Other than what has already been mentioned you find a lot of events in the calender at Underskog. Here people are posting concerts and performances and so on.

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