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Visiting Oslo, Norway soon, cool things to do?

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Jonnax

Member
I'm having a very unplanned couple of days in Oslo soon.
I was thinking of just checking out Wikitravel and listing up some things but do any Gaffers live there or have visited?

What do you recommend doing?
 

Bubble

Neo Member
Vigelandsparken
Slottet

Nice places and worth visiting in my opinion. Might be a lot of tourists there though, so be aware if you don't like that.
 

Truant

Member
Take a walk around Gamlebyen.

I went to gamlebyen skolen so...

Hey, that's where I live!

Anyway, you should definitely eat some new nordic cuisine. Maaemo, Kontrast, Arakataka are all amazing restaurants you should check out.
 

Jonnax

Member
Tthanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at them tonight.
Also in terms of food what's a good restaurant to experience Norwegian cuisine?
Sometimes it's hard wading through lists of best restaurants since as a tourist going to the best French, Italian, Chinese, Indian etc, restaurant in Oslo would be a bit of a waste :p

edit:
aha, just as I posted.
Hey, that's where I live!

Anyway, you should definitely eat some new nordic cuisine. Maaemo, Kontrast, Arakataka are all amazing restaurants you should check out.

Thanks for the suggestions Truant. I'll check them out :)
 

Glass

Member
Try a polsa and lomper (spelling fail) the long sausages wrapped in a potato wrap thing, with the classic Norwegian ketchup and mustard they always have. So good. I bring packs of the stuff back with me each time I visit.

Oh and shit is expensive, so be prepared to spend more then you're expecting for things.
 
I have made Swedes laugh by raising my fists, pointing my face skyward and shouting "DANSK YEVLAR!" Not sure if that will work on Norwegians, though.

Try the same but shout SVENSK instead of DANSK in Norway ;P


Tthanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at them tonight.
Also in terms of food what's a good restaurant to experience Norwegian cuisine?
Sometimes it's hard wading through lists of best restaurants since as a tourist going to the best French, Italian, Chinese, Indian etc, restaurant in Oslo would be a bit of a waste :p

Get drunk off your ass and eat a kebab at 3 am.
 

Natetan

Member
Oslo is pretty boring. Take the train to Bergen.

Also, stock up on food at your hotel's buffet so you don't need to buy lunch. Everything is shockingly expensive

There's a nice sculpture garden on Oslo and the edvard munch meuseum
 

slider

Member
I genuinely found it one of the friendliest places I've been. Cost wise I thought it was about the same as London but seeing posts here, from folk that'd know better, I'd say I'm wrong.
 

Noaloha

Member
Slightly off-main-topic, but I'm curious: is Sweden alone up here in its Systembolaget thing, or do the neighbours also have similar arrangements in place?
 
Slightly off-main-topic, but I'm curious: is Sweden alone up here in its Systembolaget thing, or do the neighbours also have similar arrangements in place?

Nah, we got Vinmonopolet here in Norway.

Edit: Looks like there's Alko in Finland and Vínbúð in Iceland as well.
 

Fuser

Member
Sat in Oslo airport right now as it happens, just got here and sat waiting on connecting flight.
Just had a BLT, it was pretty good. That's all i can say about Oslo.

Off to Lofoten (via Bodo) for the week. Can't wait :)
 
Slightly off-main-topic, but I'm curious: is Sweden alone up here in its Systembolaget thing, or do the neighbours also have similar arrangements in place?

Finland has Also which is basically the same as the Swedish Systembolaget. Norway has Vinmonopolet which has a monopoly on wine and spirits, but beer can still be bought in grocery stores, in contrast to Sweden and Finland
 

Gorger

Member
Try a polsa and lomper (spelling fail) the long sausages wrapped in a potato wrap thing, with the classic Norwegian ketchup and mustard they always have. So good. I bring packs of the stuff back with me each time I visit.

Oh and shit is expensive, so be prepared to spend more then you're expecting for things.

First you need some Wienerpølser...
Gilde%20wienerp%C3%B8lser


...topped with Idun ketchup and sennep

WGB2w7Vm7iNSQvZ2V2L7oA98MaWhe67HH-h2OW3TAxGA


...and some quality Norwegian lompe

ola_lompa_vikinglomper


The result is this favorite lovable Norwegian cuisine, often eaten during our constitution day and birthday parties.
P%C3%B8lse-i-lompe.jpg

Yum!
 

Noaloha

Member
Nah, we got Vinmonopolet here in Norway.

Edit: Looks like there's Alko in Finland and Vínbúð in Iceland as well.

I see, thanks. Just looking at the Wiki page for it for info, I see the non-Vinmonopolet ABV limit in Norge is 4.75% and above, quite a bit higher than here (3.5).

For the OP then, in case you weren't aware: should you fancy buying some booze for your evening (as in, your own bottle of wine or a few TV beers or whatever; doesn't apply to restaurants/bars/etc.), if you want anything above that ABV you'll have to ask around for the local 'polet' (thanks Wiki) -- which I assume is pronounced something like poe-lee-'t?

edit:
Finland has Also which is basically the same as the Swedish Systembolaget. Norway has Vinmonopolet which has a monopoly on wine and spirits, but beer can still be bought in grocery stores, in contrast to Sweden and Finland

Gotcha. There are beers in the supermarkets here in Sweden, sort of, but only light beers(2.5-3.5%), and often nasty tasting and oddly head-ache inducing. I assume (?) in Norway if you wanted a semi-decent tasting beer or something a bit special (anything above 4.75%?) you'd head to The Wine Monopoly for it?
 

Jyrii

Banned
Finland has Also which is basically the same as the Swedish Systembolaget. Norway has Vinmonopolet which has a monopoly on wine and spirits, but beer can still be bought in grocery stores, in contrast to Sweden and Finland

You can buy beer in grocery stores in Finland, but the alcohol content is limited to 4.7% Same in Sweden but with 3.5% alcohol content
,though is that considered beer anymore lol
 
If you like coffee visit Tim Wendelboe or Fuglen. Kaffebrenneriet is also very good.

That's all I have to offer (despite living there for 3 years). :p
 

Window

Member
Take the Norway in a Nutshell tour if you're not there for very long. Norway's natural beauty is stunning to behold.
 
Gotcha. There are beers in the supermarkets here in Sweden, sort of, but only light beers(2.5-3.5%), and often nasty tasting and oddly head-ache inducing. I assume (?) in Norway if you wanted a semi-decent tasting beer or something a bit special (anything above 4.75%?) you'd head to The Wine Monopoly for it?

Yes. Oh, and they stop selling beer in the supermarkets at a specific time here. 20:00 on work days and 18:00 on Saturday. On Sundays nothing is open, not even the Vinmonopolet :p
 

butalala

Member
I had a really nice time in Oslo when I was there in August. It's not as idyllic as some other parts of Norway, but it was still a lot of fun. I enjoyed simply exploring the city, the Viking Ship Museum, the Folk Museum and the other museums that are in that area.

I had a good meal at Frognerseteren Restaurant, which is out of town a bit, but I think you can get there pretty easily on the train. I don't know if the weather is appropriate for outdoor stuff right now, but they had a large patio and there were some hiking paths adjacent to the restaurant.

Have fun!
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Take the train to Bergen, the trip itself is nice, and the city is the only worthwhile major city in Norway imo.

Yes I live in Bergen
 

nolips

Member
The coolest thing to do in Oslo is to get on a train and go to a better Norwegian city.

This.
Oslo is a typical modern European city with everything that comes with it. To get the full Norwegian experience go to Bergen, Stavanger or Trondheim.
 

Addi

Member
It really depends what you like. Regarding food, I have never been to restaurants like Maemo because it's really expensive (it has michelin stars so...). If you want some good "junk food", try illegal burger, my favourite burger :p

You have classic stuff to visit like Holmenkollen (ski jump on the hill outside of Oslo), Vigelandsparken (naked statues crying and fighting), the Munch museum, the Opera (it's shaped like an iceberg), Karl Johan street with the king's castle at the end.

But then you also have the more new and "hip" stuff too:
- Aker brygge with the Astrup Fearnley museum at the end (they have a Murakami exhibition right now).
- the opera could also go here too, it's pretty new, along with the barcode buildings next to it (no need to visit them, it's mostly offices, but they look cool from a distance)
- Following Akerselva (Aker river) and go to places like the Vulkan area and Grünerløkka (Oslo's hipster town with "vintage" stores and coffee)
- the Bar Himkok has been on the list of best bars in the world. You have to be 25 to get in and it's a bit hidden. They have a thing called taptails, cocktails from tap.

If you want to party, here's how it works in Norway/Oslo. It's expensive to drink in clubs, so we have pre-parties to around 23-24.00 before we go out. The clubs and bars close at 3.00. There's a time limit to buy beers in stores to 20.00 on weekdays and to 18.00 on Saturdays. You have to go to a Vinmonopol to get stuff stronger than beer, they are open to 18.00 on weekdays and 15.00 on Saturdays. If you arrive by plane, buy something in the tax free, it's much cheaper. Clubbing in Oslo is posh or wannabe posh people on the west side, hipsters at Grünerløkka and a more normal mix of people around Youngstorget. There's actually a bar next to Youngstorget called Oslo Camping where you can play mini golf inside. Never been there though.
 

Aku-Audi

Member
Oslo is expensive, boring and lacks character. Go either South or West, towards Bergen, Tønsberg, anywhere else. That way you get to experience the more cozy small town feels and see some pretty nature on the way. Everytime people come visit me here I just take them around Vestfold and Telemark showing them the viking graveyards and making them taste how awful Ringnes beer is.
 

Neptune

Member
All this talk about going elsewhere reminds me of Mikael Åkerfeldt talking about how Gothenburg is Sweden's asshole.
But Gothenburg has Liseberg, easily the best Nordic amusement park, right in the middle of the city. That alone makes it better than 99% of the entire region.
 
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