Oslo is the one Nordic city where I have zero connections so this itinerary is done totally on the fly.

I am extraordinarily excited about the Oslo food scene and very intrigued by the many new cultural meeting spots that have opened in Oslo e.g. Kulturhuset or Vippa Oslo (creative hybrids of café/gallery/co-working/performance spaces).

 

Read on below for full itinerary.

 

OSLO: June 15 – June 22, 2018 (7 days)

DAY 1:   FRIDAY, JUNE 15

 

• Arrive at 10:20 am from Copenhagen
• Take Flytoget train to National Theater Station (10 min walk to hotel). Approx. $23 roundtrip, free WIFI on the train, fast, clean, efficient.
• Get the Oslo Pass at Ruter’s Service Point at Oslo Airport (OSL).  It’s an essential for any sightseeing and it gets you around on public transportation, which is the best system I’ve ever seen. Taxis are very expensive here.

 

HOTEL:  OSLO GULDSMEDEN (til June 18)

This hotel is not my vibe at all but good location and it will have to do until my #1 choice, Scandic Vulkan, is available on June 18th. Front desk staff is fantastic!!

 

AFTERNOON:

Lunch at Ett Brod: Delicious, healthy fresh sandwiches and soups. Met the manager, Carl Johan Bahre, and he provided excellent recommendations for my stay – especially related to food.

 

2pm: Explored City With Viking Biking Group – 3 hours

Great guide (Patrick) provided good insight into the city, its history and present-day life. Major downside: group was way too big – 15 or more of us. Prefer smaller biking groups as we had in Copenhagen.

Discovered Oslo is less of a biking city than Copenhagen – very few bike lanes or protected riding for bikers.

The bike tour covered (in depth) Vigeland, the Akershus Fortress and City Hall. In each of these stops we had 10-20 mins to roam and explore.

 

 

DAY 2:  SATURDAY, JUNE 16

Was planning to do all of this by bike but the Oslo City Bike program SUCKS!!! If you don’t have wifi available on your phone at every single docking station, you cannot get a bike. I finally resorted to renting one for the day at Viking Biking.

MORNING:  AKER BRYGGE AREA

Tjuvholmen (Thief Island) with its new waterside urban development (reminds me of NYC’s Battery Park City).

 

• Pier/ outdoor eateries – none of which look like they serve great food but all are places I’d like to hang out and have a drink while enjoying the great weather Oslo is currently experiencing.
• Tjuvholmen Skulpturpark – open 24/7. Pic, lower right
• The Thief luxury hotel – very Faena-like, and from popping in briefly, less my thing than I would have thought.
• Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art (CLOSED MONDAYS)- Opens at 11am. Pic lower middle. Will be heading back there this week to take it all in – especially the newly opened Dan Colen show.
• Skur 13 – The skate park in Skur 13 was built for X Games 2016 (and will be used again for X Games 2018), and is now operated by the Oslo Skateboarding Association. Open 11am on Saturdays. Pic, lower left

EARLY AFTERNOON/LUNCH:  Vippa (open Thursday to Sunday, 12pm-9pm)

In a huge warehouse right on the edge of the Oslo port, Vippa is the newest and hippest food, culture, and music center in the city.

 

• Carefully chosen food trucks offer a selection of diverse dishes, along with live music.
• Especially popular: Vietnamese summer rolls, Chinese dumplings, Southern chili, Syrian shawarma, Japanese ramen.
• Good selection of local, organic, and biodynamic wines.

AFTERNOON: EXPLORE EKEBERGPARKEN (SCULPTURES)

Urban park with diverse sculptures, wooded areas, walking paths, a restaurant & sweeping city views.  Get there by tram, prepare for steep climb to sculptures and views. I went by bike but ended up walking it most of the way up the hill.

 

 

DAY 3: SUNDAY, JUNE 17 – rain day!!!

KULTUREHUSET – Youngs gate 6 (opens at 11am Sat/Sun; 8am M-F)

• Work on blog – final 2 Copenhagen posts

 

EVENING: CRUISE ON WOODEN SHIP (3 HOURS)

Starts from Pier 2 (by City Hall) at 7pm.

Rain expected to stop by 5pm. Shrimp buffet dinner!!

 

 

DAY 4: MONDAY, JUNE 18

Move to new hotel: Scandic Vulkan in Grunerlokka

 

ALL DAY: Bygdoy Peninsula

Accessed by boat – ferries depart regularly from Pier 3 at Oslo City Hall and are free with city bus passes.

 

• Fram Museum (10am-5pm)
• Kontiki Museum
• Viking Ship Museum (10am-4pm) – THIS IS THE BEST!!
• Norwegian Folk Museum (11am-4pm)
• Norwegian maritime museum (10am-4pm)

EVENING: Dinner at Sentralen (Øvre Slottsgate 3). Recommended by Ett Bord. Opens at 11am (12 noon Saturday). Closed Sunday.

 

DAY 5: TUESDAY, JUNE 19

EXPLORE Grunerlokka environs

 Gamle Aker Kirke (very close to my hotel).

 

This medieval era church traces back to 1100 and is the oldest existing building in Oslo. The church is surrounded by Old Aker Cemetery. Unfortunately not open today. Also unfortunate, the sea of construction cranes drowning out all these beautiful old buildings.

 

Damstredet

 

Gorgeous little street with a ram shackled array of wooden houses that have survived from the 1700’s. There is very little of this left in Oslo from what I can tell.

 

Graffiti-Scene around Brenneriveien

 

This is a very cool area featuring tons of street art murals and other art installations. Covers at least one huge city block. It’s where lots of clubs are located and also appears to be home to many creatives.

 

Mathallen

 

I had planned to have lunch here but after checking it out, decided to go somewhere more interesting.

This entire area of Grunerlokka called Vulkan is strange. It’s trying to be something it’s not. The developer took the name of the former industrial area near the Akerselva river but instead of repurposing old buildings, they seemingly tore them all down and put up faux-industrial stuff.

 

Nedre Foss Gård: A brewery/gast-haus in an old farm (rebuilt since it burned down last year!)

Checked it out (twice!) and while it looks great couldn’t find a single server – nor an English menu – had to give it a pass (even though it clearly looks like all the patrons are locals).

 

Olaf Ryes Plass:

A park/square in the neighborhood with tons of outdoor cafes – all popular with locals.

Also in this area Tim Wendelboe’s coffee shop – very cool (although they don’t let you have a wifi password – guess they don’t want laptop people there all day….)

I am not a major coffee aficionado, can not tell you the difference between all the top roasters but I did like the mid-century aesthetic and ambiance here. Also seems to attract lots of cool, tattooed Aussi guys.

 

• Also checked out Supreme Roastworks and Liebling. Writing about all these coffee places, makes me wonder if I’m not sleeping because of all the coffee (as opposed to the 10pm sunsets?

Antikkvarehuset

• A very cool (and stuffed to the gills) warehouse space that retails used/vintage mid-century Danish furniture especially chairs/couches and lamps. Also taxidermy and some vintage fur coats but primarily furniture.

Terretoriet wine bar (opens 12 noon on weekends; 4pm rest of week)

 

LOVE this wine bar. Huge wine list – pretty steep prices – but absolutely worth checking out. They serve a few bits and pieces of food but not a place where you can come get dinner with your wine (although I did have a delicious plate of cheese and salumi).

Also note that you have to go to the bar to place your order. I was the only patron for a while and sitting at a table right by the bar but had to get up and give her my order, she wouldn’t take it while I was sitting at my table. Strange but that’s the rules of the game here in Oslo.

 

DAY 6: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20

MORNING:   HOVEDOYA MONASTERY RUINS

Get there by ferry (takes about 10 minutes and during the summer they run every 30 minutes).

Not  a must-do but if there’s time, it’s interesting to see the ruins of this medieval Cistercian monastery from 1147. I also walked up to the hilltop where the cannon batteries and gunpowder depots from 1808 are located. At that time the island belonged to the Norwegian army. One of the military buildings, Lavetthuset, is now used for exhibitions.

AFTERNOON: MUSEUM

 

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Strandpromenaden 2, (Opens 12 noon, CLOSED MONDAYS)

• Very x-rated show here now by Dan Colen. Also exhibition of work by Damien Hirst.
• Also had lunch  at the museum and it was quite delicious.

 

DINNER: Le Benjamin Bar & Bistro (Søndre gate 6); Opens at 4pm; Closed Mondays

 

This is clearly a local favorite and I can see why. Excellent food, great staff, wonderful ambiance. If I lived here I would be a regular for sure.

And then I walked home (to my hotel) along the Akerselva River.

 

DAY 7:   THURSDAY, JUNE 21

 MORNING: WORK/LUNCH AT SKIPPERGATA

Skippergata is fine but doesn’t hold a candle to Kulturhuset where I worked earlier in the week. For those who are familiar with Manhattan and Brooklyn, Skippergata is very old school, gritty  Bushwick while Kulturhuset is Ludlow House!

 

DINNER: Fyr Bistronomi (Underhaugsveien 28 / Entrance Bogstadveien) @5pm

Recommended by Le Benjamin (thank you for the hook up!!)

Excellent meal and service – seated at the chef’s counter is such a great way to savor a meal at a new restaurant. At the end of the day, however, Le Benjamin is still my favorite spot. It was just so warm and welcoming (with delicious food!).

 

 

DAY 8: FRIDAY, JUNE 22

DEPART: Take train to airport at 7am

Flight to Stockholm at 9:25am

 

MISCELLANEOUS:

Get an Oslo Pass with unlimited free museum entrances, free travel on all public transport (including buses, trams, the metro, and the ferries), free walking tours.

Get the Oslo Pass app and activate the pass there. The app includes a countdown timer (so you know how many hours you have remaining to use it), and a QR code you scan at the museums.

BIKES:  Not a bike-friendly city and hiring bikes in Oslo through Oslo Bysykkel only works if you have a wifi enabled phone. If you do have wifi, for NOK 49 (around $7), an app on your phone tells you where the nearest bike station is, and unlocks a bike for you. The charge lets you use the service for 24 hours, taking an unlimited amount of 45 minute rides. If you wanted to cycle more, a three-day pass costs NOK 99.  However, if you are traveling and rely on wifi from cafes, hotels etc. you are out of luck. Most frustrating travel experience yet.

 

MUST-TRY RESTAURANTS/ CAFES/ BARS

Sentralen (Øvre Slottsgate 3) near Vippa area. Recommended by Ett Bord. Opens at 11am (12 noon Saturday). Closed Sunday. VERY GOOD!

Le Benjamin Bar & Bistro: EXCELLENT!! Great food, wonderful service, wonderful vibe

Fuglen (coffee by day/ cocktails by night)

Grådi (open for lunch and dinner, closed Mondays). Near Munch Museum.

Ett Bord (lunch and dinner; they have communal tables) – EXCELLENT!!

Kulturehuset (opens at 8am, can work here, like Ludlow House but FREE!)

Brutus (veggie focused, good wines, dinner only, communal tables, hipster vibe). Opens at 5pm daily. Got great review in NYT but everyone here is very so-so about it.

Tim Wendelboe – coffee shop chainlet (NYT review) – very precious.

Bass Oslo – can eat at the bar, near hotel (open 5pm on, closed Mondays). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY LOCALS

Brasserie Ouest (Elisenbergveien 19 – near Frogner Park and OSL Contemporary). Opens 5pm (Tues-Fri), 2pm Sat, 4pm Sun and CLOSED MONDAYS