What is there to do in norway oslo?

Question

What is there to do in norway oslo?

Answer 1

What kinds of things are you interested in?

Oslo has some very good museums.  I particularly like the Norwegian Folk Museum, which is an outdoor museum containing historic buildings and homesteads relocated from all over the country, including a representative restored wooden stave church.  There are often reenactors demonstrating traditional arts and crafts, cooking, folk dancing, etc.  It's a nice overview of traditional Norwegian architecture and history in one place.

There's also the Viking Ship museum, which houses the archeological remains of the viking burial ships, including the famous Gokstad ship.  The display is interesting, but if you're particularly interested in Viking history, there's an excellent collection at the National History Museum downtown.  Unfortunately, the displays are labeled only in Norwegian, but during the summer, there are fantastic free guided tours of the exhibit in English.

For more maritime history, there are three more ship-related museums.  The Kon-Tiki Museum is an interesting and well-organized museum about the voyages of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his trans-oceanic raft voyages and research of Easter Island.  The Fram museum houses the historic polar exploration ship along with plenty of displays and information about Arctic exploration.  Nearby is also the the Maritime Museum, with a large assortment of other ships and boats outlining Norway's long seafaring history and coastal life, but the displays are primarily in Norwegian.

For fine arts, there's the National Gallery, which contains a great collection of works by Norwegian artists along with a few representative pieces by some of the big European names (Monet, Picasso, etc).  It also houses one of the two copies of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream.  The other has just come out of restoration and is on display at the Munch Museum, which contains a large collection of the artist's works.

There's also the famous and popular Vigelands Sculpture Park, exhibiting the works of sculptor Gustav Vigeland.  The park is filled with Vigeland's statues depicting the human form in a variety of activities and through all walks of life.  In exchange for a space to work, Vigeland agreed to donate all of his work to the city of Oslo, and the park was created to house them.  Aside from the draw of the sculpture, the park is especially popular in the summer as a place to just walk around and enjoy the good weather, and the locals are often found sprawled on the grass grilling sausages or playing lawn sports like Kubb.

For city history, the first choice is a stroll down the central street of Karl Johan's gate with the central train station at one end and the Royal Palace at the other.  Along the way, it passes the National Theater, university, Storting (parliament), and the Oslo Domkirke (cathedral), which is currently under extensive restoration.  Although Oslo isn't particularly known for the picturesque residential streets that are more common in the western costal cities like Bergen or Stavanger, there are a few small historic streets (Damstredet and Telthusbakken) near the Old Aker Church and VÃ¥r Frelsers Gravlund, where some of the most famous Norwegians are buried.

For even older history, you can explore the Akershus fortress and castle, where you can get some great views over Oslofjord (assuming there's no cruise ship docked at the adjoining pier).  You can also visit the ruins of medieval Oslo in the east of town, but there's not too much information to be had unless you go with a guide.

For sports and outdoor activities, there are plenty of options.  The areas around the Holmenkollen ski jump and Sognsvann lake are both easily accessible by public transport and are popular for hiking in the summer.  There are plenty of cycling routes throughout the city.  As mentioned before, grilling in the park is a popular warm-weather meal option.  And for the particularly warm days, there's swimming at Sognsvann or in the chilly Oslofjord at Huk Beach.  You can also catch a ferry to one of the islands in the fjord for a bit of exploring, swimming, grilling, etc.

In the winter, the hiking trails are replaced by cross-country ski routes, and there are some popular locations for downhill sledding when it snows.

And for the more urban minded, there are plenty of restaurants, pubs, and clubs, many of which are often crowded in spite of the high Norwegian prices.  You can also find event information for concerts, live music, etc. in the What's On listings: http://www.visitoslo.com/en/whats-on.491...