Top 27 Oslo Attractions

The city of Oslo, locat­ed in the south­east of Nor­way, was found­ed by the ancient Vikings. There are many pic­turesque lakes, parks and his­tor­i­cal sights on its ter­ri­to­ry, empha­siz­ing the cul­tur­al char­ac­ter­is­tics of the Scan­di­na­vian peo­ple.

Who and why should come here

The cap­i­tal of Nor­way is inter­est­ing for tourists from dif­fer­ent coun­tries. Peo­ple come to see a dynam­ic, fast-paced city where ancient archi­tec­ture sits next to mod­ern build­ings. Oslo has a vibrant nightlife. Dis­cos, rock-con­certs, enter­tain­ing shows rum­ble in the clubs. The night bar “Oslo’s Smuget”, the clubs “Blaa” and “Nivou” are very pop­u­lar among young peo­ple.

The city also attracts out­door enthu­si­asts. Pas­sion­ate fish­er­men gath­er here in the sum­mer to fish on their own in the Oslofjord or take part in fish­ing tours orga­nized by pri­vate com­pa­nies. Any­one can rent a boat or canoe. In win­ter, ice skat­ing, ski slopes and ski jumps are avail­able.

For a ride with the kids on mod­ern rides, check out Tusen­Fryd. The park has play­grounds for the lit­tle ones, a water park, a Fer­ris wheel, roller coast­ers. The city also has many inter­est­ing muse­ums and enter­tain­ment cen­ters suit­able for fam­i­lies.

As a memen­to of a trip to Oslo, tourists mas­sive­ly buy sweaters knit­ted from nat­ur­al wool, sil­ver jew­el­ry, wood­en crafts and caramel-fla­vored goat cheese.

Historical landmarks and architecture

Karl Johan Street

The main cul­tur­al and his­tor­i­cal sights are con­cen­trat­ed on the cen­tral pedes­tri­an street of Oslo. Tourists come here to see the palace park, the build­ing of the Nation­al The­ater and the Par­lia­ment.

Elite bou­tiques, huge shops and small sou­venir shops are open here. In the warm sea­son, artists and musi­cians work in the open air. And in win­ter, an ele­gant Christ­mas tree is set up near the Uni­ver­si­ty build­ing.

Christiania Square

Chris­tia­nia Square, named after the Dan­ish king and founder of Oslo, is the heart of the cap­i­tal. There are ancient build­ings, pop­u­lar muse­ums, cafes and restau­rants. A tun­nel was laid under­ground, which saved the his­tor­i­cal place from car traf­fic.

In the cen­ter of the square you can see the orig­i­nal foun­tain in the shape of King Chris­tian’s glove. With his fin­ger, the monarch indi­cates where the city should be built.

Damstredet

It was in the Old Town (or Damstre­det) that the con­struc­tion of Oslo began in 1049. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the ancient build­ings have not been pre­served. In a small pic­turesque quar­ter there are res­i­den­tial hous­es built in the 18th cen­tu­ry.

Walk­ing along the cob­bled pave­ment, you can admire beau­ti­ful build­ings, buy sou­venirs in local shops and take orig­i­nal pho­tos.

Akershus Castle

The first men­tion of the fortress dates back to 1300. It was found­ed by King Haakon V to pro­tect the city from ene­mies. The cas­tle was rebuilt sev­er­al times and was used as a roy­al prison for a long time. The defen­sive com­plex with­stood all the sieges of the ene­my, only dur­ing the Sec­ond World War the fortress sur­ren­dered to the Ger­man invaders with­out a fight.

Now muse­ums are open in the inner bas­tion and in the cas­tle. Tourists in them can vis­it the bar­racks, prison cells and ban­quet halls, see old can­nons, weapons and doc­u­ments cov­er­ing Nor­we­gian mil­i­tary his­to­ry, start­ing from the Viking Age.

Royal Palace

Oslo is home to the Roy­al Palace, built in the clas­si­cist style in the 19th cen­tu­ry. The facade of the two-sto­ry build­ing is dec­o­rat­ed with columns, and a mon­u­ment to Karl Johan XIV ris­es in front of the entrance. The palace is the cur­rent res­i­dence of the Nor­we­gian king.

When the monar­ch’s fam­i­ly is away, there are guid­ed tours inside. But tourists can walk around the Palace Park and watch the chang­ing of the guard, which takes place dai­ly at 13:00, on any day.

Parliament building

The res­i­dence of the Nor­we­gian Par­lia­ment is locat­ed in a build­ing designed by the Swedish archi­tect E. Lan­glet. The palace, built of yel­low brick, com­bined dif­fer­ent archi­tec­tur­al styles. A two-sto­ry semi­cir­cu­lar sec­tion pro­trudes ahead, two wings are locat­ed on the sides.

The main entrance to the Par­lia­ment is guard­ed by stat­ues of shag­gy lions. You can get inside only as part of a guid­ed tour.

town hall

The house, built in the first half of the last cen­tu­ry, com­bines the fea­tures of clas­si­cism, func­tion­al­ism and north­ern moder­ni­ty. It con­sists of a cen­tral build­ing, where city hall meet­ings are held, and two tow­ers in which man­age­ment employ­ees work.

There are 49 bells in the east tow­er. You can see them by sign­ing up for a tour.

The City Hall is an out­stand­ing archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ment, con­sid­ered one of the sym­bols of Oslo. Every year on Decem­ber 10, it is here that the solemn pre­sen­ta­tion of the Nobel Peace Prize takes place.

Cultural attractions

National Theater

The Dra­ma The­ater on Karl Johan Street opened in 1899. The two-storey yel­low brick house is dec­o­rat­ed with columns, arched win­dows and bas-reliefs. There are sev­er­al sculp­tures on its roof. There is a mon­u­ment to Hen­rik Ibsen in front of the entrance.

The Nor­we­gian Nation­al The­ater is the cul­tur­al cen­ter of Oslo. Here you can watch dra­mat­ic per­for­mances, vis­it poet­ry evenings and exhi­bi­tions.

Opera

The Opera House is right­ful­ly con­sid­ered one of the best mod­ern attrac­tions in Oslo. The build­ing, tow­er­ing on the shore of the fjord, resem­bles an ice­berg hov­er­ing above the water.

The hall­mark is a white flat roof, tilt­ed towards the bay. It is made in such a way that every­one can climb from the low­est point of the roof up the ramps and admire the panora­ma of the fjord and the city.

The con­cert hall of the the­ater is made in the shape of a horse­shoe and has excel­lent acoustics. There are dai­ly opera and bal­let per­for­mances.

Museums in Oslo

city ​​museum

In the Vige­land Park, in an 18th-cen­tu­ry man­sion, a city muse­um has been opened. Its expo­si­tion presents exhibits that tell about the his­to­ry of Oslo from antiq­ui­ty to the present day.

At the exhi­bi­tion, guests get acquaint­ed with archae­o­log­i­cal finds, learn about famous per­son­al­i­ties of the city, and study rare doc­u­ments. Among the exhibits are many paint­ings by Nor­we­gian artists.

Historical Museum

The His­tor­i­cal Muse­um occu­pies four spa­cious floors of a sep­a­rate build­ing. The old­est skull in Nor­way, gold and sil­ver coins, medieval items are kept there.

Vis­i­tors can view per­ma­nent exhi­bi­tions:

• numis­mat­ic;
• ethno­graph­ic;
• medieval.

The most pop­u­lar are the expo­si­tions that tell about nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na and the Vikings.

Viking Ship Museum

The muse­um exhibits three ancient Viking ships. Ships that had lain for about 1000 years at the bot­tom of the Oslo Fjord were raised to the sur­face and restored. On a tour of the muse­um, you can also see reli­gious arti­facts, wom­en’s jew­el­ry, Viking house­hold items.

Museum “Kon-Tiki”

The muse­um tells about the life of Thor Hey­er­dahl, a Nor­we­gian archae­ol­o­gist who in 1947, togeth­er with friends, made a trip on a log raft “Kon-Tiki” to Poly­ne­sia.

The gallery con­tains the raft itself, doc­u­ments and objects used dur­ing this incred­i­ble expe­di­tion. The muse­um has a sou­venir shop and a cin­e­ma. Every year the exhi­bi­tion is vis­it­ed by 200 thou­sand peo­ple.

Munch Museum

Nor­we­gian artist Edvard Munch, who worked in the style of expres­sion­ism, gained world­wide fame thanks to the paint­ing “The Scream”. The muse­um col­lec­tion con­tains 1100 can­vas­es, 4500 pen­cil draw­ings and a huge num­ber of graph­ic sketch­es of the mas­ter.

By the way, in 2004, attack­ers stole the paint­ings “The Scream” and “Madon­na” from the gallery. After 2 years, the police man­aged to find the crim­i­nals and return the price­less can­vas­es to their place.

Museum of Cultural History

The Ethno­graph­ic Muse­um in Oslo is 125 years old. Here exhibits from all regions of Nor­way are col­lect­ed. Tourists can learn about the cul­tur­al char­ac­ter­is­tics and dai­ly life of the Scan­di­na­vian peo­ples from the 16th cen­tu­ry to the present day.

With­in the muse­um there is an open-air exhi­bi­tion — there are 160 old Nor­we­gian hous­es. Walk­ing through this unusu­al vil­lage, you can see house­hold items, learn ancient crafts or take pic­tures in nation­al cos­tume.

Churches and temples

Cathedral

The main Cathe­dral of the city, built in the 17th cen­tu­ry, attracts the atten­tion of tourists with a high tow­er topped with a point­ed dome. It is topped with a large round clock. The cathe­dral has recent­ly under­gone restora­tion, thanks to which the medieval inte­ri­or has been com­plete­ly restored.

Tourists come to lis­ten to the reli­gious ser­vice, see the stained-glass win­dows on the walls, the ancient altar depict­ing the Cru­ci­fix­ion and the Last Sup­per, and enjoy organ music.

Cathedral of Saint Olof

This Neo-Goth­ic tem­ple is a strik­ing exam­ple of 19th-cen­tu­ry archi­tec­ture. Inside there is a copy of the famous Sis­tine Madon­na by Raphael, donat­ed to the church by the Queen of Nor­way, and a mar­ble taber­na­cle of Pope Pius IX.

At the end of the last cen­tu­ry, John Paul II vis­it­ed the cathe­dral and brought the relics of St. Olof as a gift to the believ­ers.

Old Church of Aker

The old­est church in Oslo was built in the 12th cen­tu­ry on the site of the Aker­berg sil­ver mine, which was used dur­ing the Viking Age. The church was attacked by bar­bar­ians sev­er­al times, was plun­dered, but was always restored by parish­ioners.

Now it is again open to believ­ers. Arriv­ing at the ser­vice, you can see the ancient bap­tismal font, the pul­pit in the Baroque style, and out­side the walls of Aker — the old ceme­tery, where famous peo­ple of the city are buried.

Church of the Holy Trinity

The cur­rent church, belong­ing to the Luther­an denom­i­na­tion, is locat­ed in the cen­ter of Oslo. This is the largest reli­gious build­ing in the city, accom­mo­dat­ing up to 1000 parish­ioners. The build­ing is dec­o­rat­ed with sev­er­al tow­ers and a wide dome.

Inside there are beau­ti­ful stained glass win­dows, arch­es and columns. The neo-Goth­ic altar depicts the bap­tism of Adolf Tide­mands Jesus.

Natural attractions, parks and entertainment

vigeland park

A pop­u­lar attrac­tion is locat­ed in the west­ern part of Oslo. It was cre­at­ed by a famous Nor­we­gian sculp­tor at the begin­ning of the last cen­tu­ry. On the ter­ri­to­ry of 30 hectares there are 227 sculp­tures show­ing human feel­ings and rela­tion­ships.

Each sculp­ture depicts peo­ple doing dif­fer­ent things. Vis­i­tors can see small chil­dren, dancers, jog­gers, cou­ples embrac­ing. The cen­tral stat­ue of the park is the “Mono­lith” plateau, which, togeth­er with neigh­bor­ing fig­ures, forms the “Cir­cle of Life” instal­la­tion. There are many green spaces and places for recre­ation in the park, there is a foun­tain.

Botanical Garden

In the cen­ter of the city, the Botan­i­cal Gar­den is plant­ed, divid­ed into sev­er­al the­mat­ic zones. Guests and locals love to relax in the shade of its spread­ing trees. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the flo­ra are sort­ed by vari­eties, species.

In total, 1,800 dif­fer­ent shrubs and trees and more than 2,000 flow­ers grow in the gar­den. With­in the park there is a large green­house in which palm trees and exot­ic herbs grow.

Oslo fjord

The most beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al attrac­tion, 102 km long, is divid­ed into 2 parts by the nar­row Drebak Strait. This is a pic­turesque place where many small hilly islands are locat­ed.

In the sum­mer sea­son, tourists go kayak­ing and canoe­ing here, go in for sail­ing. There are camp­sites along the bay for eco­tourism enthu­si­asts.

Lake Sognsvann

Lake Sognsvann is locat­ed 3 km from Oslo, attract­ing tourists all year round. In sum­mer, guests relax on well-main­tained beach­es; in win­ter, a large ice skat­ing rink opens for chil­dren and adults.

Not far from the lake there is free park­ing, toi­lets, a shop that sells sou­venirs and every­thing you need for a pic­nic (no need to bring any­thing with you). This is a great place for fam­i­ly hol­i­days and sports activ­i­ties.

Summerpark

The largest climb­ing park in Scan­di­navia is locat­ed 30 min­utes from the city cen­ter. In the warm sea­son, there are 12 pistes of dif­fer­ent dif­fi­cul­ty lev­els. Tourists are wait­ing for rope roads laid along the crowns of trees, excit­ing jumps and descents.

Pro­fes­sion­al instruc­tors work in the park. Any­one can rent equip­ment.

Reptile park in Oslo

A real rep­tile park is open on Stor­ga­ta Street. This is an inter­est­ing place for peo­ple who love exot­ic ani­mals.

Large and small aquar­i­ums are installed in a spa­cious room, where var­i­ous types of rep­tiles and spi­ders live, includ­ing:

• chameleons;
• lizards;
• poi­so­nous frogs;
• boas;
• mon­i­tor lizards;
• snakes;
• taran­tu­las;
• Spi­der Black Wid­ow.

In the park, chil­dren and adults can see a dwarf croc­o­dile, talk­ing par­rots, mon­keys and watch the feed­ing of these ani­mals.

Child Planet Atlantis Game Center

The play cen­ter, opened on the ter­ri­to­ry of the Scan­dic Hotel Fornebu, is designed for chil­dren’s recre­ation. It is made in a marine style and is suit­able for chil­dren of all ages. The play­ground has a long labyrinth, low and high slides, tram­po­lines, even dry pools with balls for the lit­tle ones.

It is easy to spend the whole day here, play­ing with the ani­ma­tors and rid­ing the rides. The game cen­ter has a cafe, and if nec­es­sary, you can use the ser­vices of a babysit­ter.

Holmenkollen

The Vestre Aker dis­trict is locat­ed on a hill where guests are wel­comed by the Hol­menkollen cul­tur­al and recre­ation cen­ter. This resort has a biathlon track and the world’s first ski jump.

From Novem­ber to April, skiers come here to go in for sports, take part in biathlon com­pe­ti­tions, win­ter biathlon or folk­lore fes­ti­vals. In Hol­menkollen you can rent a guest house, try nation­al cui­sine, buy sou­venirs and vis­it the Ski Muse­um.