Oslo, August 20th..need suggestions

[salseros2003]

Deal All,

 

we'll be in Oslo nect August 20th with Constellation from 1pm to 8pm....a very limited time to visit the town.

Our idea is to use some HOHO bus to easy reach any locations we think to visit and have a general view of the town: Vigeland, no time (I think) to visit museums as Tiki), back to City Hall, Theatre and Royal Palace, Akhersus Fortress.

 

Any suggestions? :confused::confused::confused::confused:

[Host Sharon]

The City Hall, Akerhus Castle, Royal Theatre and Palace are all very easy walking distance from where the ships berth. You could do them all in a couple of hours. The Viking Ship Museum is well worth making the effort to get there though IMO. Try not to miss the sail up Olsofjord. It's beautiful, although the last time I did it in December and the snow added a magical atmosphere to it all.

[salseros2003]

Considering the short time we plan as follow:

- arrive at 1pm

- bus to Vigeland

- back to the city centre for visiting City Hall, Theatre, Royal Palace and Akhersus Fortress

 

Can someone advise how to reach Vigeland from the Pier and how we can pay the bus/metro (cash or credit card?) or where to buy ticket at the Pier?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Try not to miss the Viking Ship museum, it's special. I guess I didn't see the best of Vigeland, I was there in November, and it was cold.

[kaisatsu]

Considering the short time we plan as follow:

- arrive at 1pm

- bus to Vigeland

- back to the city centre for visiting City Hall, Theatre, Royal Palace and Akhersus Fortress

 

Can someone advise how to reach Vigeland from the Pier and how we can pay the bus/metro (cash or credit card?) or where to buy ticket at the Pier?

 

Since you'll be in town until 8, you probably won't need to be back on the ship until at least 7. This leaves you a lot of time after the museums close to see the non-museum sights. It will still be light at that time of the year, so you could do Vigelands Park and the downtown area after closing. You actually have a lot more port time than some ships.

 

Is the Theater you mention the National Theater? I've not heard of tours of the theater itself (I could be wrong). In my opinion, it's not worth the time/money to see the inside of the Palace, which isn't particularly opulent. The tour mostly explained the history of the monarchy and who all the people in the various portraits are. Also, you usually have to buy tickets for the palace tour in advance (I think any chances of buying unsold tickets at the door are pretty low since there are 3 ships in port that day).

 

Is the only reason that you're skipping the Kon-Tiki because of the timing? Because if you scheduled right, you could still squeeze in a few of the Bygdøy museums.

 

Going with your original itinerary, I would tweak it as follows:

- arrive at 1pm (Luckily of the 3 ships, Constellation has the best berth, right alongside Akershus)

- visit the inside of Akershus Fortress (if you wanted to go inside; the grounds are free)

- visit the City Hall

- Catch the Tram #12 towards Majorstuen from one of the two stops nearby: Rådhusplassen or Aker Brygge (after Aug 15 it goes back to its full schedule and runs every 10 minutes)

- Get off at the Vigelandsparken stop and visit Vigelands Park

- Walk to the Majorstuen T-bane (subway) station and take any of the east-bound trains one stop to Nationaltheatret.

- See the National Theater building. Walk back up Karl Johans gate to the palace.

- Return to the ship and enjoy the views from the Akershus Castle grounds until it's time to return to the ship.

 

If you wanted to visit the Bygdøy museums, I would start by buying an OsloPass at the pier. If the line is too long, you can try the tourist info behind the city hall (show them your cruise card and ask for the cruise discount). Catch the ferry from the pier by the city hall to the Bygdøy Museums. See whichever museums you wanted and then catch the ferry back to visit the city hall and Akershus Castle if visiting the inside of those is high on your list. Then follow the above route. If you'd rather do more of the Bygdøy museums instead, you can catch the Bus #30 to Olav Kyrres plass and switch to the Bus #20 (towards Galgeberg) to Vigelandsparken. (The Bus #30 ends at Huk on Bygdøy, so the stop by the Kon-Tiki museum is only one direction way before looping back north. Otherwise, take the direction towards Nydalen.)

 

How to pay for public transit:

If you have an OsloPass, it covers transportation as well as most museum admissions. Cruise passengers usually get a 20% discount, so the price becomes 176 NOK. A one-day transit pass costs 65 NOK, so the OsloPass is worth it if you're planning to visit at least two museums (most admissions are 50-65 NOK, and the Norwegian Folk Museum is 95).

 

Without the OsloPass - If you are planning to make more than 2 trips on the transit system, it's worth buying a day pass (Dagskort) for 65 NOK. You can buy these in cash from machines at subway stations and most tram stops (I know there's one at Aker Brygge). They take coins and notes up to 200 NOK. You can also buy a Dagskort from convenience stores (7-11, Deli de Luca, Narvesen) using cash or credit card.

 

Single tickets cost 36 NOK when purchased on board a bus/ferry/tram and 25 NOK if purchased before boarding. I know that you can buy tickets from the machines in cash. I'm not sure about the convenience stores, but I think they sell single trip tickets (locals buy a resusable 8-trip Flexikort punch card for single trips). On board buses and trams, you can buy a ticket from the driver. On the ferry a conductor comes around during the trip. Drivers/Conductors can only accept cash.

 

The first time you use a pass or ticket, it needs to be stamped with the time. Some tickets from newer machines come with the time already stamped, but otherwise you need to stamp it to validate it. There are orange or yellow stamping boxes at subway stations and on trams and large buses. On small buses, the driver will stamp your ticket, and on the ferry the conductor will.

 

 

If you haven't completely decided what you want to see, let me know what you're interested in, and I can try to make recommendations. The Kon-Tiki museum is very good if you're interested in Heyerdahl's expeditions, but it's a lot of reading. The Fram polar ship museum houses one of the actual ships that you can explore, and the details of the trips are interesting (but again, a lot of reading to go into details). Skip the Maritime Museum next door unless you have an OsloPass and want to just pop in for the panoramic film of the Norwegian coast. The Viking Ship museum really just houses the ships themselves and a few related artefacts, so it doesn't take long to visit. The Folk Museum is a large open air museum with a lot of exhibits and traditional buildings from around Norway (including a lovely rebuilt wooden stave church). It's my personal favorite, but it's a large park and can easily use up an hour to an hour and a half. The grounds around Akershus have some nice views (with the ship in port, some of them will be blocked, so head down to the southern tip beyond the castle), but I find the castle itself to be a bit ordinary. The city hall has a lot of murals by various artists, but after the dozens of rave reviews I've seen on CC, I was a bit disappointed. Vigelands Park is quite impressive and definitely worth a visit. The free National Gallery downtown has a large collection of Norwegian painters with a few pieces worth seeing (including Edvard Munch's The Scream). And for the tech-minded, the small Nobel Peace Center is a little dry on content, but it has some very unique computerized exhibits, including a "magic book" about Nobel's life and a computerized wall of details about all the laureates (use the sliders between panels to control the selection).

 

Phew! I should really just type this all up somewhere more permanent! :) I have put together a map to help people understand the layout of the city and to find the public transportation.

 

-Meg

[salseros2003]

Since you'll be in town until 8, you probably won't need to be back on the ship until at least 7. .................

 

How to pay for public transit:

If you have an OsloPass, .....

 

If you haven't completely decided what you want to see, .....

-Meg

 

Dear Meg,

 

great!!

 

Yes let's say we still haven't decided details about our visit. Or preliminary initery has been done based on some reviews on the web.

Just some details:

- based on the short time few interest in museums; maybe only the folk museum could be taken in account -> we prefer to spend as much time we can by walking on the heart of the tows

- as Theater I meant the Den Norske Opera & Ballett (Opera House)where many reviews detailed about nice "roof walking"

- we'd prefer to start with Vigeland in order to spend the last part of the day in the city heart (City Hall, Akerhus Castle, Royal Palace, Opera House)

 

So, a potential path coulb be:

- arrive

- Akerhus Castle

- Tram 12 to Vigeland

- Vigeland

- back to the city centre (same #12 tram?)

- visit all the other sites and spending time outdoor along the streets

 

Does it make sense? Of course any suggestion is fully welcomed.

 

Ciao

[kaisatsu]

Just some details:

- based on the short time few interest in museums; maybe only the folk museum could be taken in account -> we prefer to spend as much time we can by walking on the heart of the tows

- as Theater I meant the Den Norske Opera & Ballett (Opera House)where many reviews detailed about nice "roof walking"

- we'd prefer to start with Vigeland in order to spend the last part of the day in the city heart (City Hall, Akerhus Castle, Royal Palace, Opera House)

 

So, a potential path coulb be:

- arrive

- Akerhus Castle

- Tram 12 to Vigeland

- Vigeland

- back to the city centre (same #12 tram?)

- visit all the other sites and spending time outdoor along the streets

 

Does it make sense? Of course any suggestion is fully welcomed.

 

Given what you're interested in doing, that sounds good!

 

The Opera is on the other side of the Akershus peninsula from where you're docking, and it's most easily accessible using the pedestrian bridge from the central train station.

 

To mix that in, I would suggest that instead of taking the tram back into town, you walk from Vigeland's over to Majorstuen and catch the subway downtown to Jernbanetorget. The subway trip takes 5 minutes, compared to 17 min on the tram. If you want to stick to the tram for the scenery, you can choose to take the #19 from Majorstuen, which also runs to Jernbanetorget but travels a different route than you would have seen already on the #12.

 

The pedestrian bridge over the highway to the new Opera is south of the train station.

 

Once you've visited the opera house, I would recommend heading back to the tram stop and walking northwest from there up Karl Johans gate, which is the central street in Oslo. A lot of the route is pedestrianized and the street runs past the Oslo cathedral, the parliament building (Stortinget), the old campus of Oslo University, National Theater, and eventually ends at the palace. [To get back to the ship, you'd just need to backtrack to National Theater and turn right (south) down Olav V gate.]

[salseros2003]

Thank you so much for all the informations.

[longislandfamily]

I'm working on similar plans for our day in Oslo and found out some information on guided tours in English, and hours that certain places are open. We seem to have a similar "to do' list:

 

Frogner Park - Vigeland sculpture - 24 hours - sunset at 8:56 on August 20

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=187&month=8&year=2009&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

 

National Gallery - 10-6 or 1800

Town Hall - 9- 6 with tours at 10, 12 and 2 (1400) - tours free with Oslo pass

Opera House - tours only at 2,

Viking Ship museum 9-6, free with Oslo pass

 

Even though it puts you the furthest away from the pier at the end of the day, you might want to consider heading out to Frogner at 5 or so, after you see the center city things. Just be sure to leave before 7.

 

This is my second trip to Oslo, didn't get to the National Gallery last time, and the Opera House is new since then. Saw the Fram and Kon-Tiki last time; once was enough. The most interesting thing in the fortress is the WWII Resistance Museum, IMO. Also the cruise up Oslo fjord is supposed to be wonderful, My cruise arrives very early in the morning, so I would have to be up at 5 to enjoy the scenery - fortunately the sun will already be up!

[RachelG]

Meg, thank you for such wonderful and clear advice. One question: can multiple people travelling together use the 8 trip Flexikort punch card. This would seem to be ideal for us as we do not need to get the Oslo card. And can you get this from a machine or do you have to buy it from a stand with a person in it?

 

Our ship arrives at 9 PM on July 8 and leaves at 3:30 PM the next day. I am thinking that if we are feeling energetic, we could take the tram to Vigeland the evening of arrival. And my college aged son wants to experience some Oslo night life--nothing wild--just meeting and talking to other kids his age. It looks like this would be safe. He has done so in Taormina and Syracuse Italy before and had a great time.

[kaisatsu]

Meg, thank you for such wonderful and clear advice. One question: can multiple people travelling together use the 8 trip Flexikort punch card. This would seem to be ideal for us as we do not need to get the Oslo card. And can you get this from a machine or do you have to buy it from a stand with a person in it?

Absolutely! Just be sure to stamp one of the spaces for each person who's traveling. You'll see that there are 8 numbered spaces, and you just fold the card and insert the next spot into the ticket stamping machine. The Flexikort costs 180 NOK, and you buy them from ticket machines. You can also get them from convenience stores, as well as directly from the bus drivers (possibly tram drivers, but I'm not certain).

 

One thing I should point out, since you have an overnight in the city - In case you didn't know, the OsloPass (and the Dagskort) are both valid for 24 hours, rather than one calendar day. So if that actually fits better with your plans for the second day, a pass you bought on arrival would be valid until after you left the next day.

 

Our ship arrives at 9 PM on July 8 and leaves at 3:30 PM the next day. I am thinking that if we are feeling energetic, we could take the tram to Vigeland the evening of arrival. And my college aged son wants to experience some Oslo night life--nothing wild--just meeting and talking to other kids his age. It looks like this would be safe. He has done so in Taormina and Syracuse Italy before and had a great time.

You should be fine visiting the park that night, as sunset won't be until around 10:30. I don't know a lot about the student hangouts, though. Especially since going out is so expensive here! There's usually quite a bit of activity around Karl Johans gate in the evenings, and most of the city is generally quite safe even at night.

[RachelG]

Thanks again, Meg. I think we will try to do Vigeland park the evening of our arrival, then drop our son off around Karl Johans gate to socialize. This seems that it is near the university and where a lot of college age kids would be. Then the next day we are going to the Kon Tiki museum, the Viking museum and whatever else we have time for. I read Kon Tiki when I was in high school and was enthralled with it. I HAVE to go there.

The Resistance Museum is also on our list if we have time.

[ESummerson]

I would also like to see the Resistance Museum. Does anyone have any idea how much time it takes to do that?

 

Also, we leave Oslo on the Rotterdam at 6PM, and I'm wondering if we should skip our early dinner seating (5:45PM), to see the Oslofjord. Any ideas about that?

 

Thanks!

[kaisatsu]

The Resistance Museum has a lot of reading, so it's one of those places that takes as long as you want it to take. If you were to read every single thing, I would guess it could take quite a while. When we went, we read about half of it and I think that took about an hour. Honestly, by that point we were a little burned out and just glossed over the second half of the museum.

 

I'm torn on dinner versus sail-out, because I love traditional seated dinners. If you have a table by a window, that might be an option. Overall, it takes a few hours to navigate the fjord, and while it's not as spectacular as the western fjords, it is a pretty stretch of sailing.

[ESummerson]

Thanks so much for the quick reply. We will leave the Resistance Museum for last and see (or should I say read?!) as much as we can before we have to go back to the ship. (Which I understand is in walking distance to the museum - is this true?)

 

As far as dinner goes, maybe we will wait to see what the weather is like, but your idea of getting a window seat is the best of all possible worlds!

 

Thanks again!

[NAJNLA]

We will leave the Resistance Museum for last.......before we have to go back to the ship.

 

 

If you plan to leave the Resistance Museum for the last thing to see, I suggest that you confirm open hours for the date you will be there. From the schedule I found below, for the summer months it is only open until 5 PM, then starting in September it closes at 4 PM.

 

Date-Days-Time

 

02.01.2009-31.05.2009 Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00

02.01.2009-31.05.2009 Sat, Sun 11:00-16:00

 

01.06.2009-31.08.2009 Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00

01.06.2009-31.08.2009 Sun 11:00-17:00

 

01.09.2009-31.12.2009 Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00

01.09.2009-31.12.2009 Sat, Sun 11:00-16:00

[ESummerson]

This is really helpful information. I will try to get there by 4PM at the latest. Thanks!

[longislandfamily]

I would also like to see the Resistance Museum. Does anyone have any idea how much time it takes to do that?

 

Also, we leave Oslo on the Rotterdam at 6PM, and I'm wondering if we should skip our early dinner seating (5:45PM), to see the Oslofjord. Any ideas about that?

 

Thanks!

 

Regarding the fjord sail out or dinner, it depends on whether you have a balcony cabin or not. We like to go to the buffet and get some appetizers as soon as we get back to the ship. We take the appetizers to our balcony and sit and relax, and enjoy the sail out and eat dinner later. I don't know your ship, are there any alternative dining venues that you could book for later?

[ESummerson]

I think the only alternative would be the Lido Deck. We will be on HAL's Rotterdam; we do not have one of the veranda suites, so your balcony idea (which sounds wonderful, by the way!) will not work for us.

 

We will face this same problem when we leave Stockholm at 5PM. I guess at this point, it's really going to depend on the weather. If it's pouring or very cloudy, we will keep our dinner arrangements. If it's a beautiful day, we will probably skip the dining room, and see the sights. After all, how many times will I be able to see the Stockholm Archipelago or the Oslofjord?

[Jade13]

Absolutely! Just be sure to stamp one of the spaces for each person who's traveling. You'll see that there are 8 numbered spaces, and you just fold the card and insert the next spot into the ticket stamping machine. The Flexikort costs 180 NOK, and you buy them from ticket machines. You can also get them from convenience stores, as well as directly from the bus drivers (possibly tram drivers, but I'm not certain).

 

One thing I should point out, since you have an overnight in the city - In case you didn't know, the OsloPass (and the Dagskort) are both valid for 24 hours, rather than one calendar day. So if that actually fits better with your plans for the second day, a pass you bought on arrival would be valid until after you left the next day.

.

 

Hi, we have a forced overnight in Oslo. We arrive at 7:00pm and our flight the next day is about 11:30am. We are staying at the Grand Hotel.

 

I need to know the best train to take to get in walking distance of the hotel and can this pass be bought with a credit card at the airport, or do I need NOK cash and how much?

 

I am also looking for a train map and a map of the city so we can run through Vigaland Park early in the morning (and/or the night before).

[kaisatsu]

Hi, we have a forced overnight in Oslo. We arrive at 7:00pm and our flight the next day is about 11:30am. We are staying at the Grand Hotel.

 

I need to know the best train to take to get in walking distance of the hotel and can this pass be bought with a credit card at the airport, or do I need NOK cash and how much?

 

I am also looking for a train map and a map of the city so we can run through Vigaland Park early in the morning (and/or the night before).

 

Are you trying to get to the hotel from the airport? The OsloPass or transport passes don't cover the distance to the airport, and the fastest and easiest way into town is the Flytoget airport express train, which costs 170 NOK. There are also regional and local trains that are a bit slower and only run every half hour or so, but tickets cost around 100 NOK. You can buy tickets for both from machines at the airport (the machines accept credit cards).

 

If you take the train from Gardermoen to Nationaltheatret, it's less than 500m from the Grand Hotel. During the day, every second Flytoget runs only to Oslo S (Oslo central station), which is about 600m from the hotel, so if that's the next departure, you may just want to take that rather than waiting around 10 minutes for the next train (the Flytoget trains that run all the way to Asker are the ones that stop at Nationaltheatret). But if the next departure is an Asker-bound train, you might as well stay on until Nationaltheatret (the stop after Oslo S), since it's the same price. At Nationaltheatret, the exit near the subway is closest to the hotel (walk back down the platform towards the back of the train when you get off, and head through the station past the subway).

 

Another option: Though it takes much longer than the train (about an hour), the Stortinget stop for the SAS airport bus is very close to the Grand Hotel.

 

If you want to buy an OsloPass, you may be able to buy it from the hotel, or they could probably tell you the closest place to buy one. The Dagskort and Flexikort transit passes can be purchased from convenience stores (Narvesen, Deli de Luca, 7-11) which accept credit cards, but I don't believe there's a place that sells them at the airport. There are convenience stores in both Oslo S and Nationaltheatret stations, though. You can also buy transit passes from machines at the subway, but the machines are cash only.

 

This is a fairly detailed .pdf map of Oslo. The tram lines are a little hard to make out, but the blue lines and dots along some streets indicate the routes and stops. The subway stations is marked as small white rectangles outlined in black, and the station names are in bold black text. From Trafikanten (the tranist network), this is the map of the trams, and the map of the subway. And here are two detailed maps that include the tram (blue), subway (red), and bus (green) routes: The west part of the city center, and the eastern part.

[TracieABD]

I was able to get my Oslo Pass right where we left the ship. I was also given a substantial discount as I am student and had ID, but they had discounts for children, seniors too.

I paid a bit over $30 for the one day pass. It covered all transportation and I was able to see 11 museums, sites, and parks in a little over 5 hours. (I have to add that I am a runner and was in pretty good shape, so I really hustled).

This may have been the best $30 that I spent on the whole cruise. Loved Oslo, loved the pass.

I was able to see:

• Vigland Park (which is free, but the tram from the harbour to the park was free only with the OsloPass)
  
• I took the 91 Ferry to the Bygdoy and was able to see the Fram Museusm,
  
• the Norsk Folkmuseum,
  
• the KonTiki Museum,
  
• the Viking Museum
  
• I took the ferry back to Oslo and went to the Nobel Peace Prize Museum
  
• the Radhuset (city hall).
  
• Next I walked to the National Gallery to see the Munch paintings and some other impressionist art.
  
• Finally, I walked back to the Aken Fortress and the castle.
  
• I also was able to see the resitstance museum while I was up there.
  

All that for $30 dollars! What a bargain. (I was pretty worn out at the end of it though!)

Have a great cruise.

[msmoger]

I was able to get my Oslo Pass right where we left the ship. I was also given a substantial discount as I am student and had ID, but they had discounts for children, seniors too.

I paid a bit over $30 for the one day pass. It covered all transportation and I was able to see 11 museums, sites, and parks in a little over 5 hours. (I have to add that I am a runner and was in pretty good shape, so I really hustled).

This may have been the best $30 that I spent on the whole cruise. Loved Oslo, loved the pass.

 

I was able to see:

• Vigland Park (which is free, but the tram from the harbour to the park was free only with the OsloPass)
  
• I took the 91 Ferry to the Bygdoy and was able to see the Fram Museusm,
  
• the Norsk Folkmuseum,
  
• the KonTiki Museum,
  
• the Viking Museum
  
• I took the ferry back to Oslo and went to the Nobel Peace Prize Museum
  
• the Radhuset (city hall).
  
• Next I walked to the National Gallery to see the Munch paintings and some other impressionist art.
  
• Finally, I walked back to the Aken Fortress and the castle.
  
• I also was able to see the resitstance museum while I was up there.
  

All that for $30 dollars! What a bargain. (I was pretty worn out at the end of it though!)

Have a great cruise.

 

Tracie,

 

I see you were on the Crown Princess last summer. We're on the Emerald in September and are only in Oslo from 7AM to 2PM. Were you in port for a longer period of time? It would seem you itinerary would have been "quite active" if you were also in port from 7 to 2.

 

Thanks,

[TracieABD]

That was how long that I was in port. I was off the ship at 6:45am and at the trolley across the street with my OsloPass by 7:05. I walked/ran through Vigland Park in the early morning, took the trolley back and caught the very first ferry to the Bygdoy. I went to the second stop which housed the Fram and the KonTiki museums, because they opened first. I then ran about 2 km to the Viking Museum and the Folk Museum. I was back on the ferry by 10:30. I was back in Oslo by 10:45 and I hit the ground running. I did have an interesting time at the Nobel Peace Museum as it was Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, and there was cake and a band and a lot of dignitaries. I was only able to see the museum because I promised to be gone by 2:00 when the festivities really got going (I was out of there by 11:45). From there I went to the City Hall to take pics of the murals. I stayed long enough to take some photos. I walked two blocks north to the the National Gallery and looked at the 20 or so paintings that I knew that I wanted to see. After, I went back to the harbour area to see the Akon fort, castle and the Resistance museum. I was back on ship by 1:45 and eating in the dining room (boy, was I hungry!).

 

I attribute the day to my physical conditioning ( I had run 3 miles on board that morning) and my ability to plan events sequentially.

Would I recommend this for everyone? Nope. It was very busy and very fast. And there are places that I would have liked to have spent more time at... No rose smelling on that day.

 

Having said all of that, I think that I am a frustrated Amazing Race wannabee!:)

 

'Nuf sed- That was how I spent my half day in Oslo.

(PS- I keep a journal, and wrote in it as I sat on various transportation so that I would remember what I did)

[Jade13]

I was able to get my Oslo Pass right where we left the ship. I was also given a substantial discount as I am student and had ID, but they had discounts for children, seniors too.

I paid a bit over $30 for the one day pass. It covered all transportation and I was able to see 11 museums, sites, and parks in a little over 5 hours. (I have to add that I am a runner and was in pretty good shape, so I really hustled).

 

You went to 11 museums in 5 hours? Did you see anything :) That is less than 30 minutes per museum not to mention the transportation etc.