Oslo in one day. A pleasant step-by-step tour guide

A pleasant tour in Oslo - the perfect day plan

Visiting Oslo, short on time and want to see as much as possible? Then use this guide!

Below you will find an enjoyable step-by-step tour guide that will take you to most of the main attractions in 7-8 hours and make you fall in love with Oslo.

Before anything else: wear comfortable shoes. You'll thank me later.

Ekebergparken - Oslo from above

We start at Oslo S (Oslo Sentralstasjon, the main train station). On the Ruter app, buy a day ticket for zone I (121 NOK) and get on tram 13 or 19 (note, they leave from different stops!).

If we want to take a short walk, get off at the Oslo Hospital stop, and if longer, at Ekebergparken. Either way, after a 10-15 minute ride you enter the park.

Depending on where you get off, follow the dark blue or yellow route first, then the light blue route - and head for number 43 (Utsiktpunkt Skrik).

There you read that the place inspired Edvard Munch to paint the famous Scream, and Marina Abramović encourages you to do your own screaming.

From here you take the light blue and yellow route back to stop at the next viewpoint (next to number 40). Head down the side steps below, sit on the isolated benches and enjoy the Oslo panorama.

You admire Oslo from the sea all the way to the mountains, hearing the bustling city below you and the hum of the trees giving a pleasant chill.

Opera, or watch your step

Take tram 13 or 19 back to the centre, get off at the Bjørvika stop. You go to the roof of the opera house (Operahuset) and be sure to look at the pavement under your feet.

You admire the fjord and the nearby architecture. Some people are surprised by the huge cruise ships (bigger than the buildings). Don't forget to take photos of the seagulls.

…And we can already go back, obviously looking at where we put our feet.

Fortress, town hall, Nobel

It's time to head to Akershus Fortress (Akershus slott og festning), where you'll take a walk around the old fortress walls.

Then you go down to Aker Brygge.

You head to the town hall (Oslo rådhus) and within its cool walls you can use the free bathroom. You explore at least some of the halls and stare at the art filling the walls and ceilings.

After you leave the town hall, take a look at the fountain and the statue of two entwined swans. Be sure to try to read the current date and time from the astro-clock.

Now you are heading towards the Nobel Peace Prize Museum building (Nobels Fredssenter).

Sit down in a smile (as I like to think of the bench in front of the entrance) and ask someone to take a photo for you as a souvenir. Then look at the citation under your feet.

Oslo invites you to the islands

You are at Aker Brygge and decide to take the ferry (ferge, ebåt) to the nearby islands. You don't need an extra ticket, it's included in the price of a day ticket.

The B1, B2 and B3 lines certainly go at least to the island of Hovedøya (a 7-minute cruise). You can get off there and watch the sheep, visit the ruins of the Cistercian monastery from the 12th century (Hovedøya kloster), sit on the beach and enjoy the view of the cottages from the next islands.

And you might as well make a typical peaceful ferry trip and sail the entire route between the islands, with the ferry bouncing from one island to the next.

Lunsj @ Oslo Street Food

When you land back in the centre of Oslo, head out for lunch. From myself, I recommend Oslo Street Food at Torggata 16 - there's something for everyone there, regardless of the size of your appetite, your diet type or your wallet. I like to try something different every time I'm there!

You can get from Aker Brygge to Oslo Street Food by public transport in about 15 minutes. The best way is to take bus 150 or 160 at the Vika atrium stop and get off at the Hammersborggata stop.

Alternatively, you can take a walk for about 25 minutes. I recommend the route shown above - then you'll walk along the rainbow street (regnbuegata), see the Stortinget (Norwegian parliament) and Oslo Cathedral (Oslo domkirke).

If you feel like it, next to Oslo Street Food you can visit the Eastern European EcoMarket (Calmeyers gate 4), where you can buy, among other things, Polish products and find brands available in most of Europe, but not in Norway.

How Oslo Street Food works

At Oslo Street Food, you scan the QR code from your table to see the menus of all the restaurants there, and order your food via the designated website. Drinks are available at separate bars and are ordered in person.

When the food is ready, you get a text message and can go to collect it.

The bathrooms are accessed by a staircase down one of the corridors. Also somewhere at this 'intersection' is a station with clean glasses and delicious Norwegian tap water - free to use.

The park of naked people

After lunch and a short rest, you get the urge to.. look at naked people. A strange craving, but ok - head to Frognerparken (Frogner is the name of the neighbourhood), also known as Vigelandsparken (after the artist, Gustav Vigeland, who dedicated half his life to the project).

After leaving Oslo Street Food, find the Storgata stop, take tram 12 towards Majorstuen and after 17 minutes you will reach the Vigelandsparken stop where you are supposed to get off.

There are 214 sculptures in the park depicting almost 600 figures - but don't count it out, take the word of the information on the internet. All the sculptures are by Vigeland. Wander from statue to statue, admiring the bottoms, breasts and genitals and taking photos from odd angles.

At the statue of the pissed-off boy, you watch little boys making fun of the statue's penis. You pass a tour of Frenchmen, avoid getting into the frame of a group of Asians, on the stairs next to a giant phallus you listen to a mixture of languages like in the Tower of Babel.

A park like a park, there's not much here apart from the statues, so from under the monolith (that big phallus) take a 15-minute walk through the eastern part of the park and get to Majorstuen metro station. There, find the platform from which line 1 departs towards Frognerseteren and enter the carriage, preferably as close to the window as possible (on the side opposite the entrance).

By underground to Holmenkollen ski jump

You can drive all the way to Frognerseteren, which is the very end. At the top you can go for a walk in the forest or visit the Roseslottet art installation.

If you want to see the Holmenkollen(bakken) ski jump, head to Holmenkollen or Besserud station and get ready for a 2 km walk.

In addition, metro line 1 from Majorstuen station to the end goes not in a tunnel, but on the open surface - so you can enjoy the beautiful views! You should start paying attention as early as Besserud station.

The entire route takes 32 minutes one way, and you drive uphill for the entire time. Each station name plate shows the current number of metres above sea level (moh., meter over havet).

Majorstuen - 47.7 m above sea level
Besserud - 242.2 m above sea level
Holmenkollen - 277.7 m above sea level
Frognerseteren - 469 m above sea level

You are in the mountains, looking simultaneously at the sea and at the city spread out in between and filling yourself with delight.

Oslo has made you fall in love with it.

To complete the tour, take the metro and go to the Jernbanetorget stop, which is next to Oslo S station. You will be back to your starting point.

Oslo in 1 day - tour plan summary

This is one of my suggestions for how to see Oslo in 1 day. The plan is for a relaxed tour of the city - designed for a hot day when the sun is getting a bit much and one has a bit less energy.

You will need: comfortable shoes, a rucksack with some useful items, a bottle of water, sunglasses, sunscreen and maybe something to cover your head. The sun roasts stronger here.

According to this plan, you spend a lot of time in nature to benefit from the natural cooling of trees and other plants. You walk a little and travel a little on public transport. Activities are followed by moments of rest. This is how I have planned it - so that there is a balance.

I have already tested this tour plan and it has worked brilliantly. I hope it works for you too.

Don't forget to share the link to this article with someone going to Oslo!

Ha en hyggelig tur

Urszula Łupińska

PS This article is also available in Polish:

🇵🇱 Przewodnik: Oslo w 1 dzień. Plan zwiedzania krok po kroku

Przyjemny plan wycieczki po Oslo – idealny nie tylko na lato ☀️ Odwiedzasz Oslo latem, masz mało czasu, a chcesz zobaczyć jak najwięcej? Skorzystaj z tego przewodnika! Poniżej znajdziesz rozpisaną krok po kroku przyjemną wycieczkę, dzięki której w 7–8 godzin zobaczysz dużą część głównych atrakcji i…

Polsk norsk 🇵🇱🇳🇴Urszula Lupinska