Oslo on-our-own help and advice needed

[anteaters]

Hi! I am going back and forth with Oslo between two SPB tours, the HOHO bus, or going completely on our own since I've read that it is an easily walkable city. I have narrowed down the most important things that we want to see and want to know if they are doable (and any suggestions for not getting lost) from the cruise port or whether we should do a way that takes away the getting lost possibilities. I definitely want us to go to Akershus Fortress which sounds very near the cruise port (right?) Then I'd like to see and climb up onto the roof of the Opera House and also walk through the city hall (so are they easy to locate/get to after doing Akershus? Then just walking around and getting the feel of the city sounds nice. The "extras" that I"m not sure we would have the time or energy for anyway are Vigelandspark and the Vigeland Museum (is the museum right in the park?) but I don't think there's any easy/fail-proof way to get there except on a tour or taxi, right? Oh and the Vikingship Museum sounded like a possibility (but probably only with the HOHO?) And, to do the above things, do we need to get Kroner (and from where by the ship?) or are credit cards taken? I really don't know how long it takes to walk/enjoy these things so maybe it's beat to forget the sculptures/park and Viking museum and just do my first mentioned things on our own or with the basic SPB walking tour? Any help/insights you can provide on any of the above would be appreciated. My husband is 71 and I'm 67 and we enjoy walking but do have energy limits, if that helps. Thanks!

[dbsb3233]

Hi! I am going back and forth with Oslo between two SPB tours, the HOHO bus, or going completely on our own since I've read that it is an easily walkable city. I have narrowed down the most important things that we want to see and want to know if they are doable (and any suggestions for not getting lost) from the cruise port or whether we should do a way that takes away the getting lost possibilities. I definitely want us to go to Akershus Fortress which sounds very near the cruise port (right?) Then I'd like to see and climb up onto the roof of the Opera House and also walk through the city hall (so are they easy to locate/get to after doing Akershus? Then just walking around and getting the feel of the city sounds nice. The "extras" that I"m not sure we would have the time or energy for anyway are Vigelandspark and the Vigeland Museum (is the museum right in the park?) but I don't think there's any easy/fail-proof way to get there except on a tour or taxi, right? Oh and the Vikingship Museum sounded like a possibility (but probably only with the HOHO?) And, to do the above things, do we need to get Kroner (and from where by the ship?) or are credit cards taken? I really don't know how long it takes to walk/enjoy these things so maybe it's beat to forget the sculptures/park and Viking museum and just do my first mentioned things on our own or with the basic SPB walking tour? Any help/insights you can provide on any of the above would be appreciated. My husband is 71 and I'm 67 and we enjoy walking but do have energy limits, if that helps. Thanks!

We're in the similar situation. 6 of us, age 58-66, going to be there on an August cruise. Don't mind some walking but not miles of it. So I'm curious to see what responses you get. We have many of the same questions.

 

I can confirm that the Akershus Fortress is literally right next to the cruise ship. You can see it here on Google Maps satellite view, where (fortunately) there was a cruise ship docked the day they took these pictures...

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.9068535,10.7400404,873m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e2

 

You can see the opera house off to the right. Looks like about 3/4 mile away from the ship (right click to use the measurement tool in Google maps).

 

I'm leaning toward the HOHO bus (roughly US$33 pp) that stops right at the ship, plus maybe the Oslo Pass (US$40 pp) for museum entrances (if we think we'll go into more than 3, since many seem to run $10-$15 each). The Oslo Pass includes local mass transit too but I don't think we want to mess with learning all the bus/ferry routes and risk getting lost. The extra $33 for the HOHO just makes it easier. The downside is sometimes having to wait 20-30 minutes for the next bus though (it says they're 30 minutes apart).

Edited March 24, 2016 by dbsb3233

[Gremlin1]

Hi

You don’t say what ship you’re on. Most of the big ships dock right next to the Akershus Fortress. The City Hall is at the end of the main dock over the tram lines (If you’re in the main dock turn left when you get of the ship). The Opera house is a about a mile away (as the crow flies) on the far side of the Fortress. If you’re up for a walk you can take all three and the city centre in in one big loop.

The Vigelands Park is a tram ride away. You can pick up the tram opposite City Hall and you can get a ferry out to the Viking Museum from the end of the docks, again opposite the City Hall.

Now for the bad news. If you’re only in port for the one day or even half a day as some ships are, you will not be able to do it all. My wife and I have been to Oslo twice. The first time we just did the Fortress, City Hall, City centre and opera house. On the second occasion we purchased and “Oslo Card” from the tourist office next to the dock. The card covers all the main museums, the tram and the ferry out to the Viking ship museum. We manage to get to the Park (Via tram) and the Viking ship museum (via ferry). There are actually three museums (not one), the Viking ship, the Kon-Tiki and the Framm all very interesting and well worth the visit.

 

Hope this helps.

Nick

Edited March 29, 2016 by Gremlin1

[PNW Traveler]

Another site well worth a visit is the Norwegian Folk Village, a very well done living history museum. It is near the Viking Ship Museum. The Village has an excellent and reasonably priced café, a good choice for a lunch break. Re concerns over ferry routes - the ferry from downtown Oslo to the Viking Ship Museum is a short ride and easily navigable if on foot for the day. You can watch the ferries going back and forth from the downtown. Downtown Oslo is interesting and easily walkable, but does not have the "picture postcard" colorful ambiance of Bergen. It is a sophisticated city and center of government. Norway has a long and proud history. The Akerhus Fortress resistance museum is one of the most moving museums of WWII resistance and is very well done. Another museum not yet mentioned (if you choose to stay downtown for the day) is the National Museum-National Gallery. It is excellent. The National Museum has one of the best collections of Viking artifacts in Scandinavia.

[anteaters]

Thank you for your replies. We will be on the Regal Princess which is one of the two largest of their ships so I'm assuming from what you said that we will disembark by the fortress. Oh, so many decisions!

[KirkNC]

Sights within reasonable distance from the ship include:

 

City Hall

Nobel Peace Center

Opera House

Akershus Fort & Castle

Norwegian Resistance Museum

National Gallery

 

Plus if you want to take a short ferry ride there are some great museums in the Bygdoy area including:

 

Norwegian Folk Museum

Viking ship museum

Fram Museum

Kon-Tiki museum

 

 

So plenty to do, no need to do a tour. Get a copy of Rick Steve's Scandinavia book and he will tell you how to get to each one plus provide some self guided tours.

[vmom]

I've been to Oslo 2 times now. The first time we did the HOHO bus, which I was very disappointed in.

 

The second time we explored independently. Our ship docked right in the main town area. The city hall and all of the downtown city sites are easy walking from the ship. The fortress is right next to the ship.

 

We wanted to go to the folk museum. There are ferry boats that cross the bay frequently, about every 20 minutes or so. Ferry tickets are sold at a booth very close to where the ship is docked. If you were walking to the town, you would pass the ticket booth. It was basically at the end of the pier that the ship was docked at.

 

We bought ferry tickets which took us across the bay, much faster than the bus or other transportation. The ferry lets you off a few blocks from the Folk museum. Easy walk.

 

I highly recommend the folk museum. Well worth the time.

[kaisatsu]

You can find the 2016 port schedule here:

http://oslohavn.no/filestore/PDF/2016/20160307Forventedecruiseanlp2016.pdf

 

As long as you're not on the Aug 20 port call, the Regal Princess will be docking alongside Akershus Fortress (at Søndre Akershuskai - SAK).

 

In that case, you could start by visiting the fortress and city hall, then walk 15 minutes over to the opera house. From there, it's a short walk over to the central station, where you'll find one end of the pedeatrianized central street Karl Johans gate. You can walk back up that street past the cathedral, university, and National Theater, and then either continue up to the royal palace or turn left back toward the port.

[cruisingrightalong]

What is the feeling about having the right currency with us? or just credit card everything? or ideas please for those that have been there

 

Lou

[dbsb3233]

I've been to Oslo 2 times now. The first time we did the HOHO bus, which I was very disappointed in.

What didn't you like about the HOHO bus?

[vakamalua]

For those of you who have toured the Akershus Fortress, how much time would you recommend spending there?

 

thanks.

[vmom]

Several things I didn't care for about the HOHO bus. First the sound narration was about 5 minutes off from when we actually saw the building/ sites that were talked about. This was very frustrating. We had paid quite a bit for the tickets since at the time the exchange rate made everything in Oslo expensive.

 

Also, we got off at one spot to walk around and explore the park. After we finished, we waited along with a lot of other people to catch the next HOHO bus. A crowd formed and when a bus did finally pull up after about a 45 minute wait, it was a mob scene with everyone trying to get back on and limited seats available.

 

It therefore made us nervous to get off again since we didn't want to waste another 45 minutes - an hour to get back on a bus again and we didn't want to experience that many people all trying to get back on a bus with limited seats again.

 

On our second trip to Oslo, we explored the fort, went to the folk museum and explored the town area next to the harbor. I found that what we saw and did when we took the ferry to the folk museum across the harbor, exploring the fort and then the town area to be much more interesting than sitting in a bus and hearing a narration.

Edited April 6, 2016 by vmom

[kaisatsu]

What is the feeling about having the right currency with us? or just credit card everything? or ideas please for those that have been there

Nearly everything takes card. Anywhere that's staffed will typically be able to take any card. Some things like vending machines may require a credit or debit card with a PIN code.

 

The only thing I can think of that's cash only is purchasing tickets on board a bus. However, you can buy tickets or passes ahead of time at convenience stores using a card (and buying tickets on board costs more anyway).

 

There are a few places that can't take foreign bank cards, but you always have the option to pull a small amount from an ATM if you need it. There are ATMs all over, because most locals don't carry much (if any) cash.

[kaisatsu]

For those of you who have toured the Akershus Fortress, how much time would you recommend spending there?

 

If you just want to explore the grounds, I would say half an hour. If you plan to tour the fortress building itself, I think that takes around an hour (though I don't recall the tours being very frequent). If you're planning to visit the Resistance Museum, I would add another 30-45 minutes.l depending on your interest level.

[KirkNC]

What didn't you like about the HOHO bus?

 

I am probably going to get in trouble for saying this but you could not pay me to ride a HoHo bus. First off they just scream tourist, second they are almost stupid expensive, third you spend too much time in line waiting for the dam bus, fourth I think they are for lazy visitors who are unwilling to do a little research, fifth they are ugly :p. I know a lot of folks like and use them but not us.

[cruisingrightalong]

Walking around Oslo seems very doable with the guide book I got so figure that will be us....walking. We don't do ATM's so may bring a "little" local cash like you said for buses. And if I don't spend can make a souvenir out of it.

 

Lou

[PNW Traveler]

For those of you who have toured the Akershus Fortress, how much time would you recommend spending there?

 

thanks.

 

We allowed 1 hour. It was not enough time.

[dbsb3233]

I am probably going to get in trouble for saying this but you could not pay me to ride a HoHo bus. First off they just scream tourist, second they are almost stupid expensive, third you spend too much time in line waiting for the dam bus, fourth I think they are for lazy visitors who are unwilling to do a little research, fifth they are ugly :p. I know a lot of folks like and use them but not us.

You were doing fine until the "lazy" remark. Just because someone chooses the easiest option doesn't mean they're lazy.

 

Otherwise you make some valid points, and I appreciate those. But I suspect you're also only looking at it for your personal situation and not any others. In our case, we have a group of 6 people, including an older person that can't walk for miles (modest walking is OK though). We want to stick together as a group so using taxis is tough to coordinate. There's private van tours that we book in many places, but they're even more "crazy expensive" than HOHO buses. So are bus tours and ship excursions. Public transportation is an option if it's simple and easy to figure out, but that's often not the case (plus you often have to wait some time for those too).

 

So once in a while a HOHO bus is an effective compromise... if it's a decent one. Some are better than others though, which is why I was curious about this particular one.

Edited April 6, 2016 by dbsb3233

[kaisatsu]

Public transportation is an option if it's simple and easy to figure out, but that's often not the case (plus you often have to wait some time for those too).

This is why I'm not a fan of the HOHO bus in Oslo. It runs every 30 minutes, but the places it stops are served by public transit that runs every 10 minutes (or less).

[KirkNC]

You were doing fine until the "lazy" remark. Just because someone chooses the easiest option doesn't mean they're lazy.

 

Otherwise you make some valid points, and I appreciate those. But I suspect you're also only looking at it for your personal situation and not any others. In our case, we have a group of 6 people, including an older person that can't walk for miles (modest walking is OK though). We want to stick together as a group so using taxis is tough to coordinate. There's private van tours that we book in many places, but they're even more "crazy expensive" than HOHO buses. So are bus tours and ship excursions. Public transportation is an option if it's simple and easy to figure out, but that's often not the case (plus you often have to wait some time for those too).

 

So once in a while a HOHO bus is an effective compromise... if it's a decent one. Some are better than others though, which is why I was curious about this particular one.

 

Agreed lazy maybe too strong for some and you are also correct, in certain circumstances it might be the best option. The reason I used lazy is my perception that some (maybe many) use that as there go to sightseeing method having done no research on the port which I think is a shame. I am a confessed OCD planner but to me that is 1/3 of the adventure, learning details about the stop, second is going there and third is reliving it through pictures.

[dbsb3233]

Agreed lazy maybe too strong for some and you are also correct, in certain circumstances it might be the best option. The reason I used lazy is my perception that some (maybe many) use that as there go to sightseeing method having done no research on the port which I think is a shame. I am a confessed OCD planner but to me that is 1/3 of the adventure, learning details about the stop, second is going there and third is reliving it through pictures.

You described me pretty well too. And for that matter, most of the people here at CC since that's the main reason we're all here. :D

 

I'm the "planner" for our group. I've effectively seen the places we're going to before we even get there because I spend so much time on Google Maps Street View checking out the layout and the walkability of each place, how to get around, etc. I probably take it a little too far, but I want to make sure I've got the logsitics figured out for our group. Particularly as we get older and less mobile.

[Splinter]

For those of you who have toured the Akershus Fortress, how much time would you recommend spending there?

 

thanks.

 

I was there about 90 minutes. There is an audio tour available (included with your entrance ticket) which added a lot to the experience, and listening to it pretty much dictates the time. They have several languages available. I also spent another hour at the Norwegian Resistance (WWII) museum which is right next door. Very interesting.

[lynncarol]

Our day in Oslo on our own: 1. Tram to Vigelands Park. Just lovely with all the lilacs in bloom 2. Ferry to the three museums (Viking Ship, Kon Tiki and the Framm) All most interesting. 3. Back to the ship for late lunch and 4. Off ship again to visit the fortress which was right next to where we were docked.

PS..We ate lunch onboard after spending the previous night in Oslo on our own, and learning first-hand how expensive dining in the city can be.

Edited April 10, 2016 by lynncarol

[Ergates The Ant]

Cruised to Norway last year, and cruised to Oslo a couple of years ago. Didn't use any Norwegian cash, used credit cards for entry to the castle and resistance museum, and also for buying coffee and cinnamon pastries in town. Seems to be usual practice in Norway, maybe because the cakes were so expensive, compared to UK!

Enjoyed the museums and the walk round the city ( the flower market was lovely, and there was an excellent souvenir section in the lower ground floor of the department store in the city centre) but next time, I need to make a beeline to the tram to Vigeland Park to see the sculptures. My sister told me they were so beautiful they made her cry!