Stopover in Oslo: how to see Oslo in just a few hours 

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Imagine you’re going on a trip and you realize that you have quite a long stopover in Oslo (Gardermoen). Well, of course, by long I don’t mean 10 or 12 hours (that’s already a super long one), no, usually it’s 4-7 hours in the airport.

Of course, you can spend all this time in the airport having breakfast/lunch/dinner but if you’re adventurous enough, I’d advise you to go and see Oslo instead! Why? Because even 2 hours are enough to get an impression of Oslo and decide, whether you want to come back to Oslo or not (that’s why I like the long interchanges so much!) And if you have an interchange of at least 3.5-4 hours you can go to the city centre for sure! Just like I did.

When I was studying in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was quite often flying to my hometown, St. Petersburg in Russia. Since there were no direct flights between Edinburgh and St. Petersburg, I was often flying with stopovers, e.g. in Oslo, Norway. Once, I decided to use my long stopover to discover Norway (since I’ve never been in this beautiful country before), so keep reading to find out, what did I make of this story stopover in Oslo.

Getting to the city centre from Oslo Gardermoen airport:

The fastest way to get to the city centre is to take the airport express train. The ticket will cost you a fortune (just like everything else in Norway) – around 20 euros one way (!), but you’ll be able to get to the centre in just 20 minutes! There are also other options (e.g. bus & other trains) but they take you to the city centre in around 40-50 minutes (which is a lot of time).

I would recommend you to go to the Oslo S station (S stands for Sentrum, which means Center). And from there to go for a walk towards Nationaltheatret. Oslo is quite a nice city: it has a typical northern European architecture with somewhat greyish colours. It can look bright and cheerful if the weather is nice and sunny and gloomy and depressive if you discover Oslo when it’s raining.

The city centre of Oslo. Discover Oslo during a stopover

Impressions from the capital of Norway

I cannot say that I was stoked by architecture in Oslo, actually, I wasn’t that impressed at all. But still, Oslo has its charm. If you take the street called Karl Johans Gate (no cars are allowed there and it’s just awesome) and walk towards Spikersuppa park, you’ll see many shops and nice buildings. You can turn right and see the Oslo Cathedral.

Also, on the Karl Johans Gate there are plenty of cafes and fast food restaurants, however, prepare to spend a lot, because the food is as expensive as the airport express. For example, I bought a sub of the day in Subway and a tiny coffee and paid around 7-8 euros. Can you imagine how expensive are the restaurants?

You should definitely walk to the Slottsplassen square where you can see the Royal Palace. The way from the Oslo S station to the Slottsplasses isn’t very long (around 20-25 minutes depending on how fast you walk).

The city centre of Oslo. Discover Oslo during a stopover

From there you could walk to the seaside (again around 10-15 minute walk) and enjoy the beautiful view over the sea & relax on a bench in the park.

The city centre of Oslo. Discover Oslo during a stopover

Instead of walking all the way back to the Oslo S station (well, you can walk, of course in case you have plenty of time), I would recommend you to go to the National theatre station (Nationaltheatret) and return to the airport from there.

In case you have a bit more time during your stopover in Oslo, why not check these tours out?

Should you have any questions, please, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments!
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Stopover in Oslo. How to make the most out of it?

2 thoughts on “Stopover in Oslo: how to see Oslo in just a few hours ”

  1. Update: The other trains that you say will take up to 40-50 minutes, are no longer that slow. They now take 23 minutes (3-5 minutes longer than the express trains) and cost half the price. Look for the Vy trains

    Reply

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