Sights in Norway
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Norwegian Folk Museum
Norway’s largest open-air museum and one of Oslo’s premier attractions is the Norwegian Folk Museum. The museum includes more than 140 buildings, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, gathered from around the country, rebuilt and organised according to region of origin. Paths wind past old barns, ele-vated stabbur (raised storehouses) and rough-timbered farmhouses with sod roofs sprouting wildflowers. The Gamlebyen (Old Town) section is a reproduction of an early-20th-century Norwegian town and includes a village shop and old petrol station; in summer (daily except Saturday) you can see weaving and pottery-making demonstrations. Another highlight is the restored…
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Det Kongelige Slott
King Harald V sleeps in Det Kongelige Slott, the royal palace, peering from a hill over the Karl Johans axis. Guided tours of 15 rooms are available in English, once daily at 14:00 (late June to mid-August). Tickets are difficult to obtain - ask the tourist office for details. The rest of the grounds comprise Slottsparken, an inviting public park that's free to enter. If you happen to be around at 13:30, watch the changing of the guard.
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Atlantic Ocean Park
At the peninsula’s western extreme, sitting 3km from the centre, the Atlantic Ocean Park can merit a whole day of your life. It introduces visitors to the North Atlantic’s undersea world with glimpses of the astonishing richness of coastal and fjord submarine life. Children will wow at the ‘snails, seashells and weird marine animals’ section, and can dangle a line for crabs or feed the fish in the touch pool while the whole family will gasp at the enormous four-million-litre aquarium. Be there at 1pm (also 3.30pm, June to August) when the largest ocean fish thrash and swirl as they’re fed by human divers.
There’s also a sanctuary for orphaned seals and the…
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Tønsberg Castle
The remains of Tønsberg Castle, spread across the 63m-high hill behind the town, was the largest fortress in Norway in the 13th century. In 1503, the Swedes destroyed the fortress and little remains of the castle itself. Nonetheless, the modern (1888), 17m-high Slottsfjellstårnet tower provides a good viewpoint over the ruins. In front of the tower there’s a bronze model of how the castle looked in 1500. Parts of the 600m-long outer wall remain intact, while the extant medieval stone foundations include King Magnus Lagabøte’s Keep, the 1191 Church of St Michael, the hall of King Håkon Håkonsson and various guard towers. The park is always open.
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Vikingskipshuset
Even in repose, there is something intimidating about the sleek, dark hulls of the Viking ships Oseberg and Gokstad, which is why visitors to this unforgettable Vikingskipshuset often find themselves whispering. Only a few boards and fragments remain of a third ship, the Tune, built around the same time as the Gokstad and excavated in 1867 from the Oslofjord region. All were built of oak in the 9th century; the ships were pulled ashore and used as tombs for nobility, who were buried with all they expected to need in the hereafter: jewels, furniture, food, servants, intricately carved carriages and sleighs, tapestries and fierce-looking figures.
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Kon-Tiki Museum
A favourite among children, the worthwhile Kon-Tiki Museum is dedicated to the balsa raft Kon-Tiki, which Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. The museum also displays the totora reed boat Ra II, built by Aymara people on the Bolivian island of Suriqui in Lake Titicaca. Heyerdahl used it to cross the Atlantic in 1970. For a full rundown on the life of this extraordinary explorer who achieved a lot in his lifetime, see the boxed text, p132.
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National Gallery
One of Oslo’s major highlights is the National Gallery. It houses the nation’s largest collection of Norwegian art, including works from the Romantic era and more‑modern works from 1800 to WWII. Some of Edvard Munch’s best-known creations are on display, including his most renowned work, The Scream. There’s also an impressive collection of European art with works by Gauguin, Picasso, El Greco and many of the impressionists: Manet, Degas, Renoir, Matisse, Cézanne and Monet.
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Jugendstil Art Nouveau Centre
Everyone from serious aesthetes to kids out for fun will get pleasure from this art centre. The introductory Time Machine capsule presents ‘From Ashes to Art Nouveau’, a high-tech, very visual story of the rebuilding of Ålesund after the great fire, while the displays offer carefully selected textiles, ceramics and furniture of the genre. It’s in and above a renovated chemist’s shop that has retained its magnificent corkscrew staircase and 1st-floor dining room.
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Polar Museum
The quaint, Arctic-themed Polar Museum has displays on local hunting and fishing traditions. There's extensive coverage of the 38 winter hunting expeditions in Svalbard undertaken by local explorer Hilmar Nøis, who also collected most of the exhibits.
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Bergen Art Museum
Beside the Lille Lungegårdsvann lake, this art museum exhibits a superb collection of 18th- and 19th-century pieces by international and Norwegian artists, including Munch, Miró, Picasso, Kandinsky and Paul Klee.
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Holmenkollen Ski Jump
The Holmenkollen Ski Jump, perched on a hilltop overlooking Oslo, offers a panoramic view of the city and doubles as a concert venue. During Oslo's annual ski festival, held in March, it draws the world's best ski jumpers.
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Varberg
Fine views over the town centre are to be had for those who climb to the summit of Varberg, the hill with the prominent TV mast. The path to the top takes about 20 minutes from the centre of town.
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Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral, constructed in the late 11th century, is Scandinavia’s largest medieval building. Outside, the ornately embellished west wall has top-to-bottom statues of biblical characters and Norwegian bishops and kings, sculpted in the early 20th century. Within, the cathedral is subtly lit (just see how the vibrantly coloured, modern stained-glass glows, especially in the rose window at the west end), so let your eyes attune to the gloom.
The altar sits over the original grave of St Olav, the Viking king who replaced the Nordic pagan religion with Christianity. The original cathedral was built in 1153, when Norway became a separate archbishopric. The current…
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Thor Heyerdahl Statue
Larvik's main historical claim to fame is as the home town of Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), one of Norway's premier explorers. The quirky scientist, anthropologist and explorer spent a lifetime trying to prove that the world's oceans were vast highways that were essential to understanding ancient civilisations, a novel idea in the hallowed halls of scientific research.
In 1947 he sailed 6000km in a balsawood raft, the Kon-Tiki, from Peru to Polynesia to prove that the South Pacific may have been settled by migrants from South America rather than Asia. His theories were supported by discoveries of similar fauna and cultural artefacts in Polynesia and South America and by the…
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Sognefjellet Road
Snaking through the park (and providing access to many of the trailheads) is the stunningly scenic Sognefjellet Road, billed as 'the road over the roof of Norway'. It connects Lustrafjorden with Lom and was constructed in 1939 by unemployed youths to a height of 1434m, making it the highest mountain road in northern Europe and providing those with a vehicle a taste of some of Norway's finest mountain panoramas. So fine is the road that it has been chosen as one of 18 'National Tourist Routes'.
Access from the southwest is via the multiple hairpin bends climbing up beyond the tree line to Turtagrø, with a wonderful vista of the Skagastølstindane mountains on your right. If…
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Bygdøy Peninsula
The Bygdøy Peninsula ( M0368) holds some of Oslo's top attractions. You can rush around all the sights in half a day, but allotting a few extra hours will be more rewarding.
Although only minutes from central Oslo, Bygdøy maintains its rural character. The royal family has a summer home here, as do many of Oslo's well-to-do residents. Ferry No 91 operates from early April to early October, making the 15-minute run to Bygdøy every 30 to 40 minutes from 08:45 with the last crossing returning from Bygdøy at around 18:30 in April and September, 21:15 in summer, with earlier final departures the rest of the year. Keep an eye out for the king's ship KS Norge on the ride over,…
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Norwegian Glacier Museum
For the story on flowing ice and how it has sculpted the Norwegian landscape, visit this superbly executed museum, 3km inland from the ferry jetty.
The hands-on exhibits will delight children. You can learn how fjords are formed, see an excellent 20-minute multiscreen audiovisual presentation on Jostedalsbreen (so impressive that audiences often break into spontaneous applause at the end), wind your way through a tunnel that penetrates the mock-ice and even see the tusk of a Siberian woolly mammoth, which met an icy demise 30,000 years ago. There’s also an exhibit on the 5000-year-old ‘Ice Man’ corpse, which was found on the Austrian-Italian border in 1991. The newest…
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Akershus Slott og Festning
A visit to Oslo is incomplete without taking in the medieval Akershus Castle and Fortress. As you wander around the castle you'll find tiny rooms where outcast nobles were kept, in stark contrast to the far more elaborate dining halls and staterooms on the upper floors.
King Håkon V began construction of the earthen walled Akershus Festning (Akershus Fortress) in 1299. It is strategically positioned on the eastern side of the harbour and the parklike grounds offer excellent views of the city and Oslofjord. The grounds are the venue for a host of concerts, dances and theatrical productions during summer. The Akershus Festning Information Centre recounts the building of the…
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Norwegian Petroleum Museum
We could (and have) spend hours in this state-of-the-art museum, one of Norway’s best. Filled with high-tech interactive displays, gigantic models and authentic reconstructions, its many highlights include a terrific 3-D film covering Norway’s geological history, a documentary by former Lonely Planet TV presenter Ian Wright, simulators, a petrodome recreating millions of years of natural history and an amazing model of ‘Ekofisk city’. Tracing the history of oil formation and exploration in the North Sea from discovery in 1969 until the present, the museum nicely balances the technical side of oil exploration and extraction with archive footage and newspapers of…
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Kristiansand Dyrepark
Kristiansand Dyrepark, is the former Kristiansand Zoo off the E18 10km east of Kristiansand, has gradually expanded into what is probably the favourite holiday destination for children in Norway.
The funfair portion includes rides, pirate ship cruises, Captain Sabretooth's Treasure Trove and enchanted houses, while the zoo portion offers a surprising variety of specimens, including the near-extinct golden lion tamarin and a new African lion enclosure. If you want to enjoy the water park, be sure to bring a swimming costume.
The real highlights, however, are the Northern Wilderness (Nordisk Vilmark), where visitors are transported over the habitat of moose, wolves, lynx…
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Kjeåsen Farm
Above all other sights in the region, Kjeåsen Farm, 6km northeast of Eidfjord and close to the treeline 530m above the valley floor, should not be missed. According to some accounts, there has been a farm here for 400 years, although vehicle access was only possible with the construction of the road in 1975. Now one of Norway's top scenic locations, the wonderfully remote farm buildings are still inhabited by a woman who has lived alone there for 40 years.
Alone that is apart from the busloads of tourists who visit the farm every day in summer. She sometimes shows visitors around from 09:00 to 17:00. It's possible to climb up to the farm on foot (four hours return), but…
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Nordkapphallen
So you've finally made it to Nordkapphallen, Europe's northernmost rip-off - an opinion shared by the regular letters we receive from readers who've felt exploited. To reach the tip of the continent, by car, by bike, on a bus or walking in, you have to pay a toll. This allows unlimited entry over two days but it's small compensation for the vast majority who roll in, look around, take a snap and roll out.
This vast bunker of a place, topped by a giant, intrusive golf ball, is a love/hate kind of place. Within are a tediously detailed account of WWII naval actions off the cape, a cafeteria and restaurant, the striking Grottan bar with views of Europe's end through its vast…
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Canning Museum
Don’t miss Canning Museum; housed in an old cannery, it’s one of Stavanger’s most appealing museums. Before oil there were sardines and Stavanger was once home to more than half of Norway’s canning factories; by 1922 the city’s canneries provided 50% of the town’s employment. Here you’ll get the lowdown on canning brisling and fish balls and the exhibits take you through the whole 12-stage process from salting, through to threading, smoking, decapitating and packing. There are no labels but there’s a handy brochure available at the entrance and guides are always on hand to answer your questions or crank up some of the old machines. Upstairs, there’s a fascinating display…
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Folk Museum
West of the centre, the Folk Museum is one of the best of its kind in Norway. The indoor exhibition, Livsbilder (Images of Life) in the main building, displays artefacts in use over the last 150 years – from clothing to school supplies to bicycles – and has a short multimedia presentation. The rest of the museum, with over 60 period buildings, is open air, adjoining the ruins of King Sverre’s castle and giving fine hilltop views of the city. Houses, the post office, the dentist’s and other shops splay around the central market square in the urban section. There are farm buildings from rural Trøndelag, the tiny 12th-century Haltdalen stave church and a couple of small…
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Frognerparken
Frognerparken, which has as its centrepiece Vigeland Park, is an extraordinary open-air showcase of work by Norway's best-loved sculptor, Gustav Vigeland. Vigeland Park is brimming with nearly 212 granite and bronze Vigeland works. His highly charged work ranges from entwined lovers and tranquil elderly couples to contempt-ridden beggars. His most renowned work, Sinataggen (the 'Little Hot-Head'), portrays a London child in particularly ill humour.
It's a great place to visit in the evening after other sights have closed.
Near the southern entrance to the park lies Oslo City Museum (Oslo Bymuseum) housed in the 18th-century Frogner Manor (built on the site of a Viking-era…
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