Oslo for less than 24hrs

The Viking Ship Museum (Bygdøy in Oslo) is really good. There are lots of original artifacts there and it's well worth at least a couple of hours.

You should be able to get a ferry to Bygdøy from Akerbrygge in front of the town hall. At least you can in summer, it may be different in winter - ah no sorry just checked, it only operates April-October. In that case a bus will have to do. Other places of interest are Frognerparken and (especially if it's a clear day and there's enough light left) a trip up Holmenkollen which gives you a great view over the city and Oslofjord.

The flytoget (airport train) only takes 20m or so from central Oslo to Gardermoen so I'd stay in central Oslo and get an early train. Gardermoen is in the middle of nowhere so staying there will be pricey and boring I'd have thought.

Thanks for the info.

How's the planning going? Agreed with poster #2, do stay in downtown, the express airport train takes less than 20 minutes, or you can take the slow one (half the speed, half the price -- which means a lot of money in Norway!).

I'm not too much into museums, I lived in this city for a few years and never bothered to visit some of these museums on Bygdøy. Personally, I think one's time is better spent outside, and if you visit in winter, you should take advantage of that and do something wintery!

Holmenkollen/the ski museum is a great place to go in winter. Also Frognerseteren is so much fun. On weekends, on a good day, the metro will be packed with cross country skiers, and you can actually ski straight out of the metro. I don't know if there's anything like this anywhere else in the world. You don't need skis I guess, you could hike around a bit. Warm clothes might help. You want to try "pølse med lompe" (Norwegian version of hot dog). Perhaps you can rent skis here if you're interested. I know you can rent sleds, that's pretty popular. You can sled from one metro station (Voksenkollen) down to another (Midtstuen) then travel up again on the metro and repeat it.

Frognerparken, the opera house and the royal palace are great places to check out in the city, and taking a walk along Karl Johans street (main street). If you like burgers, try Max Hamburger on Karl Johans. It's a Swedish chain, but they had just opened their first restaurant in Oslo when I last visited. Amazing burger, reasonable price (try finding that in Oslo!), free wifi, and it has my name :)

How come you have a layover in Oslo btw, which airline uses that as a hub?? Or your second flight is a domestic one?

Hi Max,

thanks for the info, the metro-skiing sounds awesome (random - which i love) but I given the short time I have in Oslo I think finding a place to rent skis... wouldn't make it worth it but I may just go for a wander. I'll be doing plenty of wintery stuff in Iceland for a week anyway. I'll seek out polse med lompe for lunch.

As for which airline - Norwegian Air (or is it Air Norway?) from London to Iceland. Going this way meant spending £100 less on the flight and whilst I'm sure I'll more than make up for that saving in Oslo I thought why not have an afternoon there as I've never been.

If you're not so interested in museums or hitting the cross-country tracks, I'd just bundle up and do a walking tour of town. There's enough to keep you busy for a few hours, and you can always duck into a cafe any time you're getting cold. I keep a blog of running routes for travelers, and I wrote up a tour through central Oslo, with pictures and a map, if you're interested: Oslo Central Route
Enjoy Oslo!

did you find a place to stay? checked out anker hostel? its not in the nicest area, but only 3 min with bus from cetral station. you can also check out haraldsheim hostel. short metro ride from center. http://www.haraldsheim.no/

Yeah, I stayed at Anker, it suffers from the same malaise as many hostels in Europe of being big and characterless but it serves its purpose or a cheap bed (well for Oslo) and is clean and conveniently located. The walk to the train station is just 10mins.

Though I ended up not having much time at all by the time I got into the centre and checked into the hostel so just walked around downtown for a couple hours. I'll just have to go back. Maybe after win the lottery though...