Norway – Christmas Themed Weekend in Oslo

DAY 2: OSLO

After an overnight flight from New York to Oslo, we arrived at the Oslo Airport at 11 AM. I was pleasantly surprised by Norwegian Air given that they are a low-cost airline. We flew in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and even had TVs in front of each seat. The only downside (or maybe not so much) was that there was no free food or drinks on the flight (you could pay for them though). However, since the flight was only $370 roundtrip I had no complaints.

We flew through customs in Oslo and then took the FlytoGet express train to Oslo (around $20 each way). The train runs every 10-20 minutes and takes 20-25 minutes to get from the airport to the main station in Oslo. Once we arrived at the Oslo Central Station, we walked the 15 minutes (with a few wrongs turns) to our hotel in the heart of Oslo. There was a lovely dusting of snow. However, Oslo has heated sidewalks, so it wasn’t everywhere.

Mini Oslo Tour

Once we checked into our hotel and settled in, we headed out to the explore Oslo. We ate a quick lunch at a cute cafe, Sentralen Cafe (around $10-$15 for lunch), a block from our hotel. We then headed to the Oslo Parliament Building (Stortinget in Norwegian), which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. The Parliament Building was right in front of the Spikersuppa outdoor Christmas Market, one of the main Christmas markets in the city. We walked through on our way to City Hall but come back later to actually shop. The market was row of huts that sold an assortment of apparel, food (sweets, meats, cheeses and more) and gifts.

Spikersuppa Christmas Market

City Hall

On the other side of the market we walked past the National Theater and then the additional block to City Hall (Rådhuset in Norwegian). We looked at the wood murals outside City Hall that depict Norwegian mythology and then popped inside, which is where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held every year. After staring at the colorful inside, we walked to the front of City Hall and happened to catch an amazing sunset over the water. The beauty of it made up for the fact that it happened at 3 PM.

3 PM Sunset outside of City Hall

We then crossed the street and stopped by the Nobel Peace Center. Unfortunately one of the exhibits was closed the day we went. However, they gave us a free ticket (and chocolate) to come back another day. We then headed back to the Spikersuppa area again. We stopped in a Stockfleth’s for famous Norwegian coffee to prepare ourselves for an afternoon of shopping.

Christmas Shopping and a “Christmas Dinner”

After a spike of caffeine, we set out to do some Christmas shopping. We stopped at a local store nearby the coffee shop, where my friend bought an adorable Christmas gnome. We also checked out the Dale of Norway store, which is famous for its sweaters. They were slightly out of our price range, so we headed to the Christmas market instead. There we stopped by the Norway Shop hut to try on their sweaters that were 50% off. After trying on several we both decided to get one (which cost us around $90 each). It was definitely a worthy investment; the sweaters are very warm!

Note: If you spend over 315 kroner and shop at a qualified store you are eligible to get a tax refund at the airport through Global Blue.

Norwegian Sweater Game On Point

On our way out of the market, we stopped by the Glogghus to sip on some glogg (mulled wine) while overlooking the outdoor skating rink. We then went to the hotel to drop off our newly acquired goods before finding somewhere for dinner. We had passed by a place called Christinia Cafe right by the Parliament Building. It looked good and cozy so we went there for dinner. The restaurant was packed but luckily we were able to get a table. They originally gave us Norwegian menus, which would have made ordering an interesting experience. However, after a few minutes they realized we didn’t speak Norwegian so they gave us English menus. We split a Christmas beer (which is a must in Norway around Christmas time) and the Christmas platter, which was an assortment of meat. Overall a fantastic first day in Norway.

DAY 3: OSLO

Fram Museum

After getting woken up at 6:15 AM by the fire alarm, we officially started our day at 8:15 with free breakfast at the hotel. We then walked 10 minutes to the Ruter office right outside of the Oslo Central Station to buy bus tickets to get to the Fram Museum. Tickets were around $3.71 each way. We then waited 10 minutes for the 30 bus towards Bygdøy. We rode the bus for 25 minutes until we got to the Bygdøynes stop.

Note: Make sure to validate your public transportation ticket before you leave. If you don’t validate it and they catch you, you could get fined.

The bus dropped us off right outside the Fram Museum. We arrived around 10, just about the time the museum opened. We checked out the National South Pole Monument outside the museum before going in. The Fram Museum is centered around Norwegian polar exploration (entry was around $11). It has the famous ship, Fram, that you can go onto and walk around. It also has another famous ship, the Gjøa, which was the first ship to navigate the Northwest Passage.

Note: In the summer you can take the ferry over to Bygdøy, where the museum is located.

The Fram, a Famous Norwegian Polar Exploration Ship

Annual Christmas Fair at the Folk Museum

Around 11 we left the Fram Museum and headed to the Folk Museum for the Annual Christmas Fair. We took bus 30 there (since it was cold) but it would have been a 15 minute walk. The museum is an open air museum with different buildings from different eras in Norwegian history (entry was around $15). For a few weekends in December, the museum decorates some of the buildings in the Christmas fashion typical of that era and has a Christmas market. The museum has different sections that represent different areas of Norway. They also have one of the last remaining stave churches.

At 1:15 PM we took the bus back to the downtown Oslo. We grabbed lunch at Sentralen Cafe again and then walked the 15 minutes to the Oslo Opera House.

The Christmas Fair at the Norwegian Folk Museum

Opera at the Oslo Opera House

Once we had booked our flights to Oslo, we decided we wanted to see a show at the Oslo Opera House. By that point the Nutcracker was sold out so we decided to go see the opera, Cosi Fan Tutte, which is an Italian opera from the 1700’s. The opera started at 3:30 and lasted for 3 hours. Afterwards we walked around the roof of the Opera House (yes you can actually do that!). We then stopped by the Skybar at the Radisson Blu to grab a quick drink (with views overlooking Oslo) before our 9 PM dinner reservations.

Oslo Opera House

Dinner at Engebret Cafe

We had made a reservation a few weeks in advance at Engebret Cafe, which is the oldest restaurant in Oslo. It had a very cozy, old school atmosphere. We tried more Christmas beer and split Lutefisk (literal translation is lye fish), which is a very popular Norwegian Christmas dish. We also each got a Cloud Berry Fool for dessert, which was a delicious whip cream like dessert with berries and baked marzipan (always popular around this time). We finished dinner around 11 and headed back to the hotel (dinner was around $80 each).

Lutefisk Dinner at Engebret Cafe

DAY 4: OSLO AND FLIGHT BACK

Today was a busy yet fulfilling final day in Oslo. We ate breakfast at 9 AM (luckily no fire alarms early in the morning today). At 9:30/9:45 we walked two blocks to the Stortinget metro stop and took the westbound train two stops to Majorstuen. We then walked 10 minutes to Vigeland Park, which is a park designed by the famous Norwegian sculptor, Vigeland. He worked to create works of art for Oslo in exchange for free studio space.

Vigeland Park

The park has many statues that depict human emotion and stages of life. At one end of the park there are a series of stairs and a monolith that depicts people climbing on each other. When we arrived, the sky was still a beautiful yellow and orange from the sunrise. The park was a cool experience. It has a lot of green space and is a popular place with locals. We walked around for 45 minutes before heading back to the metro. Before hopping on the metro, we stopped into a bakery we saw nearby. I picked up a julekake (Christmas bread) to bring back for work and gingerbread cookies.

Vigeland Park

National Gallery of Norway

We took the eastbound train one stop back to the Nationaltheatret stop. We walked two blocks to see the Royal Palace and then headed a few blocks back to the National Gallery of Norway (entry was around $11). The gallery is color coded by section. We spent 30ish minutes walking around the Impressionism section that features Munch’s work, who is a famous Norwegian painter. We then grabbed a quick lunch at a cafe nearby.

"The Scream" by Munch

Nobel Peace Center

We walked by the Spikersuppa Christmas Market again on our way back to the Nobel Peace Center. We spent our last little bit of time walking around the exhibits in the museum, which were very interesting. They have several rotating exhibits, one of which was an exhibit on the German man, Carl von Ossietzky, who won the prize during World War II. We then stopped by a few shops for last minute souvenirs before grabbing our luggage from the hotel and taking FlyToGet back to the airport for our 6 PM flight (which ended up getting delayed until 10). Besides the delayed flight, I don’t think I would have changed anything about our weekend in Norway!