Our final stop on our Scandinavia highlights trip was Oslo! After our train ride from Flam, we arrived in Oslo around 10:30pm. It was practically still daylight, too! That evening we went directly to our hostel (more on that at the end) and hit the hay. The next day was our last full day before heading back to the States.
We took our only full day in Oslo super casually. It seemed like there was a lot to offer in the city if you were interested in some of the more touristy things (museums and such), but we didn’t necessarily want to do any of that. We didn’t plan anything and hadn’t done a ton of research, so we explored whatever we could within walking distance of our hostel. We walked the grounds of the Royal Palace, a shopping district, a large city plaza/park and the waterfront. I would recommend checking out the Aker Brygge area. It’s the marina area that’s lined with restaurants, an art museum and Olso’s “beach” – Tjuvholmen Badeplass. For a Tuesday, there was quite the crowd hanging out on the point sunbathing and jumping into the water.
The next morning we packed up and headed to the central train station and on to the airport. I was so sad to be leaving, but after 12 days on the road I was losing steam and was ready to go home. Thanks for being the best travel buddy Nicole!
Where We Stayed
Saga Oslo Poshtel Central: Poshtel aka a “Posh Hostel”. I have never stayed in a hostel before, but my first experience was an okay one. Yes we had a shared room (only 2 other people), but the entire facility was clean, was modern, had a small back patio and they served a pretty great breakfast. They have a variety of rooms 2-12 people with shared or private bathrooms. The location was fantastic for being in the center of the city. However, I would say it was a bit more expensive than what you’d expect a hostel to be. There was only 2 bathrooms per floor (at least on our floor), so you often had to wait in line. The bunk beds and mattresses were from Ikea so not the most comfortable.
Currency: Krone
Where We Ate/Drank
United Bakeries: Cute little cafe connected to a shopping mall. I thought our sandwich and coffee was great.
W.B. Samson Cafe: Stopped in for a mid-afternoon coffee. We may have been in Norway, but we still had our Swedish Fika mindset!
Olivia: Italian Restaurant on our last night abroad. We split our meal, which I thought was delicious. The lasagna was great. Funny story, we were told after sitting down that their credit card machine was down. So towards the end of dinner I had to go find an ATM and withdraw cash to pay. It all worked out!
Asia: Swanky Asian spot we stopped into for after dinner drinks. I loved all of the neon colors and textures in this place.
Dubliner Irish Pub: This was probably one of my favorite bars/spots that we stopped into during our entire trip. You usually can’t go wrong with a neighborhood Irish pub. The patrons and bartenders were so friendly and they had live music there in the bar. I also thoroughly enjoyed whatever Pilsner I ordered. They had a ton of paper currency from all over the world stapled to the wall behind the bar, so I gave up my $2 bill. No one in there had seen one!
Oslo Map of places we checked out.
—m.