We are going to be in Oslo on May 7th for 2 nights. The hotel situation is dismal. We need 2 twin rooms (with) a bathroom included, not down the hall! All the reasonable central hotels are booked, or atleast everywhere I usually look, nothing! I don't want to spend $600.00 or more for 2 nights, so now I'm thinking maybe we could stay at the airport (OSL). I know it's about 20 miles outside of the center. I need to know if this is a stupid idea. If not, is transportation plentiful, easy & cheap to get to the center of the city? By center I mean where most of the sites are. It's the only place I see accomodations that look affordable and they're not out of the city towards the mountains. We won't have a car. Thanks in advance.

A couple of resources that go beyond what you can find on expedia, orbitz, etc. are venere.com and hostels.com (not just hostels). On www.venere.com I found a Clarion that is supposed to be one mile from the center of Oslo. 1695K per night (about US $ 250) Says on Clarion website that rate includes breakfast and dinner. Clarion Collection Hotel Gabelshus, Gabelsgate 16 , Oslo, NO, 0272 And www.hostels.com has Catalina Apartments for about the same. Location is near Frogner Park. Direct website is http://www.catalina-eiendom.no/english.htm. Perhaps others can comment on the places or at least general location.

I checked the Thon hotels website and it looks like the night of May 8 is problematic. Is something going on that weekend?

For May 7 you can at least still get one room at Hotel Munch (where I stayed once), and there are other options.

Some of the locals may be able to help. Is it possible for you to change your itinerary?

There's a SAS bus shuttle between Oslo and downtown. I think there's a train also, but I can't remember for sure. It's overly onerous.

Sorry, it's *not* overly onerous.

Thank you for all your help. We didn't want to spend $250.00 per night. This is a bargain trip and we didn't find out how expensive Oslo was until we had paid for everything but the rooms! Can you explain what you mean by Onerous or not onerous. Is the SAS shuttle back & forth expensive and more then 45 mins.? Thanks again.

Hi I think there's more than one airport for Oslo. I assume this is OSL.

You can check this website here:

http://www.osl.no/en/osl/tofromairport

It gives you links to the bus and the train.

I checked the SAS bus website and it looks like the it takes 53 minutes for the SAS Radisson hotel. I don't see a price on that website but a webpage on visitoslo.com says the price is 130 kr single/220 kr return.

The train is actually much faster. It should take less than 1/2 hour and there should be a stop at the National Theatre. According to this, the fare is 170 kr single (I don't see any discounts for r/t).

http://www.flytoget.no/eng/Travel-info/Fares

Well if you book soon, you may still be able to get a night downtown on 5/7. I don't think the price at Hotel Munch was $250 just yet.

By the way, Scandinavia tends to be more expensive than other areas in Europe, so you'll get a bit of a sticker shock. But $250 for a room isn't normal (well not that I remember).

1110p, Thank you so much for your help! I have never had this much of a problem getting a reasonably priced place to stay, not even in London! I'll try the Hotel Munch. Thanks again.

That's no problem. I know that feeling. Probably there's something going on in Oslo.

You can try this website:
http://www.thonhotels.com

There are still at least 2 rooms at Hotel Munch for 5/7, but I didn't click through to see what the final availability/price is like. Anyway you can always book something for one night and cancel when you manage to get a room for two nights (check the cancellation policy obviously).

Booking.com also shows availability for the Clarion that Laurie_ann mentioned. I think that it's more expensive than Munch, but if it's just for one night, you can also book it first while you look for something else. You'll have to move hotels to save $ though. The location for Clarion seems fine (based on what I can remember about Oslo).

Out of curiosity did you find anything in the end? I just checked the Thon hotels website and there's zilch for the night of May 8. There must be something going on that weekend. There's at least one room at Hotel Munch on May 7. Good luck!

zwho..hi, M.C., as you recall I highly touted the Gabelshus..it's everything you would want..however, their rates seemed to have risen since we paid much less just a few years back, as I told you. I still suggest you opt for it...hard to imagine anything nicer or more convenient within that price range, to make your stay a pleasant and interesting one.

Stu T.

Thank you to all who offered advice and suggestions. We finally found 2 rooms for those nights at the Comfort Borsparken. I have no idea if this is a good deal but we can afford it and it gets consistent good reviews on TripAdvisor. Not great, but good, and that is good enough, at this point!

Is that in downtown Oslo? Glad it worked out for you!