Oslo Museums
 

I will have a free day in Oslo in early July, and am interested in visiting three maritime related museums- the Viking Ship museum, the Kon-Tiki & the polar ship Fram. Could Fodorites please advise me if this is feasible? Are they relatively close to each other. If not, can I connect via public transport? Many thanks in advance

All three museums are located on Bygdoy peninsula and are within easy walking distance of each other. You can get to Bygdoy by bus at the central bus station or by ferry which departs about every 30 minutes from Aker Boygge.

Sorry, typo,it should be Aker Brygge

Thank you historytraveller- looks like a great day in Oslo coming up.

You totally can! I did all three in November with short hours. Depending on your interests an hour at kon tiki and at least two at fram. The fram museum was my favorite thing in Oslo. Best to read up on history prior so you have a sense. I was in tromso before and went to their article museum which had a bunch of stuff on fram which made museum even better!

Arctic not article? Dang auto correct

Going by ferry is the most fun!

If you take the ferry remember to validate your ticket as you enter the cabin. We didn't see the machine until the return trip.

Thanks for all your replies- I really am looking forward to this & am doing my homework on Arctic exploration (being Australian I know something about Antarctic, not so much for the north). And definitely the ferry. Now all I need is good weather.

Our favorite was the Viking museum, beautiful ships but enjoyed all of them.

I want to go back!

If you have the time, the Folk Museum is also close to those museums. A great outdoor museum with old buildings from all over Norway. In my opinion the best museum in Oslo.

Alb

They are very close together and it should be possible to do all three. If I were to drop one, say if running behind, it would be Kontiki. The Fram museum is absolutely fascinating and the viking ships are a must see.

Thanks albatrost & RM67- it seems from what I read that I should have time for the Folk Museum & I will try to fit it in. The interest in Kon-Tiki stems from schooldays, when it was a set book for English subjects. As a kid it fascinated me that people could sail the Pacific from Peru- and we spent an entire term finding out how they did it.

You might not know it, but there is a relatively new movie about Kon-Tiki. Big movie for Norwegian standards. It could be nice to see it before the visit.

Alb

Thanks alba- I saw this a couple of years ago. It was part of my interest in going to Scandinavia.

I highly recommend the Folk Museum on the island. It takes more time than the others, but I found it to be the most worthwhile museum on the island.

Oslo, however, has less going on than Stockholm does. I found Oslo a bit limited--some place you can "do" in 2-3 days unless you have specific interest off the usual tourist track. Stockholm, on the other hand, is a lifetime study.

The "guts" of Norwegian travel I found to be the fiords/scenery, not Oslo. Just my opinion. Stockholm is more on the level with Paris or London and is often overlooked by American travelers. I had home exchanges in Sweden and Norway in 2012. I likes Stockholm so much that I will be returning to do a second home exchange this year.

There is some information on my travels in Scandinavia (but not as much as there should be because I never got around to posting) on my website. For Norway, you might want to look here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...and-train.html

If you look under "Scandinavian Adventures" you will find some other information on Norway. I never got around to posting about Stockholm from 2012.

If you are visiting all these museums then an Oslo pass would save you some money and include the ferry and local public transport (taking the bus between Viking ships/Folk museum and KonTiki/Fram would save some time).
http://www.visitoslo.com/en/activiti...ons/oslo-pass/

Lauren- thank you for all your info regarding Oslo/Stockholm. Both are part of a larger trip which will have us in Scandinavia for 4 weeks. In that time we will be seeing the fjords, Bergen & other rural areas. We are travelling on the Hurtigruten, which I am looking forward to. We will be in Copenhagen & Stockholm, together with lots of viking sites & also Visby. We have a lot of Scandinavian product on Australian TV. The Bridge Series II has just finished and currently we have The Secret Pilgrim, a thriller which suggests Olaf Palme was an American (and/or Soviet)spy. These programmes, together with the flood of Scandi noir crime fiction are what has steered us to Scandinavia. We leave in 3 days & am so looking forward to it. Not looking forward to the 24hr flight from Australia though.

Dyoll- thank you for the info on the Oslo pass. I will buy one of these- when I checked the price of the pass for seniors was exactly the same as the three museum admissions, however the free ferries, public transport etc. will make it worthwhile.

I would love to take the Hurtgrufen trip sometime. Have fun.

Check and see if you are actually eligible for the senior discounts. Sometimes they don't give them to non nationals/EU residents. In the EU, mostly non EU residents do not get them. That is based on my personal experience as a US citizen. Norway is not a member of the EU and might not given the discounts to non-Norwegians. Remember that residents subsidize these places in their taxes and you do not.

I am currently in Poland and have mostly gotten the senior rates, but at Wilanow Palace outside of Warsaw I had to pay the regular price as a non EU resident.

Obviously these policies vary from place to place.