42 Best Sights in Oslo, Norway

Located in northeastern Oslo this sculpture park is dedicated to the play Peer Gynt, by Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen. The park’s 20 sculptures depict the storyline act by act and were designed by several contemporary artists.

This boxy brick building is best known today for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, which takes place here every December 10. Inside, many museum-quality masterpieces grace the walls. After viewing the frescoes in the Main Hall, walk upstairs to the Banquet Hall to see the royal portraits. In June and July, free 45-minute guided tours are available and meet in the main hall. To visit the City Hall Gallery, enter harborside. Special exhibits are hung throughout the year. On festive occasions, the Central Hall is illuminated from outside by 60 large spotlights.

Located in the beautiful Villa Grande, this museum and research center presents a sobering exhibition on Nazi Germany's murder of 6 million European Jews, including a third of the Jewish population in Norway.

Tucked away in Frogner Stadium, this is Norway’s only museum devoted to ice skates and ice-skaters. Gleaming trophies, Olympic medals, and plenty of skates serve to celebrate the sport. Photographs of skating legends such as Johann Olav Koss, Hjalmar Andersen, and Oscar Mathisen line the walls. Take a look at ways that skates have evolved—compare the bone skates from 2000 BC to the wooden skates that came later.

At one end of Karl Johans Gate, the vanilla-and-cream-color neoclassical palace was completed in 1848. The equestrian statue out in front is of Karl Johan, king of Sweden and Norway from 1818 to 1844. The palace is open to the public only in summer, when there are highly sought-after guided tours in English that should be booked in advance.   Kids of all ages will love the Royal Palace's 40-minute changing of the guard ceremony, accompanied by the Norwegian Military Band, that takes place daily, rain or shine, at 1:30 for free.

Norway's parliament building is a classic dating from 1866, and during the summer months, it's sometimes possible for the public to attend an informative one-hour guided tour in English, but as these don't take place at fixed times, it is necessary to check the website for updated information. The park benches of Eidsvolls plass, in front of the Parliament, are a popular meeting and gathering place.

They call this a "beach," but Tjuvholmen Bystrand is really more of a pretty park at the end of a pier with a strip of gravel by the water—perfect for toddlers to dip their toes.

Just outside the doors of the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is the whimsical Tjuvholmen Sculpture Park, also designed by Renzo Piano. This is a pretty park right on the waterfront where locals picnic on warm summer days.

“I am anchored to my work so that I cannot move. If I walk down the street one day a thousand hands from work hold on to me. I am tied to the studio and the road is never long,” said Gustav Vigeland in 1912. This museum was the Norwegian sculptor’s studio and residence. It houses models of almost all his works, as well as sculptures, drawings, woodcuts, and the original molds and plans for Vigeland Park. Wander through this intense world of enormous snowy-white plaster, clustered nudes, and busts of such famous Norwegians as Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Grieg.

Ever dreamed of taking a selfie with Vikings, joining a (virtual reality) raid, or watching chieftains strut down a (hologram) catwalk? This digital Viking museum also features 3D models of Viking ships and other artifacts on loan from the Viking Age Museum.

This atmospheric art deco–style movie house (built in 1907) has been converted into a funky bar, café, and restaurant. Live music gigs, literary evenings, films, and theater are held in the converted cinema room inside, which has seating for 250. To get a sense of the laid-back Grünerløkka lifestyle, chill out here with a cocktail. Free jazz is sometimes held on weekends in the front bar.

The French coffee, homemade pastries, and ice cream are the big draws at Pascal, a trendy, Parisian-style patisserie inside an old-fashioned Norwegian konditori (café). It's also a place to see and be seen. There are three other locations in Oslo, but the store in Tollbugata 11 is the original.