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I think there was a study done on this, and the Oslo fjord was the winner, probably because people expected a more dramatic fjord. But i have a hard time calling it a tourist attraction.
There's fjord and there's ✨fjord✨ Oslofjorden is just a fjord. But taking the ferries between the islands is a nice break from the city.
As someone who grew up on the west coast, then lived for many years in Trondheim, and now lives within commuting distance of Oslo... the southeast corner of the country, around Oslo and here, is not where you go for the spectactular nature experience. Lots of pleasant and even nice-looking spots, sure, but there aren't really any mountains or anything.
Also when I first moved here I kept getting lost and disoriented because there are no landmarks, no direction to the terrain, everywhere looks much the same as everywhere else. (Back where I grew up you could just scan around you and immediately know more or less where you were based on how the mountains looked.)
There's nature and there's ✨nature✨The woods and hills of eastern Norway are pleasant for a hike, but you really feel alive on the top of a mountain in the west or north.
Nature in the east is elevator music. Nature in the west is metal.
I have to modify your claim there:
Nature in the east is elevator music.
Nature in the west is classic rock.
Nature in the north is metal.
And for the record, I'm from the west, currently living in elevator music land.
Also my most disappointing tourist attraction?
Fisketorget in Bergen. 97% foreign produced tourist junk and insanely overpriced fish.
Innlandet er beste landet!
I can see what (foolish!) people might mean about standing on mountains and that, but being anywhere around Mjøsa is an absolute dream. You’ve got rolling hills, mountains and THE LAKE OBVIOUSLY. There is music and poetry in the landscape here, a symphony of complimentary rhythms and tones. Climbing up some pointy rock is just a cymbal crash from a man with a sweaty back.
I live in Norway and cant completly set myself in a tourist view. I think Vestlandet and Lofoten is the best place to visit to for special nature experisnce and hiking etc.
Oslo is an nice european capital city and there is countless of nice Mountains and trips in eastern part of Norway.
Wait - who would rather listen to heavy metal than elevator music?
AZ someone who grew up in a valley, I always get lost when I'm somewhere flat. I dunno how people orient themselves without mountains and hills around them.
I'm from Trondheim and i agree mostly, tho i dont find it hard navigating Oslo. ive just never liked it cause I feel its just too big of a city for me personally with 90% copypasted buildings and as you mentioned; mostly urban hill terrain with alot of flat land.
I can take a 10min car ride from my house here in Trondheim and i am on the very peak of a mountain, overlooking the entire city and surrounding areas all the way to my home from there and the view of the aurora in winter up there is a sight to behold. Oslo has a few cool things to see like the castle f.eks or the Oseberg museum but sheer landscaping wise its really boring unless you like urban areas. Had a girlfriend from Oslo so flew in once a month ish for a year, i prefered when she came up but my ability to go there was higher so i went down alot more than i wished i did, never felt more unsafe when her dad notified us on text that someone got stabbed 1 min after out tbane left that exact platform.
It's not in Oslo itself that navigation is a problem; but in the greater surrounding area.
I'm gonna throw Tyrifjorden/Steinsfjorden into this fight. :D
Technically fjords, but spiritually lakes.
I'll agree on that one, although I'm biased as I live in the area and sunsets there are pretty cool.
Technically/geologically speaking, the Oslo fjord is not a fjord. Fjords are formed by rivers or glaciers.
Etymologically, a fjord is any long and narrow body of water. The geologists just highjacked the term.
It isnt dramatic like Geiranger or whatever, but it sure is nice.
I also like oslofjord very much for what it is. But now I’m imagining Oslo with more dramatic mountains and fjords, more or less like svolvaer. How amazing wouldn’t that be.
Oslo wouldn't be Oslo if it was surrounded by real fjords, it would be a tiny village.
Oslo became Oslo because it was so easy to get to.
As a native I’m regularly amazed by oslofjorden.
Same, i think people forget to look up when they are in Oslo. If they did, they would see some breathtaking views!
Technically the Oslo fjord is not a fjord. Fjord (in geographically / English sense) must be glacially formed and should have steep walls. The Oslo fjord is neither.
You can of course argue that the word fjord has Scandinavian origins and in Scandinavian languages it is used more generally, and so obviously they should have authority about what the word means. But as the example shows people generally expects something different from a fjord.
Btw. I was there just recently and I think it is gorgeous :) But I can understand why people expect something different.
According to Store norske leksikon The Oslofjord is a typical terskelfjord.
Terskelfjord er en fjord med grunn terskel ved innløpet og dyp indre del. Terskelfjorder er dannet i løpet av istiden ved iserosjon, som for en stor del foregikk under havnivået. I Norge er mange av fjordene, for eksempel Sognefjorden, terskelfjorder.
Bundefjorden, the east side is very deep. it's the west side of Nesodden that is shallow. Where they kept the Gerald Ford, the draft is more than 60m, up to 90 to 95m. I'm 500m from the shore, and 108 m above sea level... That is very steep. It's a weird place when you come from the ocean. It's calm. Weird and almost spooky at night.
Let me just add Fisketorget in Bergen here. It might be Norway's biggest tourist trap, where people are tricked into buying makrell i tomat and kaviar tubes bought from the Rema 1000 across the street for a tenner, and sold on for 100 kr to tourists. Prices are totally wild, even for the most basic food.
I'll just paste this Tripadvisor post here, translated to english by Google:
"I work at a grocery store near the square. Market traders buy rolls, vegetables and cold cuts from us. Makes a sandwich and sells it for NOK 100 each. A platter of food can also cost anything from NOK 300 to NOK 600. I think these prices are absolutely ridiculous. Don't realize that anyone even buys seafood here either, when they can go to the shop directly across the street and get exactly the same seafood for an unimaginably cheaper price. Same supplier, delivered at the same time. Just as fresh, twice as cheap!"Source: https://no.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g190502-d532762-r518971066-Fish_Market-Bergen_Hordaland_Western_Norway.html
Fisketorget is hated by Bergen people, it has become the opposite of what it once was, a much loved fresh fish market for local people. Cruise ship tourism has done a lot of harm to the fabric of life in large towns and cities like Bergen.
Stavanger has a smaller Fisketorget also, and I think they revamped it a few years back, so it's actually worth going to now, but still a tourist trap.
When I was for a visit in Stavanger back in 2022, I was curious to visit Fisketorget and expected some bigger market with stands or something like a market hall.
I was mildly surprised finding out it was just a small place with a very expensive restaurant and a small counter selling fish. When I entered, I stood in the middle of the restaurant and was asked if I wish for a table. Was a bit disappointed
That's unfortunate. I grew up in the area, but haven't been back in several years.
When i went to Bergen i was also disappointed with the market. I imagined it to be a true local market for the people as i had in my home country, with fresh produce, fresh fish at a good price, where even the local restaurants would buy their ingredients. Unfortunately it was just a tourist trap.
It was once. I still remember fish tanks full of living fish at fisketorget when I was a child. Doesn't get fresher than that. Now, it's a mockery of what it was. It's sad, really.
My french father in law wanted to try whale meat from a stand there. It was 250,- (6 years ago), it was served on a paper plate with a plastic fork and knife accompanied by a dry slice of pre sliced supermarket bread and a few leaves from a bag of pre cut salad. He had to go back to get them to cut the meat because the plastic knife couldn't cut through it. I felt embarrassed 😅
This is both hilarious and super sad.
what a coincidence. My mom and I are planning to visit Bergen and are wondering which places to visit. Thanka for this info!
Bergen has plenty but the Fish market should not be a priority.
Go hiking, 7 mountains to choose from
Can this include the Bergen harbours in general? Nicer ones in other Norwegian cities in my opinion.
Locals generally never visit any of the locations closest to the harbor and around the fish market. It's mostly just foreigner-run shops selling overpriced food and garbage souvenirs (with a few exceptions). There's pretty much zero activity around there outside the tourist season. There are some bars that locals do frequent, but these also tend to be overpriced.
The actually nice places to shop and eat are spread around the city. I'd recommend avoiding the harbor if you ever visit Bergen.
Og course it can. Bryggen is a place I never go. I can't imagine why I would.
There are some cute niche art shops and galleries in one of the alleys, as well as a quaint little tea shop. They're worth a visit if you like art and your aesthetic is this.
Holmenkollen ski jump. Unless you’re an avid ski jumping enthusiast, it’s just a crooked tower. Nice area for hikes and strolls in the wood, though.
View from the top is really good, but other than that you’re right
And the zip line is prerry crazy (and crazy expensive)
Right now the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. As it’s closed for renovations.
Also in Oslo I’m pretty underwhelmed by the exterior and interior of the Munch museum.
Underwhelmed? How is that possible? It's like a huge road divider on cocaine and steroids. Every time I look at it I'm like "whoa! What the fuck man?"
Good you like it. I just see it as another big steel and glass building.
Wooosh
The Viking ship museum was a disappointment when it was open. The Fram museum is infinitely cooler. Maybe the new Viking will be better.
Closed until 2025 or 2026? Must be quite the renovation.
Oh yeah, it's basically a whole new building. And moving the ships is itself a crazy task.
It's also going to have a lot more things on display. It will no longer just be the ships, but also many different archeological findings from the viking age.
I understand that exterior of the Munch Museum is kind of ugly, but I really enjoyed the interior (with the exception of the escalators which is a product of a mad, sadistic mind), and the Munch's art itself of course.
Munch is great, building inside and outside is absolutely horrible.
There is no flow, you just wander around checking if you missed a room or not, or if there is anything going on in the room waaay back there before going to next floor and repeating the same search.
It reminds me of a train station next to an industrial storage building.
And then the rooftop coffeeshop / restaurant is closed quite often. why tf is the museum not operating that coffee shop? Best place - everyone is looking for a break and a view after walking up endless stairs, but nope.
The public library next door shows how it's done, that one is epic!
I agree about the lack of flow in the building. I didn’t feel like the point of the building was to appreciate an artist.
Agreed, it could just as well be a temporary exhibition.
The Munch Museum is contoverial. Loved and hated.
I think the Munch museum can look kind of cool when it's dark. You kind of partially see through some of the metal, and you get these people silhouettes moving around up and down the stairs and escalators.
Are you saying the art or the physical interior is underwhelming?
The building.
I found that the building didn’t help me to enjoy the art. Many of Munch’s paintings are about nature and the circle of life and death. But for me the museum is aggressively high tech. It doesn’t seem to be in accord with his paintings. I also found having the rooms separated by escalators meant that the different works seemed unconnected with each other.
The Munch museum represents everything that is wrong with the architecture built today in Norway.
The fish market in Bergen.
It ticks all the shitboxes. Tourists are drawn by the promise of an authentic, traditional market where street wise locals go to get the freshest and the best at reasonable prices. But that's simply not a thing anymore. Not here and hardly anywhere else. People do their shopping at the supermarket now, where, incidentally, you can find a lot of the same stuff they trick you into buying at the fishmarket, at a fraction of the price. A literal stone's throw away.
Instead of a market there's a pile of ugly tarps to protect tourists against the elements while they pay through the nose for food that's as foreign to us as it is to them. Or you can go to the glass building to pay even more.
Don't come!
"What's the little mermaid of Norway?"
Sinnataggen?
I don't agree, Sinnataggen is awesome!
(What I meant was that the question "What is the little mermaid of Norway" is the same question as " What is the most dissapointing..")
I think Copenhagen have done a better marketing job than Oslo. I doubt anyone except Norwegians know about Sinnataggen.
Lillehammer. They still clammer to the fame from the 1994 winter Olympics. Everything is 1994 OL. Bah who cares anymore. You really need to renew.
Agree. It's always 1994 in Lillehammer.
Can confirm.
Source: I live in Lillehammer
This is actually a draw for me. Bring on the 90’s!
It's the 90's in many ways, but none of the cool ways.
My 90’s were spent in rural Wisconsin. What passed for “cool” there was way below the median. My standards are therefore set very, very low. ;)
If only they had a real flamingo bar.
I disagree. Much of the advertising for Lillehammer as a destination has to do with an active lifestyle, some of which of course are strengthened by the Olympic arenas like Hafjell. But other than the "Welcome to Lillehammer"-sign, you rarely hear anything about the Olympics.
Tourists are also drawn to Gågata, Litteraturfestivalen, Hunderfossen etc. And of course also Americans who wants to see the Olympic arenas.
Not to mention Maihaugen!
A few years since i visited. But then the manhole covers had 1994 on them. A lot of the shops had signs about Olympics and 1994 on them etc.
Shops will sell what people want. And the buses full of Chinese people definately want that. And trolls. And Mills caviar.
The whole town of Lom. It looks slightly better than most Norwegian mountain villages but because it’s in the middle of a popular area and most tourists drive through it’s terrible. Insane amounts of people, really expensive touristy shops, not even any good views or really any that nice buildings and queues for EVERYTHING…
Overall you get the experience of Disneyland, but with none of the rides. I’d avoid it.
The only thing in Lom is the stavechurch. Other than that it's an experience place to refuel before moving on.
Yeah it’s pretty nice, but there are so many better ones that don’t have a truckload of tourists taking pictures
The bakery is worth a stop
Last summer i stood in a 1 hour line to see what the fuss was about, and yeah it was really good but not “1 hour wait good” lol
Oh for sure. Never que up for food.
Found a pretty cool rock shop in Lom while traveling in Norway a couple of weeks ago