The undisputed Queen of European day trips, Caroline of TravelEatSlay, put together a day trip to Oslo in April which I had a great time being part of! If you haven’t been on one yet with her, I highly recommend keeping an eye out on her insta for upcoming trips!
I’ve visited Norway before, to the lovely town of Bergen and knew their prices are a bit mad so how bad could 1 day been right?!
Here’s what we got up to and also some tips on how to do a successful European day trip:
Step 1: If you’re planning to go with a group, make sure the squad is fire! You need people who are fun, fairly time disciplined and have enough energy to survive the inevitable fast pace. Caroline managed to recruit this all female slay group which included:
Lulu and Abi of @flightsandfeelings
Liza of @spontaneous_travel
Elle @ellemacuk
Montana @becomingmontana
Meka @meka.montana
Tatum @travel.with.tatum
Taboka @aruzamt
Step 2: Maximise your day time spent there
This means getting the earliest flight possible and coming back on the latest one. We took Ryanair from Stansted at 9.15 and flew back at 22.45 so took the National Express coach leaving Liverpool Street at 6.40am and getting the 00.20 one back! As you’ll only be travelling with a small bag, no time is lost waiting for luggage..a win!
Step 3: Strategically visit the main sights (with food pit stops in between)
To minimise travel time, we went to the furthest away location first and worked our way back to the centre as it was easiest to get to the airport from here.
So our day started at Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park (the largest sculpture park in the world by a single sculptor). It’s an impressive place with statues showing the naked human form in all its glory. It’s also where we treated the Norwegians to some black girl magic…see below!
Next we went downtown, passing some impressive street art to the food hall Mathallen Oslo which has food and drink selections from all the world. I had the carbtastic bacon langos (Hungarian Street food) and ice cream dessert.
We made it to the National Theatre and Royal Palace which are within a block of each other. It was surprisingly very easy to climb up to the Royal Palace and enjoy the parks surrounding it, Here is where the first of the bad weather caught us so we swiftly took cover whilst it passed.
Next was Aker Brygge, the harbour where there are many restaurants and bars plus a shopping centre. Here you can take a ferry ride which would be lovely in good weather! We made a drink pit stop to the Lannister which serves many good coffees (including a couple GoT themed ones) plus alcoholic bevs.
A short bus ride away was our final stop of the day : Oslo Opera House. This is an impressive building and can be enjoyed for free inside and on the roof for a panoramic view of the city. It’s right by the central station so was the perfect location to make our way back to the airport from.
Step 4 – Spend your money wisely!
Everyone knows that Norway is expensive…even my Norwegian friends admit to this! But it is possible to spend within your lane by following these next few tips:
Free entry is your friend! Everything we went into was free and those that weren’t, we admired from the outside (also due to time pressures). If there’s something you really want to visit, check out which day is best for potential discounted prices or any deals.
Eating in the food hall means you could tailor your lunch to your pocket without feeling the pressure from anyone else. Also carrying snacks and a refillable water bottle in your bag is so useful.
A transport day pass (covering buses, trains, trams and ferry) within the city centre was a great buy. Getting the train to and from the airport is outside of this…don’t buy the fast airport express which we made the mistake of doing as this is double the price of the “slower” train which was slower by less than 10 minutes!
Duty free is also your friend in Norway, especially when it comes to alcohol!
Step 5: and finally, create great memories of the day!
Here’s a full expense breakdown of my Oslo trip:
Ryanair return flight Stansted-Oslo – £30.98
National Express Coach return tickets – £16.10
Oslo Airport Express to Skøyen Stasjon – £17.54
All transport Day Pass for zone 1 (city centre) – £9.66
Lunch – £14.68
Non express train single from Central Station to Oslo Airport £7.34
Drinks to turn up from Oslo Airport duty free £5.73
Total spent: £102.03
Do check out the other blogs on our day trips written by flightsandfeelings and ellemacuk!
Have you ever done an international day trip? Or if not, would you consider one now? Let us know!
J Xo
Road2Culturedom 
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