Outdoor adventures in dog-friendly Oslo

Jul 24

We were super excited to get to Oslo, particularly as it was our first time visiting a Nordic country.

We took the overnight DFDS ferry from Copenhagen (in a dog-friendly cabin) and it was lovely to wake up early and see the stunning scenery as we cruised the Fjords. We hurriedly got dressed we could go on deck to take in the views before arriving into port around 10am.

We visited Oslo in April, which meant that while it was cooler and we wore jackets most days, it was great in terms of temperatures for Beatle, who isn’t a big fan of the heat.

I wasn’t sure how many things we’d be able to do with Beats in Oslo, as my research hadn’t been very fruitful and I’d read mixed reviews about its dog-friendliness - but we needn’t have worried as found plenty of fun things we could see and do together!

THINGS TO DO

Explore Downtown Oslo

The main centre of Oslo is reasonably compact and easily walkable. In terms of architecture, while Oslo doesn’t have the same level of beauty as other European cities, there is still plenty to see. The main street, Karl Johans Gate runs from the Railway Station all the way to the Royal Palace.

The main railway station is at one end of the city, but still feels very central. Inside is historic, but has been modernised and has several restaurants / eateries on the ground floor. The station itself is dog friendly, and while we didn’t visit any of the restaurants with Beatle, we did see a couple of dogs dining with their people. If you go through the main entrance, to the left is an Information Centre which is also a good spot to get maps etc.

Outside the Station is an open plaza that has a couple of good public art pieces including a leather large ‘Tiger’ sculpture and another of a ‘Hammer’ which we initially thought must be Thor’s… but is actually a hammer smashing a swastika.

Following Karl Johans Gate you’ll see a few noteworthy buildings. These include the Oslo Cathedral, and a little further up is the Stortinget building - which sits in front of a large plaza that has seats, kiosks, fountains and grassy areas. At this point you are also in the main shopping district and the buildings lining the street in this area are the prettiest in the city.

As you go through the park to your left will be the National Theatre, and on the right hand side of the street are some of the University buildings. From here continue up the hill to the Royal Palace.

Royal Palace and Sculpture Park

The Palace is located at the end of Karl Johans Gate and you can’t miss it! The large open area and giant building can be seen from the centre of the city (and makes a great photo from the middle of the road). The building itself isn’t the most majestic or attractive Palace you’ll ever see, but it's still interesting to have a look around.

If you time it right, you can also catch the daily changing of the guard, which occurs at 1.30pm. There is nothing specific you need to do as it’s free and takes place out front, in the main plaza. It was quite fun to watch and I was particularly impressed about how many young women were involved!

Once you’ve watched the changing of the guard, head to the right side of the Palace where you’ll find a small park with some modern and cool sculptures, which is free to enter. If you’re looking for this park on a map, its officially called the Prinsesse Ingrid Alexndras Skulpturpark.

There are also a number of other streets / areas worth exploring in the city and we enjoyed spending a few hours just walking around and heading in different directions. We particularly liked exploring the Sentrum area (which is at the bottom left of the Royal Palace) as it was full of cute places to eat. This area also loops you back to the Aker Brugge waterfront area. As you reach the waterfront you’ll see the imposing Town Hall building - and across the road is a large open plaza with different art and sculptures.

Aker Brugge

This area of the city has been revitalised and is now a mix of modern residential buildings, hotels, shops and restaurants. But it is also full of outdoor art, small kiosks selling coffee and ice-cream, lots of cool looking saunas in the harbour and plenty of places to sit and relax. The area is bigger than you’re expecting as goes inwards, beyond the waterfront, and takes you on different pedestrian friendly pathways that are perched alongside canals, but are much quieter. These are also worth exploring as you’ll find hidden laneways, more great art and some fantastic views out over the water from different angles.

As you explore Aker Brugge you’ll also come across a huge amount of outdoor art and sculpture - more than we’ve seen anywhere else - and that’s a great thing. The sculptures are made out of different materials, have different themes and everyone will find something they love. We really enjoyed being able to walk around and spot different pieces, and it felt like every time we visited we found something new. You’ll find art along the waterfront, hidden on restaurant patios and displayed in the more open spaces.

Cool ‘Diver’ sculpture along the waterfront

You’ll also find some interesting museums in this area. While dogs are obviously not allowed to go inside these, the buildings themselves are quite interesting to walk around and include the Nobel Peace Centre, the National Museum (if you are comfortable leaving your dog at your accommodation for a couple of hours I highly recommend visiting as it was fantastic) and the Museum of Modern Art which sits at the end of the shaft and has has some great public art pieces around it.

Is it eyes or…. something else…? Public art outside the Museum of Modern Art, Oslo.

Oslo Waterfront

I don’t know what kind of architecture I was expecting in Oslo, but it definitely wasn’t all the modern and beautifully designed buildings that we saw!

One of the highlights was the stunning Opera House, which you can get great views of from along the waterfront. Its also worth the steepish climb to the top from outside (which you can do with your dog) to get some pretty great views across the city and harbour area.

The Oslo waterfront - with the Opera House and Munch Museum in the background

While dogs aren’t allowed in any of the Museums, the Munch Museum is in view of the Opera House and is a really interesting building that has some oversized sculptures outside and is worth walking around.

From there you can continue across the bridge to a newer, residential area (called Sørenga) that is very pedestrian friendly and has some cute cafes and seating areas. If you follow the pathways to the waterfront, you’ll reach a large open swimming area and lots of seating. Even though it was a coldish day, lots of people were making the most of the sunshine and relaxing in this area. You can also get some pretty great views over the water and into the Fjords from here.

Akershus Fortress

This medieval castle and fortress sits on the waterfront. It is surrounded by dog-friendly parkland, but also has some military museums on site as well as a small lake. You can walk around the fortress which offers some good views out to the harbour and Fjords. We did note that the Police Horses are stabled outside and do walk through parts of the park, so just be wary if you have a non-horse fan like us!

Vigeland Park

If you’re in Oslo you have to check out the very eccentric (but amazing), Vigeland Park!

Vigeland is free to enter and dog-friendly! Its located about 3.8 kms from the centre of Oslo - but is well worth the journey. The park itself sits within the larger Frogner Park and has over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland doing all manner of crazy things - including a huge monolith in its centre.

From the centre of Oslo, the walk to Vigeland Park will take you around 45-60 minutes, but its a pretty easy walk, with not too much incline and you’ll get to see some pretty residential areas and shopping districts along the way. If you prefer dog-friendly public transport then it’s about 30 mins by tram.

Frogner Park itself is huge and there is plenty more to see and explore if you visit. There are great views as you get up higher, an amazing bridge (full of sculptures) and plenty of parkland to walk through.

This is one of the main attractions in Oslo, so get in early if you want some crowd free photos. The ‘angry baby’ sculpture was one of the most popular sculptures on the day we visited!

This guy definitely has his hands full - at Vigeland Park

Island Hopping by ferry

From Aker Brugge you can catch the Reuter Ferry (from City Hall Pier 1) if you want to visit some of the nearby small islands. It’s a really fun thing to do with your dog, as they’ll love all the new areas to sniff and explore, and you’ll love all the beautiful scenery. The islands themselves are small enough to walk around in 40-60 mins, have few permanent residents, lots of cute buildings and offer pretty views into the Fjords.

The ferry itself is part of Oslo’s public transport system, so it’s inexpensive and dog-friendly (Beatle was allowed inside so long as she was leashed and stayed on the floor). The ferry is a great way to travel as you can treat it like a ‘hop on hop off’ service (just keep an eye on the timetable so you know how long you have at each location and when to be back for the boat). Here is a summary of our afternoon exploring a couple of the islands:

From Aker Brugge our first stop was the island of Hoveøya. The Ferry ride was only about 15 mins and it was a lovely calm ride across the harbour. At Hovedoya we explored the main attractions by following the main path, which took us past the brick buildings near the ferry stop and the old Abbey. We then headed downhill to a big tunnel entrance and read about its wartime history and then continued on to the other side of the island - and a pretty little beach. From there we followed a smaller path out to the peninsular for some pretty views, before backtracking to our starting point via the Marina.

Beats enjoyed visiting the small islands in Oslo

Our next stop was the nearby island of Lindøya. This island has a large number of small, but cute holiday houses painted in bright colours. It was a fairly easy walk right around the island and there are also some good views across to the neighbouring Island of Gressholmen. From the far side of the Island you can also see one of the oldest lighthouses in the Oslo Fjords (Heggholmen), a pretty white building that sits at the end of the wharf.

We thought we might have time for one more Island, but it was getting late in the day so we headed back to Oslo. However, if you start earlier, the ferry does go to other nearby islands that are within a few minutes of each other, so you could definitely keep exploring if you chose.

I did see on their website that the ferries run to different timetables depending on the time of year, e.g. more regularly in summer, but I would also expect the islands to also be a lot busier during peak times. For more info on their dog policy and ticket prices click here

Meet some Local Legends…

One of the most recognisable legends about Norway has to be its trolls! You’ll find sculptures of these mythical creatures outsides stores - and even though they’re meant to be reclusive - they always oblige when you ask them for a pic…

OTHER THINGS TO DO

This activity is technically not in Oslo, but if you’re heading to Bergen, then Rodne Fjord Cruise Lines offer several tours where dogs are welcome to join you for a small fee. These include the Lysefjord and Preikestolen Cruise, the Bergen-Mostraument Cruise and the Hardangerfjord Express. For a more information, including pricing and their dog policy click here

GETTING AROUND

The main, central area of Oslo is reasonably compact and easy to walk around. You can easily see all the main sights in a day if you had limited time, but I would definitely recommend staying for at least three nights to do a bit more exploring. The public transport system is clean, reliable and inexpensive. Dogs are allowed to travel for free, providing they are on lead.

If flying to Oslo isn’t an option, then you can take the DFDS overnight ferry from Copenhagen. We booked a dog-friendly cabin and enjoyed having a relaxing night on board, before waking up to enjoy the : the next morning. Getting on and off the ferry was easy as a walk on passenger and the cabins were basic, but had everything you needed for one night. The ship also had designed areas for pets to go to the loo, that had fake turf, were fenced and were directly outside the dog-friendly cabins.

For more info on their dog policy click here

Outer deck on the DFDS ferry (overnight between Copenhagen to Oslo)

When we departed Oslo we took the SJ train to Stockholm, we just had to book 2nd Class and Beatle had to sit on the floor. We just put a blanket down and she napped the whole way (except for snack breaks…). However if you have a larger dog, you have the option of booking an extra ‘seat’ so they have more space to spread out. The SJ dog policy can be found here

EAT

Even though we’d heard it was expensive to eat out in Norway (and it was), we still wanted to sample the local beer and food as much as possible. I’m a big fan of googling ‘Best Cheap Eats’…. so here are a few of our favourite places that were also dog-friendly.

We did travel when the weather was relatively mild, so there will be some places that are more difficult to eat at with a dog in the middle of winter, but many offered covered outdoor seating and good heating which was definitely a bonus!

SALT

SALT is located on the waterfront, with good views over the harbour and across to the Opera House. It identifies itself as a cultural place, and they certainly live up to this as have drinks and food, live music and a pretty cool looking sauna. While dogs obviously can’t sauna, they are still welcome to join you in the rustic, outdoor area for drinks and nibbles (which is heated and partially covered). The day we visited, there were several small fires going to keep everyone toasty and it was nice to smell the fiery, woody air. Because it was not peak season, we just walked in and got a good spot, but in summer I would definitely recommend making a reservation.

To see their dog policy visit: https://www.salted.no/faq

Vippa

Vippa is a large food market that sits on a waterside peninsular next to the DFDS terminal. If you’re visiting Akershus Fortress it’s a good place to stop afterwards for brunch or lunch. The venue itself is a large shed and inside are lots of different food vendors and a couple of bars to choose from.

It has a really large outdoor area with loads of seating, which is perfect for a sunny day, however but does not allow dogs inside. The outdoor areas weren’t covered, but I’m not sure if they do anything differently in winter as it was a very popular spot with lots of doggo.

We’d heard that the fish n’ chips were really good, so placed our order. We were not disappointed - they were delish - and Beats got a few sneaky bits under the table.

Syverkiosken - famous Hotdogs

We enjoy finding out of the way places to try - so when we saw that there was a hotdog place with a difference in Oslo we decided we had to go! We hopped on the tram and headed out to Syverkiosken, a small kiosk that sells Hotdogs, wrapped in a potato pancake with a delicious assortment of toppings. We each ordered one and got chatting to the super friendly guy who runs it. When he found out it was Beat’s birthday, he very kindly gave her a free naked hotdog (it was the highlight of her year…). You can find more info about them and their location here

Beats wasn’t sure about the dog that was also a hotdog….

Aker Brugge Restaurants

There are also a large number of restaurants along Aker Brugge, many of which have large, covered outdoor patios. We only visited one on this trip, so I can’t say definitively if they are all dog-friendly, but we were welcome to sit outside with Beatle and we stayed toasty as they had heat lamps and blankets on the seats (which Beats snaffled).

Norwegian Open Faced Sandwiches

This is not actually a dog-friendly suggestion, but if you’re in Oslo you have to try the open top sandwiches. They’re called Snitters… (ummm how cute is that) - and they are delicious! Our absolute favourites (we went back twice they were soooo good!) were from Coffee National at the National Museum. When we visited they only had indoor seating, so Beats had to hang out at the hotel while we stuffed our faces - but they were amazing!

SLEEP

We stayed at the new and ultra hip Att Reviver and absolutely loved our stay. We’d heard how expensive it was to eat out in Norway, so opted for an apartment that had a small kitchen and dining area. The room itself was beautiful and we loved how modern and fresh it felt. The hotel is in a great location, just outside of the main area, so nice and quiet - but right in the middle of the two main waterfront areas - so a great base to explore Oslo from. Its a modern concept hotel where you check in /out yourself and instead of daily housekeeping, they have a large room where you can grab anything you need during your stay (such a great idea!). There is very reasonable pet fee to 300 NOK (around 25 euro) per stay and the staff in the attached Reviver bar were were incredibly friendly, with Beatle always getting lots of attention and welcoming her to join us for drinks.

For more info about Att Reviver click here

IN SUMMARY

Oslo is a fantastic place to visit with your dog, there is so much to see and do, especially if you enjoy being outside. We visited in April, so while it was was cooler, there was hardly any snow on the ground which made it easy for Beatle to walk around without snow booties and also meant we could enjoy dining at outdoor venues. We found the people we interacted with were from all over the world, but were all living there as thought Norway was a little bit magical, and I’d have to agree. We also found it really easy to communicate as everyone spoke really good English. I only wish we’d had more time to explore some of the other areas in Norway and would love to go back one day in Summer to experience the Midnight Sun!

Nicole Wakelin

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