Hop-on Hop-off Tours of Oslo

Spend a day seeing the sights of Oslo, the oldest of the Scandinavian Capitals, from an open-top, double-decker tour bus. Your pass is valid for a full 24-hour period, and you can hop on and off at your leisure. You will enjoy 360-degree views from the open top of the bus and learn about the city’s history from your multilingual audio guides. The full loop lasts 90 minutes and frequency at the stops is every half hour. Book your ticket online

Stops include:
• Oslo City Hall
• Oslo Cruise Terminal & Akershus Fort.
• Oslo Opera House
• Oslo Central Station
• Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel
• Grand Hotel & Karl Johan Street
• Oslo Parliament & Karl Johan
• The Royal Castle & The Ibsen Museum
• Vigeland Sculpture Park
• Norwegian Museum Of Cultural History
• Viking Ship Museum
• Kon-Tiki, Fram & Norwegian Maritime Museum
• Norwegian Museum Of Cultural History
• Aker Brygge

Useful to know:

Stop 1 is at the City Hall

The bus operates from 1st April – 30th October 2019

First departure is at 10:00

Last departure is at 16:30

There will be earlier departures when cruise ships are in port

Asker Museum

Asker Museum is a fifteen minute drive from Vollen. The house was home to some of Norway’s important artists, Tilla and Otto Valstad, and Hulda and Arne Garborg. The garden is my favourite part of the museum – it is Baroque inspired and beside the many little paths there are charming animal sculptures to surprise visitors.
You’ll enjoy the Museum shop with old fashioned toys and gift articles, and I enthusiastically recommend a stop in the Kafé Gunhild for Ice-cream, waffles, yeast scones and so on. Children will also enjoy the traditional play apparatus or visiting the barn, climbing on the tractor or looking at the free range hens.

Asker museum Norway
Latitude: 59.85368 | Longitude: 10.455727

Golf

We are members at Kjekstad golf club, a 15 minute drive from Vollen. – Kjekstad has several practice putting greens, a large driving range, pitching and sand practice areas, a café and shop. The picture above was taken on 9th May 2016 when the temperature was a wonderful 24 degrees Celsius! The club has two courses – the 18 hole which is fairly demanding and also provides an amazing nature experience as you move round the forest, even glimpsing Oslo in the far distance from the highest point. The 9 hole course is my favourite – it’s a par 3 course but provides a lot of challenge. Hole 6 is shown on the introduction photo – where a few times in a season I might get a birdie and there’s always the hope of that elusive hole in one…

There are quite a number of golf clubs in the Oslo region. Depending on the weather conditions and how early or late the snow melted, the season begins in late April and ends in October.

I usually drive up Vollenveien to Heggedal and then take road 167 to join road 165. Perhaps take one route there and the other home?

The physical map shows both the 9 hole, 3-par course to the west of the Clubhouse at Kjekstad Golf Club and also the 18 hole course to the north. I’d like to mention Hole 10, which is the most northerly and has a spectacular tee-off over the lake.

Vigeland Park

View to the statue bridge

Baby waiting for birth

The Angry Boy

Monolith

Vigeland Park is the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and is one of Norway’s most popular tourist attractions. The park is open to visitors all year round. There is a large parking lot beside the park. Allow at least an hour to enjoy the various elements in the park. We suggest that you first go to the beginning of life circle of eight bronze sculptures down below the bridge – with the little baby waiting to be born in the centre. Then make your way through the park, finally arriving at the amazing monolith.

The unique sculpture park is Gustav Vigeland’s lifework with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. Vigeland was also in charge of the design and architectural layout of the park. The Vigeland Park was mainly completed between 1939 and 1949.

Most of the sculptures are placed in five units along an 850 meter long axis: The Main gate, the Bridge with the Children’s playground, the Fountain, the Monolith plateau and the Wheel of Life.

Oslo citizens use the park for lots of recreational and sporting activities – skiing, jogging, walking, meeting friends, picnicking on the grass – and it is equally popular at all seasons.

You will enjoy finding your favourite statue – mine is the first on the left below!

From the Monolith, walk to the Circle of Life. After enjoying this, look over at the hills to see the iconic Holmenkollen ski jump.

Do find this first picture on the frieze of the Fountain of Life. Then walk to the left to see the entire circle of life evolve.

There are several cafes in the park. This one is close to the Monolith. They sell small copies of the “Angry Boy” as well as postcards.

Vardåsen – local hill to climb or go slaloming

Vardåsen is our local slalom hill. It’s seen here from the fjord, with Sheeps Inn just above the sailboat masts to the left of the photo. Although this is a fun slope in winter, it is at least as popular during other seasons, as the view of the countryside and Oslo fjord is spectacular once you’ve climbed to the top. There are marked trails. Do remember to bring a picnic and water bottles to refresh you before the descent. You may like to record your climb in the tourist book found at the top most point on the hill.

The picture above shows a group of adults and children walking up the slalom hill on an October evening. Even quite young Norwegian children enjoy this climb and the satisfaction of reaching the top! Our local sports clubs organize races up twice a year which kids down to 5 years old take part in. Once a year in autumn there is a magical torch-light procession to the top – then many hundred people walk up.

If you drive round Heggedalsveien from Heggedal village, especially at weekends or on fine evenings, you will often see rock climbers making their way up the very steep side of Vardåsen hill. If this is your sport, you might like to try yourself?

You see the 5 kilometer walk from Sheeps Inn to the bottom of the Vardåsen hill. There is then a steep climb up to the top of the hill. If you prefer, it is possible to drive past Gulhella and down to the railway station in the valley. You could then leave your car there.

The views to the east of the Oslo fjord are quite magnificent but it is also well worth while to cross the hill to the top of the steep cliffs to the west. These cliffs are popular with rock climbers and on fine evenings it is often possible to watch the climbers from Heggedalsveien road.

During winter, it is possible to enjoy slalom or snowboarding on the Vardåsen ski center. However then you should drive through the town of Asker to the parking lot at the centre.

Drøbak Christmas Shop – all year round!!

If you come to Norway in November and December, you will find Norwegian julenisser (Christmas elves and Father Christmas) everywhere – and lots and lots of seasonal decorations on sale in the shops. But these might be more difficult to find at other times of the year. So a visit to the Christmas Shop and Father Christmas post office in Drøbak town is the answer. See opening times on the website. Drøbak is a very pleasant small town on the east side of the Oslo fjord. If driving there, be aware that there is a genuine (and Norway’s only) traffic sign telling motorists to take care as Santa may be crossing the road!!

You might like to visit the Akvarium beside the harbour while you are there: open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. year round with extended opening till 6:30 from 1st April – 31st August.

The Christmas Shop, Havnebakken 6, 1440 Drøbak

GPS Coordinates:
59° 39′ 46.746” N
10° 37′ 42.7476” E

From Vollen it is easiest to get to the town of Drøbak by driving south to Sætre and taking the Oslo fjord tunnel. There is no longer any toll levied on this tunnel but take care not to exceed the speed limit. An alternative even more scenic route to the tunnel is to turn left at Slemmestad and drive through the small villages of Nærsnes, Båtstø and Sætre, to where you join route 23 for Drøbak.

In late June and July there is a weekend ferry service between Vollen and Drøbak.