Don’t let Oslo’s prices leave you screaming
I’VE just returned from Oslo, and what a lovely, underrated city the Norwegian capital is, packed with memorable museums and art galleries.
Highlights included the Viking Ship Museum with its extraordinarily wellpreserved 9th Century vessels; the Kon-Tiki Museum with the famous raft; the Fram Museum (all about polar exploration) and Astrup Fearnley Collection with eyepopping works by Damien Hirst and other contemporary artists displayed in a snazzy, maritime-themed waterfront building.
The downside is that most things are eye-wateringly expensive. The recent drop in sterling against the Norwegian krone means prices are now particularly steep – £7 for a beer and as much as £10 for a sandwich. So thank goodness we had Oslo Passes for our stay. They covered admission to all the attractions above and many more besides (30 in total), plus unlimited use of the excellent transport system of trains, trams and ferries. Details at visitoslo.com/en/activitiesand-attractions/oslo-pass.
The initial outlay for the passes can seem steep: a 72-hour pass costs 620 kroner (£57) per adult, a 48-hour is 490 kroner (£45) and a 24-hour 335 kroner (£30). Children are half price.
However, having the passes saved the Mawer family more than £80 compared with what we would have paid otherwise on entry fees and transport.
Having the passes also worked on a psychological level. We didn’t feel financially constricted in what we visited, and we popped in briefly to some places – such as Oslo’s National Gallery to see Edvard Munch’s The Scream – without the burden of having to stay longer to get our money’s worth.
Passes are available in many other cities but before splashing out, it’s worth doing some research, and considering the following points:
Children, students and over65s often get free or reducedprice admission to attractions, thereby diminishing the benefits of a pass. Moreover, some museums and galleries are free to all visitors at certain times (though they are usually much busier then). The Louvre in Paris has free admission on the first Sunday of each month from October to March, and Madrid’s Prado Museum is free, year round, Monday-Saturday 6pm-8pm, and Sunday 5pm-7pm.
Some passes are better deals than others. While the Oslo Pass provides free entry to most major attractions, the Barcelona Card (barcelonacard.com/en) gets you a miserly €1 (85p) off Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and a mere five per cent discount on the Camp Nou Experience. And some must-see attractions are not covered at all. The I amsterdam City Card (iamsterdam.com/en) isn’t usable at the Anne Frank House and gives just €2.50 (£2.12) off admission to the Rijksmuseum.
Queue-busting privileges are a big benefit with some passes. For example, the Paris Pass (parispass.com) promises fast-track entry to the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Centre Pompidou, while the Roma Pass (romapass.it) can get you into the Colosseum without a wait.
Some cities have culturally focused passes that may work out better value. Examples include the Paris Museum Pass (parismuseumpass.com), which is much cheaper than the Paris Pass, and the Barcelona Art Passport/Articket (articketbcn. org). For €30 (about £25), it provides entry to six of the city’s leading art museums, including the Museu Picasso that is not covered by the Barcelona Card.