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Oslo - short layover - worth it?

We will have about a 4 hour layover in Oslo within the next few weeks. Is it worth it to leave the airport to go into town to check it out and get a quick bite to eat, or should we stay put? Would the fact that we are vegetarians hamper the experience somewhat? If it is of any consequence ... we are a family of four with two kids, one a teenager and one in single digits.

I have looked at the train schedules and it looks doable, but given the high prices in Norway, I am not sure if we will really be getting the best bang for our buck. Could we just go outside the airport and loiter around? Is there anything to be seen in the vicinity? I did notice that the airport is kinda ways from the city itself, so maybe it is in the boonies?

Thanks!!

PS: I've also already checked out the other thread about Oslo with the long layover, so have a rough idea of different trains being available to get us to Oslo from the airport.

FWIW, my daughter is a big "Frozen" fan :-)

Posted by
5837 posts

Fastest way between OSL and OsloS is the Flytoget express train:
http://www.flytoget.no/eng

Trains run at 10 min or 20 min intervals depending on day of the week and time of the day and take 19 or 22 minutes to get from the airport to OsloS with return being similar. Doing the arithmetic, you need to budget over an hour of your 4 hours for transit into town and return. You would need to plan on getting back to OSL about 90 minutes (at least 60 minutes) before flight departure to re-enter the secured section of the terminal and get to your departure gate. That give you less than 2 hours of walking around while watching your time. Only you can decide if the two hours of sightseeing is worth the effort and cost. (Flytoget is more expensive than the NSB train but saves you a few minutes of time).

If you are one of those vegetarians who eat fish you can enjoy a traditional Norwegian single slice of bread sandwich. too bad you don't have an extra day to do Oslo justice.

Posted by
16895 posts

The plan sounds stressful to me and even more so with kids. Are you connecting to a flight within Europe or to another continent?

Posted by
145 posts

Laura:

I agree - just wanted to see what the best way was to use the four hours. Of course, we could stay put and do some plane spotting which appears to be the best option!

Posted by
145 posts

We are back from our trip. It would not have been worth it for sure for us to go into Oslo. Son and I had fun trainfanning a bit - the flytoget and NSB trains - just outside of the airport building. Spending more time than we did might have been risky as you guys pointed out. Besides, as vegetarians, it would have taken us time to find something to eat :-).

Porcupyn

PS: It was eerie to see the long shadows that we cast just an or two past noon!