Oslo Money Diary – 2 Nights In The Expensive City!

Oslo is somewhere that has been on my radar for the past couple of years. But there was always somewhere else I wanted to go to more! Until I was planning a meet up with some of my uni friends and it worked out cheaper to meet up abroad than in the UK. Crazy right!!

Cue days of back and forth. The logistics of flying from three different places in the UK was a nightmare. Oslo came out the reigning champion and our flights were booked. Two nights in one of the most expensive countries in the world – my budget was already crying!

But how much did we actually spend? Let’s get into the spending diary…

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BEFORE WE LEFT

Flights ~ £64.35

The logistics of a weekend away with the guests flying from three different airports was too much for our brains. So we compromised and cut it down to two outbound airports. I flew out of Manchester with one of the gals and the other flew out of London. The difference in the price of our flights was insane. Two return flights out of Manchester were cheaper than the one return flight out of London – crazy! But because we’re nice friends we evened out the prices to bridge the gap. So we paid £64.35 each for return flights from the UK to Oslo.

Accommodation ~ £83.90

I found a really cute hotel on Booking.com which had triple rooms. So we booked it without doing much more research on the location. Turns out it was just across the road from the Royal Palace Gardens – a perfect location for exploring Oslo. We each paid £83.90 towards the hotel bill for two nights. Not a bad deal at all!

Insurance ~ £2.23

I will never travel without insurance again!! Whilst I was in Greece last month, I witnessed two back-to-back emergencies whilst sat around the pool at my hotel. Both of which needed an ambulance and hospital stay. One guy dislocated his knee playing waterpolo. And I wouldn’t want to face a crazy medical bill so now I make a point to get the insurance. It’s just not worth the risk!

Total Upfront Costs = £150.48

DAY ONE

Up and out early for our 7am flight out of Manchester. Thanks to Dads Taxis, I had free transport to the airport and made it in plenty of time. Met up with my friend at the entrance and we went straight through security because we were travelling carry on only. The security line was super short. It didn’t take long for us to get through to departures and get up camp at Costa. Thanks to a cashback deal from TopCashback I had a Costa voucher so our coffees were free. Money win!

Before going to the gate, I nipped into WHSmiths and picked up a couple of snacks to have on the plane (£3.14). And we were off! Our flight landed about 25 mins late but we walked straight through passport control and because we didn’t have bags we walked straight out of the airport. The plan was to meet our other friend in arrivals as her flight was scheduled to arrive at the same time as ours. Well little did we know there are like four different airports around Oslo and we were at different ones – probably should’ve checked that little detail!

Turns out we were still over 100 miles apart because the cheap Ryanair airport is about 80 miles outside of the city centre. There’s a super handy free shuttle bus that will take you from Oslo Torp to the train station where you can catch a direct train into the city. This train takes about 90 minutes and costs approx. £25. However, of course the weekend we’d decided to travel was the weekend they were fixing the tracks so we had to take two trains and a coach to get into the city (NOK 344/£26.24). Four hours later we found our friend in the city centre and our weekend away had finally started!

Our friend had got into the city about an hour before we did so she was able to check into our hotel room. We headed straight there to drop our bags off and change out of our travel clothes. Grabbing a quick bite to eat (NOK 107/£7.93) was priority number one and then we were off to explore.

We went down to the front and sat on the pier for a bit, soaking in the sunshine. Did a little mooching around the shops and then got cocktails at one of the bougies bars (NOK 178/£13.15).

Back to the hotel for a chill and refresh with snacks (£8.10) before heading out for dinner. On the way to dinner we stopped at the Opera House to walk up to the roof and watch the sunset. It was a little cloudy but still really pretty! Took some pics, headed back down the steep roof and walked over to Barcode Street Food Market where we were getting dinner.

There are so many different options at Barcode that it was actually so hard to pick what to get. Ended up getting a Thai noodle box (NOK 215.60/£15.97) which was super tasty. It was after 10 by the time we’d finished eating and we were all super tired after a long day so we walked back to the hotel and crashed.

DAY ONE TOTAL = £74.53

DAY TWO

We all had a much needed lie in and then headed out to find a cafe for some breakfast. We ended up at a really cute cafe (Apent Bakeri) not far from our hotel and had the best pastries and some iced coffee (NOK 116.50/£8.63). Then we found one of the many bike stalls across the city and rented bikes (NOK 25/£1.85). We wanted to check out another park but didn’t fancy the walk. 50 minutes later thanks to a little detour we reached the park and grabbed some rhubarb flavoured slushies (NOK 70/£5.14) – so nice! We found a good spot in the park and got settled to chill, read and soak up the sunshine.

We’d pre-booked a cool experience so after an hour or so we needed to get a move on to be able to bike back (NOK 25/£1.85) into main square and grab some lunch. We all fancied a salad for lunch so went to NordVegan and got rainbow salad bowls (NOK 189/£14) which were massive. After demolishing our lunch, it was time to head to the experience we’d booked (£20.25) – a floating sauna!

The minute I heard this was a thing, I knew we needed to do it. The experience we booked gets you 90 minutes access to the floating sauna and swim platform, where you can jump into the ice cold fjord to cool off. Honestly such a cool experience and really worth the money!

The sauna was that hot that our swimsuits were dry by the time our 90 minutes was up so we didn’t need to head straight back to the hotel to get changed. Instead we walked up to the top of the fortress, after grabbing a coffee and snack along the way (NOK 120/£8.94). You can sit on the edge of the fortress wall and just watch the world go by. Such a good view from up there and well worth the little hike.

One of us really wanted a sweet treat so we rented electric scooters (NOK 29/£2.14) and went to get doughnuts (NOK 55/£4.05). Mine was average at best but my friend got the snickers flavour which was amazing!

Headed back to the hotel for a refresh after an hour or so in the sun. We got dressed up as we’d decided to treat ourselves to one bougie meal on the trip. We chose an Italian restaurant on the front which we’d walked past earlier in the day. For two courses each and a round of cocktails the total bill was NOK 1700/£129.67 which we didn’t think was terrible for one of the most expensive cities in the world. Split between three we each paid £43.22.

It was well after 11 once we’d finished dinner so we walked off our pizzas and went straight to bed.

DAY TWO TOTAL = £110.07

DAY THREE

Our final morning came round super fast and went by even faster!

Two of us got up early and spent an hour in the park opposite our hotel soaking in the atmosphere and reading our books – absolute bliss! Then headed back to pack up and check out. I had found a cute, fully vegan cafe online so we headed there for breakfast. It wasn’t far from the hotel so we walked there. The food at Oslo Raw was unreal but not cheap. I paid NOK 294/£21.78 for a brunch board (best way to try a bunch of their dishes) and a protein smoothie.

After finishing brunch it was time to head to the train station to catch the train back to the airport. The track maintenance had thankfully concluded by this point so we just had the one direct 90 minute train (NOK 344/£26.24). Got the free shuttle bus to the airport, walked straight through security and grabbed some snacks (NOK 107/£7.93). Our flight was slightly delayed but nothing major and we were back in Manchester before we knew it. An 1hr 30 minute flight really feels like no time in the air at all!

Landed in Manchester with no issues and I jumped straight on a direct train home (£15.90). Fabulous girls weekend away complete!

DAY THREE TOTAL = £71.85

ON THE GROUND TOTAL = £256.45

Ok for two and a bit days this seems kinda high but we didn’t penny pinch and ate like 5 times a day. I would never have done the sauna experience solo but it was a highlight of the trip. Plus I rarely eat out when I’m on my usual budget so this trip felt major indulgent. I knew this would be my last mini trip before leaving for my intense summer job so I was in treat yo self mode.

TRIP TOTAL = £406.93

All in, my 2 night city break to Oslo came in at £406.93. Spenny! But oh so worth it. And only £39 over the budget I had in mind so nothing crazy.

Hope you enjoyed my Oslo Money Diary! Have you ever been? Did you find it super expensive or were you able to stick to a budget?