Oslo, Norway By Bicycle With Viking-Biking Tours
Sep
The best way to see a city like Oslo, Norway is by bicycle!
Lucky for you, there’s a quick and easy way to arrive in the city, grab a bike, and get a quick tour of Norway’s capital in a short three-hour period.
Viking-Biking tours offers fun, easy, and affordable bicycle tours of downtown Oslo… and their personable, friendly staff makes the experience enjoyable for the entire family! No special skills are required. As long as you know how to ride a bicycle, you’re welcome to join the tour. Just show up at the Viking-Biking storefront at Nedre Slottsgate 4 in downtown Oslo (you can walk to the shop from the Oslo Central Train Station in about 10 minutes) and you’ll be given a bicycle to ride for the duration of the tour.
There are three main bike tours to choose from, but the Oslo Highlights tour is by far the favorite. Other tour options include the “Viking & Beaches” bike tour and the Oslo “River tour.”
After receiving your bicycle from the company, you’ll be escorted around the city by a knowledgeable local guide, who will fill your head with fun, historical, and entertaining facts about the city of Oslo (and Norway as a whole).
Group sizes range on a daily basis, from as little as eight to as many as thirty or more people. When I joined the Oslo, Highlights tour recently, there were about 16 people in total on the tour, which the guides informed me was pretty normal.
During the bike tour, you’ll be escorted along mostly car-free bike paths around the Oslo city center. You’ll cycle through parks, across hidden back streets, and along the fjord. Some of the sights you’ll see along the way include:
- the old castle Akershus Festning
- the City Hall (home of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony)
- the main street of Karl Johans Gate and the Royal Palace
- Vigeland Sculpture Park
- and the modern harbor of Tjuvholmen/Aker Brygge
The guides will not only reveal the stories behind the monuments you see across the city center, but they’ll cover a vast array of topics ranging from how to survive a Norwegian winter to the best places to eat and drink within the city.
My favorite part of the Viking-Biking Oslo Highlights bike tour was our visit to Vigeland Sculpture Park, which is the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and is one of Norway’s most popular tourist attractions.
This unique sculpture park is the lifework of artist and sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The park contains more than 200 nude sculptures made of bronze, granite and wrought iron. Even without the hundreds of amazing sculptures, the park stands on its own as a highlight of the city, with a beautiful rose garden and large open spaces where children and adults alike can either sit and lounge or run and play.
If you’re looking for a great way to spend a half-day in Oslo, Norway and you’re interested in seeing some of the capital city’s most interesting and unique cultural and historical monuments, then the Viking-Biking Highlights Tour is where you want to start.
Tours run daily during the summer months (May to September) and cost 250 Norwegian Krona per person (about $30 USD).
For more information (or to book a bike tour or your upcoming visit to Oslo, Norway), be sure to visit the official Viking-Biking website at www.vikingbikingoslo.com
