Once seen as Stockholm’s quieter little cousin, Oslo has grown up, and the Norwegian capital is today justifiably proud of its bold architecture, buoyant food scene and the buzz surrounding its creative districts. The fjord still sells postcards, yes, but it is atmospheric city neighbourhoods that increasingly define the visitor experience: former industrial areas reborn as sleek waterfront quarters, leafy parks and gardens, and downtown enclaves where old money sits comfortably alongside futuristic urban design.
This cultural coming of age is mirrored in the hotel scene. Visitors still have an array of palatial addresses at their disposal — including the central Grand, which has played host to the Obamas and other Nobel peace prizewinners — but equally you’ll find yourself a compelling base among converted factories, restored bathhouses and tucked-away villas. Here are the best hotels in Oslo.
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1. Sommerro, Frogner
££ | SPA | POOL | Best for bringing your bathing suit
In the well-heeled Frogner neighbourhood, just behind the Royal Palace, this relative newcomer on the Norwegian capital’s hotel scene is a knockout. Behind a red-brick, 1930s façade — formerly the headquarters of the city’s electricity company — the design practice GrecoDeco has worked wonders. Cue 231 rooms and suites in a space that expertly weaves together wood panelling, chandeliers, patterned tiles, a palette of deep reds and greens, and art deco details with contemporary simplicity and comfort. But you don’t come only to sleep, you come for culture: in the hotel’s library, its retro, gold-kissed cinema and its frescoed brasserie where jazz bands play. Add to this a rooftop Nordic-Japanese restaurant plus a street food and cocktail bar, tapas and Thai dining spots, a heated outdoor pool with far-reaching city views, and a spa with a sleep clinic and you are looking at one very special place to stay. Come if only for the beautifully revamped public baths, with Per Krohg’s mosaic wall of swimming women, walruses and seals.
Read our full review of Sommerro
2. The Thief, Tjuvholmen
£££ | SPA | POOL | Best for stealing some time to unwind
The Thief flies brazenly in the face of Scandi minimalism. Sidling up to the Renzo Piano-designed Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art on Tjuvholmen (Thief Island), it is dark and sexy, full of flattering light and rich, burnished colours. Nordic architects, interior designers and curators waved a magic wand to create this vision in glass and granite. The gold-kissed rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and private balconies perfectly frame the changing lights and moods of Oslofjord, while the rooftop restaurant riffs imaginatively on season-driven Nordic cuisine. A backlit spa and grotto-like pool create the perfect city haven.
Read our full review of the Thief
3. Amerikalinjen, Kvadraturen
££ | SPA | Best for jazz, bagels and bartenders on demand
The clock is permanently stuck in 1919 at this grand neo-baroque pile, formerly the HQ of the Norwegian America Line, whose cruise ships once whisked Norwegians to a new life across the Atlantic. Now it’s a chic, wholly novel mix of art deco swagger and contemporary comfort, resting within the bones of a truly beautiful building, with high vaults, wrought-iron balustrades and a library with a coffered wooden ceiling. Monochrome tones, geometric patterns, mirrors and pendant lights reference the hotel’s history in the most delightfully modern way, and art is derived from the company’s archive. The brasserie, basement jazz club and bagel bakery big up the US connection, and for a real burst of old-school glamour you can order the “floating bartender”, where — hey presto — a bartender arrives at your door wheeling a drinks trolley brimming with spirits and botanicals ready to knock up your tipple of choice.
4. Revier, Kvadraturen
££ | Best for city joggers and lifestyle bloggers
You don’t have to shell out a fortune for a stylish stay bang in the heart of Oslo’s historic centre — and Revier is proof. On regal Kongens Gate, a ten-minute toddle from the main railway station and 15 minutes on foot from the big-hitter Munch museum, this hideaway sends the hotel-as-home concept winging into the 21st century. There’s no old-school lobby — check yourself in, help yourself to free organic coffee in the lounge, then head straight up to your slickly designed room, studio or suite, with city or atrium views. Friday sunrise yoga on the rooftop and a weekly running club that takes you through parks and along fjord shores give you a proper taste of local life. Into your food? Make sure you book ahead to dine at the Michelin-starred Savage restaurant, where chefs get clever with rich pickings from Norway’s mountains, countryside and coast.
5. Scandic Vulkan, Grunerlokka
££ | Best for grazing around a riverside neighbourhood
A shining model of sustainable urban regeneration, the riverside, post-industrial Vulkan is in one of Oslo’s most hip and happening neighbourhoods. The hotel dials up its eco-friendly credentials with heating from geothermal energy, EV charging points and bikes for guests to whizz around town. Don’t be fooled by the bland exterior: there’s a crisp, contemporary design inside, with wooden floors and floor-to-ceiling windows that command sensational city views, plus large-scale wall murals and colours that pop. Hungry? The excellent Mathallen food court next door offers a tempting array of cafés, delis and speciality shops.
6. Grand Hotel Oslo, Karl Johans Gate
£££ | SPA | POOL | Best for cultural kudos
Taking you back to a more glamorous age, the Grand Hotel sits proudly on Oslo’s stately Karl Johans Gate. Outside it’s all neoclassical pomp, with its white granite façade and clocktower, but inside it takes a bold dive into more contemporary waters, albeit with a dash of old-school decadence in velvet, antiques and Murano chandeliers. Many a celeb has passed through these doors, from the Rolling Stones to the Obamas. The star of its phenomenal art collection is Tracy Emin’s neon The Scream, an ode to Munch, who once offered his painting The Sick Child in exchange for 100 steak dinners at the café. The lavish suites are the clincher, most notably the Tower Suite, with its 360-degree skyline views, and the Nobel Suite, where peace prizewinners receive their ovations on the balcony.
7. Citybox Oslo, Kvadraturen
£ | Best for an affordable, central location
Budget digs are gold dust in pricey Oslo, so hurrah for Citybox: no-nonsense budget accommodation with a clean, modern aesthetic, which drops you right in the thick of the city action. While the building retains plenty of period charm, with a spiral staircase, stained glass and a skylit lobby, the rooms are plainer, with neutral walls and slick Scandi furniture. They are comfortable enough but, let’s face it, you won’t be spending much time in them, with sights such as the architecturally astounding Opera House and the revamped Bjorvika waterfront district, home to the Munch museum, a five-minute walk away.
8. Saga Hotel Oslo Central, Uranienborg
££ | Best for classic elegance
Discreetly tucked away in the tree-lined Uranienborg neighbourhood behind the Royal Palace, the Saga is surprisingly peaceful given its central location. The design steps delicately from the high-ceilinged grace of an art nouveau townhouse to sleek, modern rooms in greys, charcoals and golds, with whispers of late 19th-century elegance in silks and velvets, flock wallpaper and antique armchairs. The icing on the cake is the fabulous breakfast, with eggs, cold cuts, fruits, cereals and fresh pastries, which sets you up for an entire day exploring. Go for pre-dinner cocktails in the intimate lobby bar.
9. Lysebu, Tryvannshoyden Hill
££ | SPA | POOL | Best for a five-star with fairytale vibes
Where Oslo peters out into wooded hills and lakes, you’ll find this rustic Nordic fantasy of a five-star hotel in a folksy wooden lodge built in 1916. Though only a half-hour metro ride north of the centre, it’s a world apart in spirit. After hiking (in summer) and skiing (in winter) in the forested wilderness of Nordmarka, the lantern-lit pool, sauna and outstanding restaurant await. The rooms nail the luxe country look without crossing the line into twee, with wainscoting and a palette of cool neutrals. Owned by the Foundation for Danish-Norwegian Co-operation, Lysebu is Norway’s thank you to Denmark for food aid in the Second World War and, as such, has a cracking collection of mid-century Norwegian and Danish abstract art.
10. Oscarsborg Castle Hotel & Resort, Drobak
££ | Best for historic pedigree
Reached by boat and with an incredibly scenic setting in the middle of Oslofjord, Oscarsborg makes quite an entrance. This revamped 19th-century fortress — the location where the German cruiser Blücher sank on April 9, 1940 — has tons of original character, with red-brick walls, vaulted ceilings and battlements. Such features merge with the clean, minimalist design of the rooms, which impress mostly with their views across the glittering waters of Drobak Sound. On the island itself there are underground passageways to explore, beaches to swim off and rib safaris that head out in search of sea eagles.
11. Hotel Bristol, Tullinlokka
£££ | SPA | Best for throwbacks to the jazz age
The Hotel Bristol created a sensation when it opened in 1920 — and it’s still a beauty today. Its architect, Finn Rahn, let his imagination run riot, drawing on winters in Morocco as inspiration for the intricate tiles, carved stucco and archways of the hotel’s exuberant Moorish Salon, where you can live it up over an afternoon tea or G&T. Back in the day the hall swung to some of the world’s hottest jazz bands. Rooms reveal the lightest of art deco touches, with geometric patterns, flock wallpaper, plush fabrics and the odd antique. A three-floor spa with hot-cold rituals and sumptuous treatments, a fitness room and a grill restaurant where you can eat oysters and a perfectly cooked wagyu ribeye beckon after a day dashing around central Oslo’s sights.
12. Hotel Continental, Kvadraturen
£££ | Best for fans of quiet luxury
Nudging royal Slottsparken and facing Oslo’s neoclassical National Theatre, this five-star hotel (run by the same family since 1900) waltzes you back to the glory days of art nouveau — albeit with a pinch of modern-day panache. Heritage prints, a subtle palette of duck egg blues, greys and golds, and eye-grabbing details such as sunburst mirrors set the tone in rooms that are refined but never showy. The hotel’s beating heart is the Viennese-style Theatercaféen, a delicious slice of old-school glamour, with its white tablecloths, vaulted ceiling, marble pillars and whirl of waiters bringing out oysters, steak frites and afternoon tea. The lobby bar is a treat for art lovers, with its private collection of 12 graphic works by Munch. Service is flawless throughout.
13. Clarion Hotel Oslo, Bjorvika
££ | Best for art, architecture and easy access to the waterfront
A hotel with its own art concierge? Cool, huh? The Clarion punches culturally high: from the original Munch painting that hangs casually in its lobby to its on-the-ball roster of art walks, exhibitions and design events. Rooms are pared back and coolly modern in design (deluxe ones are worth the price hike for better views and bags more space). You can buzz around the born-again Bjorvika waterfront district, with its opera house, Munch museum and Barcode skyscrapers — when you return, it may be time for a cocktail on the terrace of the fjord-side Shutter Bar, where a resident DJ plays.
14. Scandic Holmenkollen Park, Holmenkollen
££ | SPA | POOL | Best for the great outdoors
From its eyrie-like perch on Holmenkollen, this folksy Nordic dream of a hotel has dress-circle views of forests and low-rise mountains giving way to the glitter of Oslo and its fjord beyond. Built in the Dragenstil (dragon style) that was all the rage in 1894 — when it was a sanatorium to treat patients with tuberculosis — it is a steep-roofed riot of timber and curving eaves. With the lightest dusting of snow it is a ready-made Christmas card. Interiors are, by comparison, modern and understated, with standard rooms bordering on plain. Though nothing fancy, the spa, pool, gym and café are nevertheless highly welcome after a day skiing or hiking in Nordmarka’s hills, or a cultural romp of Oslo, a 40-minute metro trundle away.
Additional reporting by Julie Alpine and Oliver Berry
We regularly reassess and refresh this list, adding the latest advice and inspiration
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