Scandinavia's most expensive and most honest city — where smørbrød open sandwiches, rakfisk fermented trout, and the world's best design scene occupy a fjord capital that earns every krone it costs
Oslo sits at the head of the Oslofjord with a backdrop of forest-covered hills visible from every neighbourhood — a small capital of 700,000 people that punches well above its weight in architecture, design, food, and public life. The New Nordic movement transformed Oslo's food scene in the 2010s (Maaemo, three Michelin stars, was hugely influential before closing), and the everyday food scene now ranges from traditional smørbrød (open-faced sandwiches on rye) at kafeteria lunches to excellent Vietnamese and Ethiopian restaurants in the Grønland neighbourhood. The city's museums are extraordi…
Oslo was founded around 1000 CE and served as the capital of medieval Norway when it controlled Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. After the Black Death killed roughly half the Norwegian population in 1349, Norway entered a union with Denmark (1387) and the capital shifted to Copenhagen. King Christian IV rebuilt the city after a 1624 fire and named it Christiania; it was renamed Kristiania until 1925, then Oslo. Norwegian independence from Sweden came in 1905. Norway's transformation from one of Europe's poorest countries in 1900 to one of its wealthiest by 2000 was built on North Se…