10 Best Museums in Oslo: The Complete Guide

Oslo is one of Europe's great museum cities. For a capital of fewer than 700,000 people, its cultural institutions are extraordinary in both quality and variety: world-famous paintings, the best-preserved Viking ships on the planet, polar exploration vessels you can board, and open-air folk villages covering centuries of Norwegian life. This guide ranks and reviews the ten best — including practical information on tickets, opening hours, and how to get the most from your visit.

1. Munch Museum

The Munch Museum is Oslo's most dramatic cultural statement — a 13-storey building that tilts towards the Oslofjord like a giant exclamation mark. Inside, it holds the world's largest collection of works by Edvard Munch: over 26,000 works including paintings, prints, drawings, and watercolours. The museum owns multiple versions of The Scream, along with Madonna, The Sick Child, and hundreds of works rarely seen outside Norway.

Allow 2–3 hours. The building itself is extraordinary: floor-to-ceiling windows frame views across the fjord, and the rooftop bar MUNCH is one of Oslo's finest spots for a coffee or evening drink. Book tickets in advance — popular time slots sell out, especially in summer.

Ticket: From 160 NOK adults · Open: Daily 10:00–20:00 (summer) · Full Munch Museum Guide

2. National Museum

When the National Museum opened its magnificent new building in 2022, it immediately became one of Europe's great art institutions. Spanning 86 galleries across 54,000 square metres, it houses Norway's largest collection of art, architecture, and design. The star attraction is the 1893 tempera version of Edvard Munch's The Scream — displayed in the luminous Light Hall on the building's top floor. Allow a minimum of half a day; serious art lovers should plan a full day.

Beyond Munch, the National Museum holds extraordinary works by J.C. Dahl (Norway's greatest landscape painter), a vast collection of Norwegian decorative arts and craft, international masterpieces including Cranach, Rubens, and Monet, and a superb design collection covering furniture, textiles, and industrial design.

Ticket: From 200 NOK adults, children free · Open: Tue–Sun 10:00–20:00 (Thu until 21:00) · Full National Museum Guide

3. Fram Museum

The Fram Museum is one of the most viscerally exciting museum experiences in Europe. Step inside the dramatic A-frame building and there she is: the Fram, the actual polar ship that sailed further north and south than any vessel in history. You can board the ship, squeeze into the cramped sleeping quarters, and stand at the wheel where the men who challenged the Arctic and Antarctic once stood. The exhibits surrounding the ship tell the extraordinary stories of Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, and the other Norwegian polar heroes who made these journeys.

The museum also houses Gjøa, the ship in which Amundsen completed the first successful navigation of the Northwest Passage. Between the two vessels and the surrounding exhibits, plan at least 2 hours — more if you read everything.

Ticket: From 160 NOK adults · Open: Daily 09:00–18:00 (summer) · Full Fram Museum Guide

4. Norwegian Folk Museum

Norway's biggest open-air museum is a genuine marvel. The Norwegian Folk Museum (Norsk Folkemuseum) covers 14 hectares of Bygdøy peninsula and contains over 160 historic buildings — farmhouses, manor houses, a 12th-century stave church, and a complete reconstructed 19th-century Norwegian town. The buildings have been transported piece by piece from across Norway and reassembled here, creating an immersive journey through Norwegian rural and urban life across several centuries.

The indoor Viking building houses what many consider Oslo's finest Viking ship exhibit — well-preserved vessels with excellent contextual displays. In summer, costumed guides bring the museum to life, animals roam the grounds, and traditional crafts are demonstrated. Allow a full half-day; a full day is not excessive.

Ticket: From 180 NOK adults · Open: Daily 10:00–17:00 · Full Norwegian Folk Museum Guide

5. Kon-Tiki Museum

In 1947, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and five companions sailed 8,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft to prove that ancient South Americans could have settled Polynesia. The Kon-Tiki Museum preserves the original raft, along with the Ra II papyrus boat in which Heyerdahl crossed the Atlantic. The story is extraordinary, the exhibits are excellent, and the museum's intimate scale (you can circle it in 60–90 minutes) makes it an ideal complement to the larger Bygdøy museums.

Ticket: From 160 NOK adults · Open: Daily 10:00–17:00 · Full Kon-Tiki Museum Guide

6. Nobel Peace Center

Unusually for a museum, the Nobel Peace Center is as much about the future as the past. The permanent collection explores the history of the Nobel Peace Prize from its establishment in 1901, celebrating laureates from Henri Dunant to Malala Yousafzai to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The temporary exhibitions tackle urgent contemporary issues with creative, multimedia approaches. Located in a beautifully converted historic building right next to Oslo City Hall — where the prize ceremony is held — it's an emotionally affecting and intellectually stimulating 90 minutes.

Ticket: From 120 NOK adults · Open: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00 · Full Nobel Peace Center Guide

7. Norwegian Resistance Museum

Located inside Akershus Fortress, the Norwegian Resistance Museum (Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum) tells the story of Norway's occupation by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945 and the extraordinary resistance mounted by ordinary Norwegians. The museum is compact but comprehensive, moving from the shock of invasion through the gradual organisation of resistance to the liberation in 1945. Outside the museum, a memorial to the Norwegians executed here by firing squad during the occupation adds a sobering context. This is one of Oslo's most important cultural sites and one that visitors rarely forget.

Ticket: From 80 NOK adults · Open: Mon–Sat 10:00–17:00, Sun 11:00–17:00 · Full Resistance Museum Guide

8. Astrup Fearnley Museum

For contemporary art, the Astrup Fearnley Museum is Oslo's finest. The building alone is worth visiting: Renzo Piano's striking design on the Tjuvholmen waterfront consists of glass-and-steel pavilions linked by a wooden boardwalk jutting into the fjord. Inside, the collection represents the best of post-war and contemporary international art — works by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, and major Norwegian artists. The museum's temporary exhibitions are consistently excellent and often feature works making their Nordic debut.

Ticket: From 160 NOK adults · Open: Tue–Sun 12:00–17:00 (Thu until 19:00) · Full Astrup Fearnley Guide

9. Holmenkollen Ski Museum

Holmenkollen is more than a ski jump — it's a symbol of Norwegian identity. The Holmenkollen Ski Museum, the world's oldest dedicated to skiing, traces 4,000 years of skiing history from prehistoric petroglyphs to modern Olympic champions. The adjacent ski jump tower offers panoramic views over Oslo and the Oslofjord (stomach-turning in the best possible way), and the ski simulator lets you feel a fraction of what it's like to hurtle down a competition slope. The journey to Holmenkollen on the T-bane (metro line 1) is itself a pleasure, climbing through forested hillsides above the city.

Ticket: From 130 NOK adults (museum + tower) · Open: Daily 10:00–17:00 · Full Holmenkollen Guide

10. Natural History Museum

Oslo's Natural History Museum is one of the city's best-kept secrets — and one of its few free attractions. The permanent galleries cover geology, mineralogy, zoology, and botany with impressive depth. Highlights include dinosaur skeletons, a full blue whale skeleton, Norway's largest meteorite collection, and the astonishing botanical gardens outside. The museum sits in the Tøyen neighbourhood, easily reached by T-bane (line 5), and makes an excellent free half-day option particularly for families with children.

Ticket: Free permanent galleries · Open: Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00 · Full Natural History Museum Guide

Practical Tips for Visiting Oslo's Museums

• Book in advance: The Munch Museum and National Museum frequently sell out popular time slots in summer. Book online at least a day ahead.
• Oslo Pass: If visiting 3+ paid museums, the Oslo Pass almost certainly saves money. It also covers public transport and some restaurant discounts. Read our full review.
• Combine Bygdøy museums: Fram, Kon-Tiki, Norwegian Folk Museum, and Norwegian Maritime Museum are all on the Bygdøy peninsula — an ideal full-day or half-day circuit.
• Tuesdays are quieter: For the Munch Museum and National Museum, Tuesday mornings are typically the least crowded time.
• Children: Most Oslo museums offer free or reduced entry for children. The Oslo Pass gives children under 16 significant discounts.