Location, location, location

Advantages: Very central location, ideal for public transport and exploring the city
Disadvantages: Can be noisy as it is so near the main station

...Finding an affordable hotel in most Scandinavian cities tends to be a challenge, and this certainly proved to be the case on a recent business trip to Oslo. Norway is an expensive country for most overseas visitors and while the global economic downturn has depressed many European economies and driven prices down, Oslo seems to have remained largely unaffected - with the result that most hotels were well out of my price range. Still, the website for the Rica Oslo seemed promising and the hotel itself looked pretty smart, which in some cities is not always a given for accommodation so close to the main station. The location of this hotel is without doubt its greatest asset: no more than 5 minutes' walk separate the platforms for the Flytoget (Oslo airport express train) from the Rica Oslo reception desk. You head out of the front...

JVL 24.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Rica Oslo Hotel, Oslo

Affordable Oslo

Advantages: Free breakfast, Free wifi, Affordable
Disadvantages: Fire alarm, No tea making fac. in rooms

...This year my boyfriend and I decided to take a break in December to make a change. We decided that, rather than chase the winter sun, we'd instead embrace the cold and have a Christmassy holiday. Having recently been to Iceland, we decided to go for a similar country and booked up our hotel in Oslo in Norway. It was my boyfriend rather than myself who physically did the booking, but he noted that it was far cheaper to book through a website like last minute or Expedia than it was to book with Best Western direct - so take this into account if you're planning on visiting here. We stayed here for five nights and the weekend nights were given to us at a discounted rate, which was nice. Overall it worked out cheaper than staying in most hotels in other capital cities (for example London) which we were quite impressed with seeing as...

tac20 19.12.2007 · Read review
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Review of Best Western Anker Hotel, Oslo

  OSCILLATE WILDLY IN OSLO!

Advantages: Beautiful, friendly and welcoming
Disadvantages: Expensive and cold.

...Upon deciding to visit Oslo due to the unbelievable flight deals and cheap accommodation that was on offer, my travel "companion" and I quickly realised upon arriving in the city that a bargain is not what it seems, especially since we discovered that Norway is one of Europe's most expensive countries to visit, however, never let it be said that a paralyzing fear of flying or a distinct lack of money has ever prevented me from travelling further afield to broaden the horizons. At this point I must confess that the trip was in part funded by MasterCard and almost entirely by the West Bromwich Building Society. Torp airport is the place you will arrive if you have experienced the "cut price" bargain airline service and being approximately 120km from Oslo itself doesn't stop one from travelling there, Torp Ekspress ensures that every...

marylou2u 22.11.2004 (16.03.2007) · Read review
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Review of Oslo (Norway)

Norlandia Oslo Airport Hotel

Advantages: Breakfast was ok
Disadvantages: not close to the airport, small rooms, smelled funny, shower doors broken

...I recently had to stay over night at Olso airport since our plane got in late at night and there were no flights to my final destination until the morning. We knew this in advance and had pre-booked a room via a discount hotel website. We chose the Norlandia hotel since it was called ?Norlandia Oslo Airport Hotel? and therefore thought it was a good choice since it was close to the airport. This was where my first gripe with the hotel came from.. once we had arrived we had to take a shuttle bus to get to the hotel, this cost us 60kr each one way (around £6) The airport is infact not so close to the hotel and took a 10 minute bus ride! In the morning we had to take the bus again, so all in all we spent about £24 getting to and from this ?Airport Hotel?. Once we got to the hotel, checking in was easy. All we had to do was hand them out...

ivytoad 12.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Norlandia Oslo Airport Hotel, Oslo

Oslo on a budget - haha

Advantages: Plenty to see
Disadvantages: Expensive!

...The task was to get to Oslo in Norway, but apart from that there was no real plan at all. If you had driven without stopping at a reasonable speed all the way it would take about 6 hours or so (we are in eastern Sweden), but we didn't have that luxury. It's Sunday afternoon, and With backpacks on and full of energy, we head for the outskirts of Södertälje to hitch our first lift. We pick a spot where it was easy enough to pull in and to be seen too, and without too much trouble a car pulled over....the next 2 days includes our escapades actually getting to Norway (fully detailed on our website), but since this is supposed to describe Norway, Oslo in particular, we'll jump straight on to Tuesday. TUESDAY ------- ......We stood by the road again (remember we are hitch-hiking here and almost in Norway now), and after 20 minutes...

Kingseany 24.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of Oslo (Norway)

Jump-start your Holiday in Oslo

Advantages: Impressive, pretty, easy to get to, affordable
Disadvantages: The tower is not for those scared of heights

...This December my boyfriend and I decided to go on holiday to Norway. We stayed in the capital, Oslo, and had a lovely week experiencing Christmas Oslo. While we were there we saw quite a few attractions and museums. Not least of which was the ski jump at Holmenkollen. The ski jump was one of the places around Oslo that was on the top of our list to see. We had heard that the ski jump was famously built for the Olympic Games in the fifties and that it was worth a look, so we looked up how to get to it from the city centre. Getting There Although the ski jump isn't exactly out of the way, it's not within walking distance like most attractions in Oslo are. Baring this in mind we timed our visit there with the days over which we had purchased an Oslo Pass. The Oslo Pass was 300 NOK (about £28) for 48 hours and didn...

tac20 01.01.2008 (06.01.2008) · Read review
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Review of Holmenkollen Ski Arena (Oslo)

Kipping down near Oslo airport

Advantages: Next to Gardermoen airport, good service
Disadvantages: The first plane in the morning will wake you up

...When we booked our holiday to a cabin Norway I made a fundamental error and miscalculated the time it would take to get from Oslo Gardemeon airport to the fjord area of Norway. With a distance of 293km (182 miles) I thought that we could easily cover the distance in under 3 hours. The route given to me by Multimap three days before we departed gave me a shock as it quoted over 5 hours. As we were landing at 6.30pm I did a quick mental calculation and realised I could be knocking on the cabin owners door the wrong side of midnight, that is if I ever found it in the dark! The solution was a one night stay in a hotel near to the airport. Expedia came up with the goods on this hotel with a cost of £92.37 (1,150 NOK, that is Norwegian Krone) for the one night stay. This wooden clad chalet style hotel was not only the cheapest it was also very...

buzzard_cad 29.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of Clarion Hotel Oslo Airport, Gardermoen

OSLO IN WINTER

Advantages: Small - ideal for short trips
Disadvantages: Can get very cold in winter!

...Ryanair were giving away flights so I thought let's see what's available. Most of the popular destinations were taken so I thought why not check out Oslo. Yes I knew I was only free in December and it would be cold but then I thought - if you're prepared for it, then why not?? The flight to Oslo was short and sweet - about 2 hours altogether. As some of you may know, some of Ryanair destinations are not actually in the city as stated but a little away.. in case of Oslo it was miles away! We found out the best and cheapest option getting to Oslo centre was by using the connecting bus service outside the airport. The fare was approximately £20 return and takes about 2 hours. We learnt the long and hard way that taxis are extremely expensive - almost 10 times as much! I wonder if they were taking advantage of us being tourists...

shaminalinda 24.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Oslo (Norway)

No to Nescafe Alta Rica!

Advantages: don't need to use much to make a cup, tastes like ground coffee
Disadvantages: very strong coffee

...NAME OF DRINK Nescafe Collection Alta Rica Decaffeinated coffee. TASTE This coffee reminded me of ground coffee not instant - almost espresso style. Regardless of how much milk was used, this coffee seemed to be very strong, unlike most decaffeinated instant coffees, and seemed very strong, bitter, or acrid tasting. It left an aftertaste in my mouth if a colleague made me my usual strong coffee. Despite it being a decaffeinated coffee I got more frequent headaches when using this brand, which I attributed to this coffee, particularly as the week I had on leave when I was using a different brand at home, I had no headaches. INGREDIENTS (MAIN ONLY) I purchased the 100g bottle, which states that it is decaffeinated using pure water and contains premium freeze dried decaffeinated soluble coffee only. I don't know the price...

werewolf 02.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of Nescafe Alta Rica Instant Coffee

Backpacking in Costa Rica

Advantages: Scenery, friendliness of people, public transport, beaches!
Disadvantages: Cold showers, more expensive than rest of S.America, mosquitoes

...I spent a couple of weeks backpacking in Costa Rica during the rainy season (specifically, August - September). I had a fabulous time and learnt a lot about living on a budget. It is possible to live on around $15-17 dollars a day if you don't mind cutting back on the activities you do. One thing you will have to get used to is converting prices from colones to dollars to pounds. Generally, if a price is given in dollars straight away, be wary because its probably hugely marked up for tourists. I visted Monteverde, San Jose, Ciudad Quesada (In San Carlos), Montezuma and Tamarindo. Out of all these places, Montezuma was my favourite. We stayed in a hostel called Hotel Lys which I would not recommend at all. It was filthy and the manager was extremely unwelcoming. However, the beach was amazing. Quiet and beautiful with shallow, warm...

kittykatty31 15.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of General: Costa Rica