Oslo itinerary for first-timers

Begin on Stortorvet, the old market square beside Oslo Cathedral, then walk up Karl Johans gate, the city's main street. It runs from the Central Station past the Storting, Norway's parliament, towards the Royal Palace on its low hill.

• Stortorvet
• Oslo Cathedral
• Stortinget
• Karl Johans gate

The upper end of Karl Johans gate is lined with the National Theatre and the old buildings of the University of Oslo, with the Studenterlunden park between them. At the top stands the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Norwegian monarch, surrounded by the open lawns and trees of the Palace Park.

• National Theatre
• University of Oslo
• Studenterlunden
• Royal Palace
• Palace Park

Walk down from the palace to the twin brick towers of Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every December. Beside it on the harbour, the Nobel Peace Center tells the story of the prize and its laureates.

• Oslo City Hall
• City Hall Square
• Nobel Peace Center
• Harbour front

West of City Hall, the old shipyard of Aker Brygge has become a waterfront promenade of terraces and boats, and it leads on to Tjuvholmen, a small district of modern architecture with canals, art and a little beach at its tip. The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art sits under its sweeping glass roof at the very end.

• Aker Brygge promenade
• Tjuvholmen
• Astrup Fearnley Museum
• Fjord views

On warm days locals swim from the small beach and the jetties at the end of Tjuvholmen.

The Akerselva river once powered Oslo's mills and factories; today a green path follows it through the city. Along its lower course, old industrial buildings have become food halls, schools and offices around Vulkan, and on the east bank Grünerløkka is the neighbourhood of cafés, bars and small shops where Oslo goes out in the evening.

• Akerselva river path
• Old factory buildings
• Food hall at Vulkan
• Grünerløkka streets

On a rocky point above the harbour, the medieval castle and fortress of Akershus has guarded the city for centuries. Walk its ramparts for views over the fjord, then wander down through Kvadraturen, the grid of streets laid out when the city was rebuilt as Christiania, to Christiania Square and the green slope of Kontraskjæret.

• Akershus Castle
• Fortress ramparts
• Christiania Square
• Kontraskjæret park

A few minutes by ferry from the centre, Hovedøya is a green, protected island with woodland paths, meadows, small beaches and the ruins of a medieval Cistercian monastery. Walking its shoreline is the easiest way to feel how close the fjord and its islands are to the city.

• Island paths
• Monastery ruins
• Small beaches
• Views back to the city

Bring a picnic and a swimsuit in summer; the island is a nature reserve, so stay on the paths.

Oslo's Opera House rises from the water like a slab of ice, and its white sloping roof is a public space: walk all the way to the top for a view over the fjord, the islands and the new waterfront of Bjørvika.

• Opera House roof
• Fjord views
• Bjørvika waterfront

The roof is free to walk on; wear shoes with grip when it has been raining.

Next to the Opera, the tall MUNCH museum holds one of the world's largest collections of Edvard Munch's work, including versions of The Scream. Across the water, Sørenga is a new waterfront district with a harbour bath, and behind the Opera the narrow towers of the Barcode line the skyline.

• MUNCH museum
• Sørenga harbour promenade
• Barcode towers

On the wooded hill above the eastern harbour, Ekeberg Park mixes forest paths with sculptures and art installations. Its viewpoints look out over the whole city, the Opera House and the fjord, and after dark parts of the park are lit up.

• Ekeberg viewpoint
• Sculptures in the forest
• View over the city and the fjord

The green Bygdøy peninsula is Oslo's museum island. The Norwegian Folk Museum gathers more than 150 traditional buildings from all over Norway in an open-air park, including a medieval stave church, and near the water the Fram Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum tell the stories of Norwegian polar expeditions and Thor Heyerdahl's raft voyage across the Pacific.

• Norwegian Folk Museum
• Stave church
• Fram Museum
• Kon-Tiki Museum

Leave time for a walk along the shore; the peninsula also has beaches and quiet woodland paths.

Inside the large Frogner Park, Gustav Vigeland's sculpture park lines a long axis with more than 200 of his figures in bronze, granite and wrought iron, from the bridge of lively bronze figures to the towering Monolith carved with bodies at the top of the steps.

• The Bridge
• The Fountain
• The Monolith
• Frogner Park

The park is free and always open; come early or late in the day to see the sculptures without the crowds.

High in the forested hills on the edge of the city, the Holmenkollen ski jump is one of Oslo's landmarks, with the biathlon stadium and Holmenkollen Chapel nearby. From up here the view takes in the whole city and the fjord below.

• Holmenkollbakken ski jump
• Biathlon stadium
• Holmenkollen Chapel
• View over Oslo

Bring a warm layer: it is usually cooler up in the hills than down by the harbour.