Can't Buy Me Love
Oslo was recently — and surprisingly — named the most expensive city in the world. But Gregory Katz learned that some of the best things about the beautiful Norwegian metropolis are free. Photographs by Kimm Saatvedt
For over a decade, Tokyo held the unwanted distinction as the world’s most expensive city, a judgment that seemed accurate to anyone who had stopped in a downtown hotel for tea and emerged 45 minutes later feeling slightly fleeced. But this year, when Britain’s respected Economist Intelligence Unit report came out, the Japanese capital had been replaced as the planet’s priciest metropolis. ¶ The new winner, or loser, was not London, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, or any of the world’s most famous cities, but the mostly modest Norwegian city of Oslo, known more for its fjords, ski slopes, fresh fish, and as the home of the Nobel Peace Prize than for its glitz and glamour. How did a little-known city rise to the top of the most-expensive list? What would visitors get in return for paying the highest prices on earth? And why should an uncrowded Scandinavian city cost so much?
Experts cite many reasons for the high cost of living in Oslo, including a sustained oil and natural gas boom, the expense of importing many foods, and a substantial tax on alcohol consumption. These (and several other factors) have made Oslo an expensive place to visit and to live. Norway is a prosperous nation by any measure — it exports more oil than any other country except Russia and Saudi Arabia — and the current high prices for oil and natural gas have brought in billions more. This makes for high incomes, a high level of government spending, and high prices for visitors. Like me.
Was it possible to enjoy the city without spending my way into the stratosphere? I had to find out.
The flight to Oslo left me thirsty, and I needed some water before boarding the express train into the city center. A friendly young man in the airport shop apologized as he charged me 27 Norwegian kroner for the bottle. “Norway is a very expensive country,” he said with a shrug as I handed over the coins. I hadn’t worked out the exchange rate yet, but on the train I figured out that the bottle cost just over $4. Not enough to break the bank, but enough to make me think twice about throwing away the half-empty bottle when I got to town. I kept it to drink at the hotel.
The man at the airport was blasé, but the Economist results have unnerved Norwegians who depend on visitors for their livelihood. They are worried that the publicity may keep people away, even though Oslo is a safe, clean city surrounded by magnificent fjords and low-rolling hills that are perfect for summer hiking or winter cross-country skiing. Many argue that the survey, which focuses on the costs of goods and services, was flawed.
Arlene Lindbichler, for one, doesn’t like to be reminded of Oslo’s new status. She is a freelance Oslo guide, fluent in five languages, who fears that the poll results may send her potential clients elsewhere. She points out, with some justification, that prices here are not really out of line with other European capitals, and in some cases they’re lower. She was certainly right about hotels. I was, for example, able to stay at one of Oslo’s grand old hotels, the Bristol, for about $165 a night, far less than the cost of a similar establishment in my home city of London. A terrific breakfast buffet with a wide array of smoked salmon, creamed herring, and other fish was included.
“It’s not the world’s most expensive city; that’s just wrong,” says Lindbichler, who moved to Oslo from Austria in part because of the outdoor recreation available here. “And there’s no other European capital where you can take the subway to the end of the line and walk out, rent skis, and have 1,600 miles of groomed cross-country trails right in front of you. No other capital has downhill skiing within the city limits. So much of what we have here is free — cross-country skiing doesn’t cost a single krone.”
Indeed, in wintertime it does seem that the city’s spirit can be found on the Number One subway line, which winds up to the hills and forests that surround the city center. Young, old, and everyone in between seem to take to the slopes on weekend days, and most of them will not pay a dime for the experience, since the cross-country trails and bobsled runs are free. Snowboards, bobsleds, makeshift sleighs, and simple plastic platters are common on the subway, which offers a wonderful view of Oslo’s harbor and fjords as it climbs. In the mountains, having a hot chocolate on the sun terrace of a restaurant, it’s hard to believe you are still in the city. A magical winter silence prevails — it seems as if you can hear the snowflakes landing.
Oslo’s incredible natural beauty can certainly be enjoyed for free, but some of the price tags in Oslo can cause sticker shock: A small bag of 20 peanut M&M’s costs $3 in some corner stores, for example, and a Big Mac, without the fries or a soda, goes for $6. A banana-and-chocolate mousse at the comfortable café next to the National Theatre will set you back $20, plus another $5 or so if you want coffee or hot chocolate. It’s best to be careful, because prices mount up quickly. A steak in a nice place will go for $50, but add on a basic mixed salad, a cocktail, an average glass of wine, and a dessert, and you’re easily past the century mark — and that’s if you’re dining alone, which you shouldn’t be.
But there are also the less-hushed and less-formal places, which can be more fun and far less costly. I was tempted by the famous Grand Café in the landmark Grand Hotel on the main street Karl Johan, where Oslo’s well-heeled bohemians and writers have gathered for over a century. But the menu prices and solemn ambience gave me pause, and I ended up across the street in a darker, hipper place called Ett Glass — Norwegian for “one glass” — where the excellent sound system was playing Al Green’s greatest hits and other soul classics. I had a traditional Norwegian meal (mutton wrapped in cabbage and served in a warm, comforting broth) and two glasses of okay Chilean wine for a total of $40 — quite reasonable by European standards. And the people-watching was fun as Oslo’s party crowd fortified themselves before a night at the clubs.
Alcohol is the one commodity that is unquestionably expensive in Oslo. Cocktails start at $13, and wine is also astronomical in cost ($10 to $13), leaving only beer as a reasonably cheap alternative. Many people who go out to clubs at night start their drinking at home to avoid the elevated prices they will pay once they hit the city’s nightspots.
It’s also possible to avoid the high prices by leaving the generally upscale city center for the evolving neighborhood of Grunerlokka, an easy tram ride or brief walk from downtown. Once the exclusive domain of mill and factory workers, it was known for its dimly lit, serious-drinkers-only pubs. But now, students and young families are moving in, slightly gentrifying the area and giving it a pleasant, scruffy feel. Many new restaurants have opened — trendy places like Coma and Hotel Havana — and prices are a bit more reasonable. The menus are eclectic; tapas and bagels and braised reindeer are available.
Here you can linger over a newspaper or magazine for hours, watching the street life, which is now dominated by young parents pushing baby carriages, stopping every few hundred feet to show their infants off to friends.
The best things in Oslo, however, are free. The wintertime walks, the chance to deep-breathe clear, cold, crystalline air right in the city center, with the fresh snow neatly packed and the building spires looking sharp against the bright-blue sunny sky. Few cities are as lovely as Oslo, with its fairy-tale buildings in the gracious old city square, which is dominated by the Parliament and the Royal Palace, where eager visitors can often catch a glimpse of the king and queen. The skating rink in front of the Parliament is free, as well, although the DJs handling the sound system favor jarring transitions, moving from Bob Dylan to Britney Spears without warning. The remarkable Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Sculpture Park), with more than 200 works spread throughout its expansive grounds, does not charge for entry.
In summer, the focus moves from the ski slopes and trails to the harbor, which is perfectly integrated into the city center that grew up around it. Just as Miami focuses on its beaches, Oslo in summer focuses on its fjords and the islands that lie just a few minutes offshore, easily visited via commuter ferries that cost next to nothing. The waters are cool and clear and filled with small boats, day sailors, kayaks, and practically anything else that floats. Clothing is optional — a larger-than-life mural in city hall celebrates the tradition of nude summer sunbathing (on specially designated beaches) that has long been part of life here. The overall summer combination is hard to beat: a midnight sun that never seems to set, blue waters, green forests, pretty rolling hills, all close to a charming city with excellent restaurants and clubs.
Even in winter, the ferryboats that ply the waters of the Oslofjord offer a fresh way for visitors to see the forests and little villages that dot the region. The seafaring heritage is strong — as you’re pulling away from the harbor, it is easy to see the museum holding the polar ship Fram, used by three great Norwegian explorers, including Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and the museum with the world’s best-preserved Viking ships, the vessels that were the foundation of their power and wealth. The harbor on a cold, sunny morning is a wonderful place to walk and to enjoy the sun reflecting off the calm waters, to look at the old wooden sailboats that seem to be pining for the spring. The boats are overlooked by a thirteenth-century fortress that now houses a museum detailing Norway’s World War II resistance movement; by city hall, where the Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded each year; and by the handsome Nobel Peace Center, a converted railway station that has proved an instant hit with the public since its opening in June 2005.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the peace prize for over a century, but until last year there was no building open to the public that explained the prize and its meaning. In no way a staid museum, the new Peace Center uses high-tech, state-of-the-art exhibits — including digital wallpaper and an electronic “field” with all of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates displayed on motion-sensitive screens. There are also temporary exhibits and displays showing how the world looks from space, without national boundaries.
The goal is to provoke visitors to think about how one person can make a difference, says director Bente Erichsen, an Oslo native who spends every free winter moment on the cross-country ski trails.
“The message is that it’s fantastic what one person can do,” she says, sipping a coffee in the center’s café, which overlooks the harbor. “And if we can in one way or another have an effect on people’s minds, and get them impressed by the Nobel Peace Prize laureates or by the exhibits on display, then they will think, ‘It’s possible I can do something too.’ So I don’t think we will have an influence on world politics; that’s not why we are here. We are here to have a kind of influence on individuals who visit here. And I hope we will make them optimistic and make them think that if you have a kind of force, you can get results.”
This might not have been what Erichsen meant, exactly, but after leaving the Peace Center, I reflected on my time in Grunerlokka and on my seaside walks, and realized it was possible for me to do something, too: enjoy Oslo without taking out a loan to do it.