What an Oslofjord Cruise Costs
Hours on the water
The catalogue runs from fifty minutes to six. Fifty minutes is the wooden ship’s mini loop from Rådhusbrygge 3, and fifty minutes is a taster rather than a fjord trip — you clear Akershus, you see the near islands from a distance, you come back. Ninety minutes is the standard city loop. Two hours is where most of the fleet sits. Six hours is the island trip, which lands on five islands, is not wheelchair accessible, involves walking and climbing on the islands, and requires under-15s to have an adult with them. Time is the lever that moves the figure furthest, and it moves it in both directions — the lengths compared.
The boat
A traditional wooden sailing ship needs a crew that can handle rigging and a hull that needs looking after every winter. A purpose-built electric ship with a panoramic saloon, heating, air conditioning and a lift needs none of that and carries far more people per departure. Which of the two ends up dearer is not something you can read off the photograph, so guessing from the picture is a bad method. What you can read off the photograph is the experience: wood and open deck and blankets on one side, glass and warm air on the other.
Whether a human being is talking
Only one city cruise here has a live guide — the silent boat from Rådhusbrygge 2, the only live-guided city cruise in this set, in English only, 4.7 from about 2,079 reviews. Everything else runs on recorded audio, through an app or through the speakers. A person standing in the saloon answering questions is a person being paid for two hours; a recording is not. That difference is real and it is priced. Whether it is worth it depends entirely on whether you want to ask anything — the live-guided trips and the audio ones are separated out.
Food, and the bar
Most of these boats have a bar you pay at separately, and one evening boat has a buffet on the ticket, which is a meal you are buying as much as a cruise. That is the single biggest jump in this catalogue and it is a jump in what you are getting, not in what you are being charged for a given thing. What is actually on board goes through it, and the evening departures cover the buffet boat.
Whether you get off
Five of the six never put you ashore. You board at a quay in central Oslo and you come back to the same quay. The six-hour trip lands on five islands and walks them with a live guide in English, 4.5 from about 158 reviews — and again: not wheelchair accessible, walking and climbing, under-15s with an adult. Comparing that to a ninety-minute loop on figures alone is like comparing a day to an hour. Island hopping sets out both versions, including the one on a transit ticket.
Usually included
- A place on board and the return to the quay you left from
- Commentary, live or recorded, in at least one language
- Blankets on the open boats and a heated saloon on the electric ones
- On the wooden ship, a Bygdøy ferry ticket — though no guaranteed seat on the cruise itself, since boarding is open
Not included
- Anything from the bar, on every boat that has one
- Getting to the quay, which on one cruise is a different quay entirely
- Museum entry on Bygdøy, which no city cruise includes
- The Ruter ticket for the public island ferry, which is a different kind of ticket entirely and bought from Ruter, not here
If your reason for booking is simply to be out on the water, read the ferry page before you book anything. It earns this site nothing and it will save some readers the booking entirely.
Chartering the whole boat
A private charter is priced on a different basis entirely — you are hiring a vessel and a crew for a block of time rather than buying a seat on a scheduled departure. This catalogue is genuinely thin on that, and the private-cruise page says so rather than padding the list out.
Why we do not print the number
Two reasons, and neither is coyness. A figure written into a page is wrong within a season: these boats move with demand, with the time of day and with the month, and a page that says otherwise is lying to you slowly. The second reason is that the figure you would find here is not the figure you would be charged — party size, date and departure all change it. The widget asks the operator’s system directly, for your date, and shows you what you would actually pay before you commit to anything.
The ninety-minute version, with the live figure
The most-reviewed cruise in Oslo, 4.5 from about 6,690 reviews, ninety minutes on an electric ship with a panoramic saloon and an audio guide in seven languages. It leaves from Langkaia, by the Opera House — not from the City Hall quays, which is the mistake people make. Check the date first: the piers explained.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an Oslofjord cruise cost?
It depends on how long the boat is out, whether a live guide or an app is doing the talking, whether food is on the ticket, and whether you land anywhere. The widget above quotes the live figure for your own date and party size, which is the only place it is reliable. If what you want is simply to be on the fjord, the public boat to the islands runs on an ordinary Ruter ticket.
What is included on an Oslofjord sightseeing cruise?
A place on board, commentary in some form, and the return to the quay you left from. Blankets on the open wooden boats, a heated saloon on the electric ones. The bar is separate everywhere it exists, and no city cruise includes museum entry on Bygdøy. Food and drink on board.
Is the six-hour island trip better than a short cruise?
It is not a longer version of the same thing. It lands on five islands and walks them with a live guide in English, 4.5 from about 158 reviews, and it is not wheelchair accessible: there is walking and climbing, and under-15s need an adult with them. A ninety-minute loop is an hour and a half of harbour. Compare the lengths.