Oslo vs. Gothenburg

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Woods
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Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Woods » 2016-06-01, 18:32

I know this will be a difficult question to answer for you people from Norway and Sweden, but which city is better? I need to make a travel choice :)

I'll probably pick Oslo because I've never been in Norway, but I've still got time to change my mind.

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Re: Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Johanna » 2016-06-01, 18:57

I've never been to Oslo, but I lived three years in Gothenburg and I really love the city.

Sure, it's not the capital of the country, so no royal palaces or the like to visit, but there are a lot of very affordable restaurants (by Swedish standards, by Norwegian they should be downright cheap), taking the ferry to the southern archipelago and walk around there is always nice and doesn't cost you a penny extra if you've already got a tourist pass for local public transport, and there's a sort of a zoo with moose, deer, horses, penguins and seals in Slottsskogen which is 100% free. Not to mention that there are a bunch of museums that are free once you've paid the entrance fee to one :)

Edit: Or you could always come to Lidköping, my sofa (or airbed, depending on how tall you are) is usually unoccupied :) And the ticket from Gothenburg to here and back is way, way less than paying for a hostel or a hotel... That is if you prefer historical sites and nature over nightlife ;)
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Re: Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Woods » 2016-06-01, 19:48

Hi Johanna,

Thank you so much for the tips and the invitation! I’ll give it a thought!

The idea is, I’ll go to a Danish course in Denmark, but I decided to book myself a flight one week earlier and go to either Oslo or Göteborg, because they’re close. Besides, I’ve already been in Stockholm, so it won’t be that interesting and it’s further away.

Another option would be to take another week after the course and go to the other city as well, but I was also planning Finland… so we’ll see, I’ll keep you up to date!

I don’t know about historical sites but your tips on Swedish will be priceless :)
Last edited by Woods on 2016-06-01, 20:16, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Levike » 2016-06-01, 19:57

Johanna wrote:by Swedish standards, by Norwegian they should be downright cheap)

Is the whole of Norway expensive by Swedish standards?

I've read about Norwegians living at the border going for shopping in Sweden in which case it must be like the Swiss living at the border going to Germany.

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Re: Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Johanna » 2016-06-01, 20:38

Woods wrote:Hi Johanna,

Thank you so much for the tips and the invitation! I’ll give it a thought!

Great :)

Woods wrote:The idea is, I’ll go to a Danish course in Denmark, but I decided to book myself a flight one week earlier and go to either Oslo or Göteborg, because they’re close. Besides, I’ve already been in Stockholm, so it won’t be that interesting and it’s further away.

If you're staying anywhere near to Copenhagen, I'd take the train or bus (Øresundståg or Swebus) rather than a flight to Gothenburg. Most likely cheaper and at most an hour more (counting check-in and security at the airport), probably not even that :)

Woods wrote:Another option would be to take another week after the course and go to the other city as well, but I was also planning Finland… so we’ll see, I’ll keep you up to date!

Of course I hope that you'll take me up on my invitation :)

If not, I still think Gothenburg is your best bet, it's got plenty of things to see while being way, way cheaper than Oslo (the cheapest "big" city in Sweden vs the most expensive city in the Nordic countries...)

Woods wrote:I don’t know about historical sites but your tips on Swedish will be priceless :)

I'll try to help from the best of my abilities :)

Levike wrote:
Johanna wrote:by Swedish standards, by Norwegian they should be downright cheap)

Is the whole of Norway expensive by Swedish standards?

I've read about Norwegians living at the border going for shopping in Sweden in which case it must be like the Swiss living at the border going to Germany.

Yep, Norway is even extremely expensive by our standards.
Swedish (sv) native; English (en) good; Norwegian (no) read fluently, understand well, speak badly; Danish (dk) read fluently, understand badly, can't speak; Faroese (fo) read some, understand a bit, speak a few sentences; German (de) French (fr) Spanish (es) forgetting; heritage language.

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Re: Oslo vs. Gothenburg

Postby Woods » 2016-06-02, 9:29

Johanna wrote:If you're staying anywhere near to Copenhagen, I'd take the train rather than a flight to Gothenburg. Most likely cheaper and at most an hour more (counting check-in and security at the airport), probably not even that :)

I mean, I’m taking a flight from Sofia (Bulgaria) – the train from here to Sweden will not be an option (even though I know of one Swedish person who did that in the other direction, I think it took her about two or three days :D

When in Sweden, I’ll take the bus (it seems it’s twice cheaper than the train and the time it takes is the same. Even though I love trains and I hate busses, it will be more reasonable to use busses this time :(


Johanna wrote:If not, I still think Gothenburg is your best bet, it's got plenty of things to see while being way, way cheaper than Oslo (the cheapest "big" city in Sweden vs the most expensive city in the Nordic countries...)

Yeap, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve still never been in Norway (and it might be very interesting to see), and I’ve already lived in Stockholm for two months and a half :)


Johanna wrote:Of course I hope that you'll take me up on my invitation :)

I’ll try!


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