Sample a wide range of Oslo’s best casual food and local producers under one roof at Oslo´s largest food hall.
Located in the Vulkan eco-district (an old industrial area turned hipster hub), Mathallen ("The Food Hall") is a large indoor food hall and market concentrated on high-quality, casual eating and regional food producers. Expect a mix of independent stalls and small restaurants serving everything from traditional Norwegian dishes to international street food, plus a selection of wine, beer and specialty groceries. The hall is filled with specialty butchers, cheese counters, and small eateries.
Seating Hack: On weekends, the main floor "Torget" (central plaza) is a war zone of people fighting for chairs. If you can't find a seat, take your food and walk down the stairs to the basement (Smelteverket) or, if it's summer, walk outside to the "amphitheater" steps by the river.
Highlights
For something Norwegian, go to Vulkanfisk (the seafood counter) and order the creamy fish soup (fiskesuppe), loaded with chunks of salmon and cod, and served with unlimited bread and aioli.
Buy packaged specialty foods and artisan products from dedicated vendors to take home
The "Sausage" Souvenir: Stop by Annis Pølsemakeri (the butcher). Don't just look; ask for a "dry-aged" slider or buy their dry-cured sausages to snack on later in your hotel room.
Best time to go
Weekdays outside lunchtime or early evening on weekends to avoid the largest crowds
Time needed
30–120 minutes
Getting there
Can easily be reached on foot from the city center. Bus 34 or 54 to Møllerveien drops you right at the top of the stairs leading down to the market.
What to do nearby
Experience the human story of Norwegian resistance during Nazi occupation (1940-1945) through atmospheric dark-to-light museum design, illegal newspapers hidden in firewood, saboteur equipment concealed in fish barrels, and the Heavy Water Sabotage that stopped Germany's nuclear program
Experience Oslo's original sauna village with architecturally unique wood-fired saunas including the city's only wheelchair-accessible floating sauna, and guided Aufguss rituals that commercial sauna boats don't offer.
Floating saunas at a central Oslo pier that combine wood-fired heat, direct fjord access and bookable private or shared sessions.
Hotels nearby
A boutique hotel with real personality, two minutes from the airport train, in a building with more character than anything else in central Oslo.
A 19th-century station building with real architectural character, three minutes from the airport train platform, literally inside Oslo Central Station.
The antidote to bland Nordic hotel design, with a location that puts every major Oslo sight within walking distance.