LatestBarsPeopleCocktailsAwardsBrandsEventsBar DirectoryList Your Bar

The 9 Best Bars in Oslo

Oslo drinks better than its size suggests. Most of the best bars in Oslo sit within an easy walk of each other, from the center around Karl Johans gate to Grünerløkka across the Akerselva river, and aquavit runs through more than one of their lists. Himkok, which distills its own aquavit, gin and vodka on site, put the city on the world map. Svanen, opened by Himkok alumnus Yunus Yildiz in a preserved 19th-century pharmacy on Karl Johans gate, was No. 32 on The World's 50 Best Bars 2025. Around them the scene runs from a Grünerløkka bar by the river to hotel bars in Frogner and at Jernbanetorget and, down in Bjørvika, a cocktail and wine bar named for the Celtic soul friend. Some bars set their own age limits, such as 25 after 10pm at Ekspedisjonshallen, so check before you go. These are the nine we would start with.

Browse every Oslo barThe best bars in NorwayBest cocktail bars in Oslo
  1. Himkok
    50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Himkok

    Himkok, Norwegian for moonshine, is an Oslo institution built around its own working distillery, producing the aquavit, gin, and vodka behind a cocktail list rooted in Nordic ingredients and sustainable methods. It is one of Scandinavia's most decorated bars.

    Storgata 27, 0184 Oslo, NorwayMon-Wed 17:00-00:00; Thu-Sun 17:00-02:00
    Full profile
  2. Svanen
    50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Svanen

    Svanen fills the restored 1896 premises of the Svaneapoteket, a pharmacy institution first established in 1628, with its mahogany fixtures, vintage glass cabinets, marble columns and original tilework intact. Founded by Himkok co-founder Yunus Yildiz with a beverage program developed with Karel Varga, the menu reads like the Latin-labelled apothecary drawers it sits among, on Nordic ingredients like gentian and juniper. No. 65 on The 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026, after No. 32 in 2025. It won Best Cocktail Bar for Norway at the 2026 Bartenders' Choice Awards.

    Order thisStolen Applesrum, gin, green apple juice, lapsang souchong, ginger, shiso
    Karl Johans Gate 13, Sentrum, OsloMon–Thu & Sun 17:00–00:30, Fri–Sat 15:00–02:00
    Full profile
  3. Bettola
    Cocktail Bar

    Bettola

    Bettola calls itself an Italian cocktail bar and a mature drinking establishment, reserved for ladies and gentlemen over twenty, and posts its house rules where other bars put a manifesto: no outside food or drinks, no split bills for groups over four, respect the staff, and the sky is not always the limit. It sits at Trondheimsveien 2 by the river at the foot of Grünerløkka and opens at four every day, until midnight early in the week and two on Friday and Saturday.

    Trondheimsveien 2, 0560 OsloMon-Wed 16:00-00:00, Thu 16:00-01:00, Fri-Sat 16:00-02:00, Sun closed
    Full profile
  4. Ekspedisjonshallen
    Hotel Bar

    Ekspedisjonshallen

    Ekspedisjonshallen is the all-day brasserie and bar inside Sommerro House in Frogner, built around an opulent horseshoe bar and set against an original wall fresco by the painter Per Krohg. The room takes its cues from Scandinavian Art Deco of the 1930s and the house calls it a neighborhood living room: familiar, laidback, and open from breakfast through to the small hours. A house jazz band plays through the week with guest vocalists, and the kitchen runs classic brasserie cooking until ten. The bar is known for clean, elegant drinks and for a house Negroni infused with strawberries grown in Sommerro's own Lokka Lab. An age limit of twenty five applies from ten in the evening.

    Sommerrogata 1, 0255 OsloMon-Tue 07:00-23:00; Wed 07:00-00:00; Thu-Fri 07:00-00:30; Sat 08:00-01:00; Sun 08:00-23:00
    Full profile
  5. Harlem
    Cocktail Bar

    Harlem

    Harlem opened its doors on Youngstorget in 2024 with what it calls a simple vision: a bar experience built on quality, atmosphere and a real passion for good drinks. The team behind the bar works from classic cocktails to modern signature drinks, and the bar says it cares as much about the experience around the glass as about what is in it, with carefully chosen ingredients, professional mixing and personal service. It runs cocktail courses and can be hired. Open from noon most days, from three on Sundays, until three on Friday and Saturday nights.

    Youngstorget 2A, 0181 OsloMon-Wed 12:00-00:00, Thu 12:00-01:00, Fri-Sat 12:00-03:00, Sun 15:00-00:00
    Full profile

Get your bar featured

A feature article, an Instagram post and the spotlight on this page.

See Featured
  1. Pier 42
    Hotel Bar

    Pier 42

    The cocktail bar of Hotel Amerikalinjen, housed in the former headquarters of the Norwegian America Line at Jernbanetorget in central Oslo. The bar is named after the New York pier where the line's transatlantic ships docked, and its list is built around a concept menu framed as the journal of a fictional captain of the SS Kristianiafjord. It does not take table reservations. The bar appears in the World's 50 Best Discovery guide.

    Jernbanetorget 2, 0154
    Full profile
  2. Torggata Botaniske
    Cocktail Bar

    Torggata Botaniske

    Torggata Botaniske is a botanical cocktail bar in a courtyard off Torggata, and the words it chooses to put on its own site are its guests': one of Oslo's cosiest bars, exciting flavors, a warm and snug atmosphere, playlists that are always on point, and a secret garden that is at its best when it opens up to the public. The bar takes table bookings for groups with food. Open from five on weekdays, four on Fridays and three on Saturdays, closing at one during the week and two at the weekend.

    Torggata 17B, 0183 OsloMon-Thu 17:00-01:00, Fri 16:00-02:00, Sat 15:00-02:00, Sun 17:00-01:00
    Full profile
  3. Anam Cara
    Wine Bar

    Anam Cara

    Anam Cara is a cocktail and wine bar on Rostockgata in Oslo's Bjørvika, named for the Celtic idea of the soul friend and opened on 30 April 2025 by Thomas and Xuseen Ramse-Miskell. Xuseen worked in San Francisco's bar scene before moving to Oslo in 2016, and Thomas came to bartending from the medical field. The house signatures include the Soul Friend Martini, with Nuet aquavit, peach, yellow Chartreuse and rose, and the Don Johnson, which mixes rum with pandan, pistachio, pineapple and coconut. A seasonal list changes through the year, classics such as the Negroni and the Daiquiri stay on, and separate menus cover non-alcoholic cocktails and wine.

    Rostockgata 42, 0194 OsloTue-Wed 16:00-22:30, Thu 16:00-23:30, Fri 16:00-00:30, Sat 16:00-01:00
    Full profile
  4. Nedre Løkka
    Cocktail Bar

    Nedre Løkka

    Nedre Løkka sits on Thorvald Meyers gate in lower Grünerløkka and builds its list from two places at once, the history of the neighborhood around it and New York, which the bar calls the home of the cocktail. The owners like the pairing because Grünerløkka's streets are straight and wide and put them in mind of the Manhattan grid. Guests order from a long cocktail menu or ask the bartenders to compose something to their own taste, and the room is built as much for a larger group meeting before dinner as for a quiet drink. The bar sits among the restaurants of the neighborhood and its owners set out to match their cocktails to what the kitchens nearby are doing. Cocktail courses, meeting rooms and a private event space run alongside the bar, and tables are booked online.

    Thorvald Meyers gate 89, 0550 OsloMon-Thu 16:00-01:00; Fri-Sat 16:00-03:00; Sun closed
    Full profile

Best bars in nearby cities

Explore the whole Oslo scene

These 9 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Oslo, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.

All 10 bars in Oslo

Best bars in other cities

2,500+ bars292 cities
Bar Directory