Oslo drinks better than its size suggests. Its best bars sit within an easy walk of each other, from the center around Karl Johans gate to Grünerløkka across the Akerselva river, and many build their lists on Nordic ingredients like aquavit, juniper, gentian and local berries. Himkok, which runs its own distillery behind the bar, put the city on the world map. Svanen, opened by one of its founders in a restored 19th-century pharmacy, followed it onto The 50 Best Bars list. Around them the scene runs from an Italian cocktail bar by the river and hotel bars in Frogner and at Jernbanetorget to a new public house on Stortingsgata. Drinks are expensive by most standards, and many bars set their own age limits, often 20 and sometimes 25 late at night, so check before you go. These are the eight we would start with.
These 8 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.
