East side: Grønland, Tøyen, Kampen and Vålerenga: a walk in Oslo

Multicultural Grønland, the free Intercultural Museum and botanic garden, then up to the wooden-house hills of Kampen and Vålerenga, where tourists rarely go.

Best time: Afternoon; lunch in Grønland

The route, stop by stop

1
Punjab Tandoori
Cheap lunch; 40 min.
A Grønland canteen serving curries and tandoori since 1990 at prices that are rare in Oslo; the east side's go-to cheap dinner.
2
Intercultural Museum
Free, in the old police station; 30 min.
A small free museum in a former police station and jail on Grønland about immigration to Norway; a good lens on the multicultural east side.
3
Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden
Free garden stroll; 30 min.
The university's dinosaur skeletons, minerals and animal dioramas, set in the botanical garden where Tøyen and Grünerløkka families picnic.
4
The Little Pickle
Coffee and pastry at the Bib Gourmand bakery-cafe; 20 min.
Oslo's Bib Gourmand for value: sourdough and pastries by day, pie and mash or Norwegian-leaning plates at night, and a Sunday roast that locals book for.
5
Kampen
Painted wooden houses; 20 min.
A hillside of small painted wooden workers' houses and gardens; a quiet residential corner that feels like a village above Tøyen.
6
Vålerenga old wooden houses
Old workers' district; 20 min.
A working-class area where wooden houses and courtyards give glimpses of 19th-century Oslo life.

Walking directions

East side: Grønland, Tøyen, Kampen and Vålerenga

The route, stop by stop

More walks in Oslo