Oslo Airport (OSL)

Oslo Gardemoen (OSL) is Norway's main airport, it is located approximately 45km (28 miles) north of Oslo just off from route E6 near Jessheim. This dual carriageway road gives you good access into Oslo, but the airport itself is some distance from the city centre taking about 30 minutes to get there by car. We arrived by plane and used a hire car as our transport from and to the airport so I cannot really comment on getting to the airport by other ...
...be said for south to Oslo but you only need 20 NOK for this toll into the city. These tolls only take coins and not notes so you will need a little bit of change if you hire a car.

~Arrival~
On our arrival we left our flight and walked up the gangway and on to an escalator. I was surprised to walk through a door and enter into the passport control area. So the walk from your flight to get your passport checked will be a lot ... more

Oslo Gardemoen (OSL) is Norway's main airport, it is located approximately 45km (28 miles) north of Oslo just off from route E6 near Jessheim. This dual carriageway road gives you good access into Oslo, but the airport itself is some distance from the city centre taking about 30 minutes to get there by car. We arrived by plane and used a hire car as our transport from and to the airport so I cannot really comment on getting to the airport by other means. The roads in and around the airport were good and free from traffic trouble. One tip is if you head west on route 35 you will need 30 NOK (Norwegian Kroner) for a toll. The same can be said for south to Oslo but you only need 20 NOK for this toll into the city. These tolls only take coins and not notes so you will need a little bit of change if you hire a car.

~Arrival~
On our arrival we left our flight and walked up the gangway and on to an escalator. I was surprised to walk through a door and enter into the passport control area. So the walk from your flight to get your passport checked will be a lot shorter than what you would expect at the London airports.

Whilst waiting in line for Passport control I took stock of my surroundings. We were on the top or second floor of the airport and I like what I could see. The floor was wooden parquet, the walls were metal or wooden clad and the glazing was letting in lots of natural light. The amount of glass in the building is something that I liked and felt that it really set itself out from other airport terminals. There is acres and acres of the stuff allowing the light to spill in and dance over all the wood and metal cladding. As an example of good design Oslo was hitting the top notes and before I knew it the queue had disappeared and I was at the Passport desk.

Passport control then was quick and over without any hassle, just the usual question about length of stay from the dour officer. Once through the glass door you have a long walk to the baggage reclaim area which is at the other end of the airport and is on the ground floor. The walk itself is straight along the top floor and is good as you can admire the building, look down through the glass to see the departures area or look outside.

There are two things I like here, first you are up high and can see the roof in all its curved laminated wooden glory and you can view the outside of the airport. Secondly you are separated from the departures area by the glass so you don't get the feeling that you are arriving at an airport and you are totally segregated from the departures area. I'm sure most of you know the feeling of isolation when walking down enclosed spaces at London's airports, at Oslo you can see people departing and they can see you. It is a subtle touch that I had never thought about before, but for some strange reason I liked the warm feeling of seeing all of the inside of the airport even though I couldn't get to all the parts.

The walk to baggage reclaim took a few minutes and was helped by a couple of those motorised escalator type walkway's to speed you along. At the end of the walkway we dropped down to the ground floor via a long escalator. Once in the baggage reclaim you can sit and wait for your luggage or you could dive into the Duty Free shop and rustle up a couple of bargains. From what I could see most items were on the expensive side compared to England, but I had not had the full Norwegian experience yet and in hindsight I could see that the locals knew what they were down. Wine, beer, perfume and caviar were getting snapped up in vast quantities.

I bought some chocolates and nibbles for us and a few tins of beer, but I should have bought more. The reason why I didn't was I thought the wine was expensive, I noticed a bottle of Spanish red called Castlio De Diablo which I think retails at around £3/4 back home going for double that price. Only later did I discover my error. So if you do come into Norway and want to buy cheaper than local price on booze and goodies than this is the place to go and it is busy as it does a roaring trade.

Baggage reclaim at Oslo is in a slightly darkened area as you are on the ground floor and the lighting is not great here. Possibly this the only place in the whole airport that I didn't really like. The advantage was that as soon as I had finished in the Duty Free shop Mrs Cad was waiting with the bags, so we only had to wait about twenty minutes or so for our luggage. We left through the blue gate and out into the ground floor area of the airport. Here people were meeting up in a good sized space so you could get through them and there were plenty of cafes and shops to stock up on caffeine or food after your flight.

We found the hire car desks easily and after a long and protracted delay which as they say is another story (or review), we left the airport to get to our left hand drive chariot. The walk to the car park was short, across the road to the left and into the multi-storey car park. The car hire area is on the fourth floor and we took the large well sized lifts to the top and found our car waiting for us.

~Departure~
On our return to Oslo for our trip home we dumped the jam jar with the rental returns and took the lift down to ground level. Here you walk underneath the road and then take another lift up into the airport arrivals on the first floor. It may sound awkward but I found it good that you didn't have to dodge traffic to get your heavy baggage to the arrivals desk. It's in contrast to all those moments of car dodging with baggage at London's airports.

The check-in desks are arranged in blocks of six in the centre of the hall so you can walk around them. There is a screen on the way in which tells you which block to go to with a choice of A to F. For us it told us that BA were in block E, we went to E, no BA. Try F block said a helpful SAS(the airline) assistant. Not in F, eventually found them after a tour of all the blocks in A where we started. As we had done a check-in online I wasn't too bothered about this, but if we had been in a hurry it could have been a wee bit stressful. Check-in was a breeze despite the fact that I couldn't print boarding passes online and I couldn't work the self service till as I had forgotten my payment card and reservation number. The desk assistant was very helpful and sorted us out some boarding cards in no time at all.

We went straight through security as it looked busy and we were not sure if the security clamp down at home was affecting Oslo. It wasn't we walked through security whilst the small rucksacks and my shoes went through the X-ray. At security we turned right and were asked for boarding tickets before we got into the Duty Free area. Here you could get more perfumes, booze, fish and other goodies before you go home. You could also relax with a meal in a restaurant or get your refund for any Duty Free shopping you picked up outside the airport.

Waiting for the flight in this airport is a really nice experience as the seats are leather and are fixed in a slightly reclined back position. Here you can do the opposite of when you arrived and watch as the new arrivals walk along the glazed corridors above you. There are also a few little shops for snacks or drinks and papers if you want something extra before you leave.

Again we had a long walk to the departure gate as it was at the far end of the terminal. So if your flight flags up as leaving from gate 50 to 59 you will need your passports to get through the Passport control area that divides the other gates with these ones. Once in this area it was a little busier, but as we had left it until our flight was due to board we went straight through and we were on our flight within ten minutes.

Overall then I really liked Oslo airport, the terminal was not huge but the way it had been designed and the large amount of natural light spilling in through the windows made you feel that this was a place you wanted to be as you waited for a flight. The only downside was the baggage reclaim area which was a little on the dark side and was a long way from the gate, but in saying that it really wasn't a major issue. All the staff we encountered were friendly and the whole place was a clean as a whistle with not one sweet wrapper to be found on the floor. If you come to Norway via this airport you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for read, rating and comments.

Martin
(This review can be found on other opinion sites, under the same username)  

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