Is Akershus Fortress free?

Yes. The fortress grounds are free to enter and always have been. There is no ticket, no booking and no barrier — you walk in through the gate. What costs money is the two museums and the guided tours. And the part you would normally buy a ticket for, the castle interior, is closed to all visitors until further notice, so there is currently nothing to buy even if you wanted to.

GroundsFree, always

Ramparts and viewsFree

Self-guided loopFree

MuseumsTicketed

Official guided toursTicketed

Castle interiorClosed until notice

What is free

The whole walled site: 17 hectares of it, every day of the year.
The ramparts, and the views over the fjord, the city and Rådhusplassen. The walls are high and the official advice is to keep hold of children.
Festningsløypa, the self-guided loop: 31 points, about 50 minutes.
The outside of the castle, the bastions and the medieval stonework.

What costs money

Norway’s Resistance Museum and the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum are both ticketed, and a combined ticket covering all three museums is sold at the visitor centre by Karpedammen. The museum’s official weekend guided walks of the fortress are ticketed too. Everything else inside the walls is free.

Why the Oslo Pass does not help with the grounds

The Oslo Pass is good value for a busy Oslo trip: free entry to more than thirty museums and attractions, free Ruter transport in zones 1, 2, 3, 4V and 4N, and free Vy local trains to and from the airport. It gives free entry to Norway’s Resistance Museum and, in normal times, to Akershus Castle. It does not cover the official guided tours. And it cannot make the grounds any cheaper than free, so do not buy one for the fortress — buy one for the rest of your week, if at all.

Insider tip

If somebody offers to sell you a ticket for the fortress grounds, they are selling you a tour, not entry. There is no entry ticket and there never has been. What a tour buys is context — see is it worth visiting.

What a tour buys, since it is not the gate

Money in Oslo does not buy you through a gate that is already open. It buys somebody who can tell you which wall is Håkon V’s and which is Christian IV’s. The two-hour central Oslo walk below includes the fortress.

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Frequently asked questions

Is it free to enter Akershus Fortress?

Yes. The grounds are free every day of the year and have never charged admission. There is no ticket to buy and no time slot to book — the gate hours are the only limit.

What do you have to pay for at Akershus Fortress?

The two museums and the official guided walks. Norway’s Resistance Museum and the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum are ticketed, with a combined ticket at the visitor centre. The grounds, the ramparts and the self-guided loop cost nothing.

Is Akershus Castle included in the Oslo Pass?

In normal times yes, along with Norway’s Resistance Museum, but the castle is closed to all visitors until further notice. The Pass does not cover the official guided tours, and the grounds are free anyway.