Northern Europe · Europe

Norway

Discover Norway - land of fjords and Northern Lights, where Vikings once sailed, trolls lurk in folklore, and a $2 trillion oil fund keeps it rich.

Where Is Norway?

Norway is a country in Northern Europe. Its capital is Oslo.

Where Norway isNorthern Europe · Capital Oslo

Plan a trip · 3 guides

Capital Oslo
Population 5.61M
Area 386,224 km²

Norway is what happens when a country discovers it's sitting on an ocean of oil and decides to save the money instead of spending it. The Government Pension Fund Global - the world's largest sovereign wealth fund at over $2 trillion - owns roughly 1.5% of all publicly traded stocks on Earth. Every Norwegian is technically a millionaire on paper. Yet the country remains refreshingly understated: Teslas are everywhere, but showing off is the worst social sin imaginable. It's called Janteloven - the law of Jante - and it essentially means don't think you're better than anyone else.

But Norway's real wealth is geographic. The western coastline is carved into some of the most dramatic landscapes on the planet - fjords plunging a thousand meters between sheer cliffs, waterfalls tumbling from hanging valleys, and the midnight sun illuminating everything in gold from May to July. The Lofoten Islands look like a fantasy illustration. The Northern Lights turn the Arctic sky into an electric canvas. From the Viking Age to the modern era of cross-country skiing and black metal music, Norway has always drawn its identity from this extraordinary relationship between people and a landscape that is both brutal and beautiful beyond words.

At a glance

Language

Norwegian (Bokmal & Nynorsk)

Currency

Norwegian Krone (NOK)

Calling Code

+47

Drives On

Right

Internet

.no

Timezone

CET (UTC+1 / UTC+2)

Script

Latin

Government

Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy

Independence

1905

Travel guides

Plan a trip to Norway

Tromsø at blue hour seen from above, with the lights of the island city, the long bridge to the mainland and snowy mountains across the fjord

Norway · 5 days

5 Days in Tromsø

An island city 350 km north of the Arctic Circle, with northern lights in winter and the midnight sun in summer. Five days in Tromsø.

Updated Oct 2026Read the plan →

The white marble roof of the Oslo Opera House sloping down to the water at sunset, with people walking on it

Norway · 5 days

5 Days in Oslo

A fjord at the bottom of the street, a forest at the end of the metro and a new waterfront of museums. Five days in Norway's capital.

Updated Oct 2026Read the plan →

The colorful wooden Hanseatic houses of Bryggen along Bergen's harbor, with boats in front and a forested mountain behind

Norway · 5 days

5 Days in Bergen

A Hanseatic wharf, seven mountains, a lot of rain and the fjords on the doorstep. Five days in Norway's west coast capital.

Updated Oct 2026Read the plan →

By population

Largest cities in Norway

Oslo

Capital on a fjord, home to the Munch Museum, Nobel Peace Center, and a world-class waterfront food scene

1,100,000

Bergen

Gateway to the fjords with a UNESCO-listed wooden wharf, surrounded by seven mountains and famous for its rain

290,000

Trondheim

Norway's first capital with the medieval Nidaros Cathedral, a vibrant university city at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord

210,000

Stavanger

Oil capital of Norway and gateway to Pulpit Rock, with a charming old town of 173 white wooden houses

200,000

Tromso

Arctic capital above the 69th parallel, the best place in Norway to see the Northern Lights and home to the world's northernmost university

80,000

Alesund

Art Nouveau town rebuilt after a 1904 fire in a distinctive style, perched on islands at the entrance to the Geirangerfjord

50,000

People

Famous people from Norway

Edvard Munch
Art
Painter of The Scream, one of the most iconic images in art history and a symbol of modern existential anxiety
Henrik Ibsen
Literature
Father of modern drama whose plays like A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler revolutionized theater worldwide
Edvard Grieg
Music
Composer of Peer Gynt and the Piano Concerto in A minor, who captured the spirit of Norwegian landscape in music
Roald Amundsen
Science
First person to reach the South Pole in December 1911, beating Scott by 34 days, and first to traverse the Northwest Passage
Fridtjof Nansen
Science
Explorer, scientist, and diplomat who crossed Greenland on skis and won the Nobel Peace Prize for refugee work after WWI
Erling Haaland
Sport
One of the most prolific strikers in football history, breaking Premier League and Champions League scoring records at Manchester City
Thor Heyerdahl
Science
Sailed the balsa raft Kon-Tiki 8,000 km across the Pacific in 1947 to prove ancient peoples could have made the journey
Sigrid Undset
Literature
Nobel Prize-winning author of Kristin Lavransdatter, a medieval trilogy that became one of Norway's greatest literary achievements

Food

Traditional cuisine of Norway

Brunost: Brown cheese with a sweet, caramel-like flavor made from whey, sliced thin with a cheese slicer that Norway invented
Rakfisk: Fermented trout aged for months, served raw on flatbread with sour cream and onions - Norway's most polarizing delicacy
Farikal: Norway's national dish - lamb and cabbage stewed with black peppercorns, simple and satisfying autumn comfort food
Smoked Salmon: Norwegian salmon cold-smoked or cured with dill (gravlaks), a staple of Scandinavian cuisine exported worldwide
Lefse: Soft potato flatbread rolled with butter, sugar, and cinnamon, a traditional treat especially at Christmas
Kjottkaker: Norwegian meatballs in brown gravy served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam, the ultimate weekday dinner
Krumkake: Delicate cone-shaped waffle cookies made with cardamom, a Norwegian Christmas tradition baked on special irons
Klippfisk: Dried and salted cod that became Norway's most important export for centuries, still a staple in Portugal and Brazil

Nature

Nature and landmarks in Norway

GeirangerfjordRiver: UNESCO World Heritage fjord with 1,500-meter cliffs, Seven Sisters waterfall, and some of the most dramatic scenery on Earth
Lofoten IslandsIsland: Dramatic granite peaks rising from Arctic waters, fishing villages, midnight sun, and some of the world's best surfing above the Arctic Circle
Pulpit RockMountain: Iconic flat-topped cliff standing 604 meters above Lysefjorden, one of Norway's most visited natural attractions
Northern LightsLandmark: Aurora borealis visible across northern Norway from September to March, turning the Arctic sky into rippling curtains of green and violet
TrolltungaMountain: Rock formation jutting horizontally 700 meters above Lake Ringedalsvatnet, one of the most spectacular viewpoints in Norway
SvalbardIsland: Arctic archipelago where polar bears outnumber people, home to the Global Seed Vault and midnight sun for four months
JostedalsbreenMountain: Largest glacier in continental Europe covering 487 square kilometers, with blue ice arms reaching down into green valleys
HardangerviddaNational Park: Largest high mountain plateau in Northern Europe, home to Europe's largest herd of wild reindeer

Sport

Sports in Norway

Cross-country Skiing: Dominates Winter Olympics with the most medals of any country in the sport - Norwegians say they are born with skis on
Biathlon: Multiple Olympic and World Championship titles in biathlon, combining skiing and marksmanship at the highest level
Football: Produced stars like Haaland and Solskjaer, beat Brazil 2-1 at the 1998 World Cup in one of football's great upsets
Handball: Women's team is one of the most successful in history with multiple Olympic, World, and European Championship titles

Facts

Did you know?

Norway's sovereign wealth fund is worth over $2 trillion, making every Norwegian a theoretical millionaire
The country has a 25,000-kilometer coastline that would stretch to 100,000 km if you included all the fjords and islands
Norway invented the cheese slicer in 1925 and considers it one of the nation's proudest inventions
The midnight sun shines continuously in northern Norway from May to July - Tromso gets 69 days of nonstop daylight
Norwegian prisons are famous for their humane conditions - Halden Prison has been called the most humane prison in the world
Norway has won more Winter Olympic medals than any other country in history
The country runs almost entirely on renewable energy, with almost 90% of electricity coming from hydropower
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores over a million seed samples from around the world as insurance against global catastrophe