Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel

, Oslo, Norway
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Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel

, Oslo
4 star

Rooms: 488

30 Holbersgate - Oslo - 0166 - Norway Hotel Website | | 23 29 30 00
667 Traveller

Reviews - Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel

7/10
Basic room - great location
Submitted by: Patrick Dunne in 27/06/05
  • Age Group:
  • From: Ireland
  • Traveller type: Family Traveller
The rooms needed a bit of modernisation as the decor seemed a bit tired... otherwise the hotel was lovely... and you cannot beat the location... your next door neighbours include the Royal Palace.
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9/10
Quiet, comfortable, panorama view
Submitted by: Juhani Partanen in 02/07/05
  • Age Group: 51 - 60
  • From: Finland
  • Traveller type: Business Traveller
An excellent hotel in downtown, all targets in the centrum of the city within walking distance. My room No 1313 was very comfortable, with a beautiful view over the city. The service was friendly and breakfast enjoyable. I stayed only one preprogrammed day and night there and thus did not have time to test the restaurant and bar services.

Historical Traveller Reviews of Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel

Really Great Hotel, Top Location

from A TripAdvisor Member
Absolutely recommend this hotel and Oslo as a place to visit. Location of the hotel can't be beaten - Royal Palace (2 mins walk), harbour & town hall (10 mins walk max) and the west end of Karl Johann street where the National theatre, etc. is (5 mins walk). While we where there the Norwegian national football team stayed in the hotel prior to their match with Scotland, which I guess must say something if they chose the Scandinavia from all the other hotels in their own city.

If you arrive into Oslo from the main airport there is an SAS bus that picks up and drops off right outside the hotel and (I think) leaves every 10 mins. When choosing a hotel I did wonder why the SAS Scandinavia was a 4* hotel but more expensive than its sister hotel the SAS Plaza which is 5*. One of the reasons must be through location, as the Plaza is at the other end of Karl Johann street next to the train and bus stations which are obvously in a more hectic area. If you come into the city from the airport by train, Karl Johann Street is about 25 mins walk end to end so the SAS Scandinavia (and whole city centre) is easily accessable. If you don't want to walk, a taxi ride to the SAS Scandinavia will take 5 mins and cost NOK 9.

Hotel staff are great, akin with my experience of the Norwegian people, has a nice bar on the top floor that looks out over the city and fjord. 5 mins to the north west of the hotel is the start of the longest shopping street in Norway (this is roughly in the opposite direction of Karl Johan street) and is where all the designer shops are and lots of bars and places to eat. This seemed to be slighty cheaper than the main centre, although in relevance to the pound or dollar, I'm not sure that anywhere in Oslo could be a called cheap. Around the top of this street (sorry can't remember the name) is Vigeland sculpture park.

Great City, Great Hotel

from mjb172
This was my first time to Oslo and thought the Radisson Scandi was wonderful. The rooms weren't huge and things were expensive, but that can be expected from Oslo. Here's the good and bad:

The good:
-Very nice, comfortable rooms
-Excellent bar on the top floor
-I had a whistling sound from the air conditioner that they were intent on fixing. I just checked-in after traveling 20 hours and they respected my wishes to leave it be for the time being.
-Very courteous staff
-Great location for walking down to the harbor , seeing the kings palace and other sights
-Wonderful workout facilities

The bad:
-Expensive phone, food, etc. (inherent in Oslo)
-No much of a place to eat for single travelers besides room service. The place downstairs is a bit stuffy.

I'd certainly stay at this hotel again and I'd almost give it an excellent rating. A word of note, the Radisson Scandi is not the one next to the train station. That's the Radisson Plaza.

one of the better places

from mariusbaa
The SAS is really a nice place to stay! Located right next to the train stationm it's a minute walk from the airport express.

The room was on 22nd floor, heading to the Holmenkolen mountain. The interior was Scaninavian chic, extra large bed, the bathroom was really a pleasure. It had a desk with all the amenities you need to work on your pc. Wifi was available for a reasonable price.

What I liked most was the bar on top of the hotel, I do not remember the floor, but it was >30 I think. We had a table for 6 people, very comfortable, great view, nice people, some tourists, but mainly Norwegian people relaxing and drinking.

Breakfast was really great, a mixture of standard-Euro-buffet and some Norwegian specialities. The salmon was awesome! A wide selection of bread, fresh fruits, juices and all that gave me good start to a busy day.

It's a five minute walk to downtown Norway and due to the fact that the SAS is by far the tallest building, it's almost impossible to get lost.

Staff was very polite and courtious, not too importunate.


Well, it is quite expensive though. But Norway in general is not a place for tightwads anyways: A subway sandwich (ok, the footlong) and two cans of Diet Dr. Pepper cost me around 25 Euros. At a regular subway place!

Just perfect

from A TripAdvisor Member
Can only reiterate others comments. Good location, tram stops right outside every 20 minutes without fail. Good room, renovated, with great view of fiord from 11th floor. Just request a good view on high floor. Even better view from bar on 21st floor. Excellent well organised buffet breakfast. Not 5* but very good and more than adequate. Staff mostly very helpful. Theres always one isn't there? Airport bus a wonderful bonus, don't try to walk from train stop with heavy cases as its uphill.
Oslo is a lovely city, quite modern, everyone speaks English. Prepare for expensive food and drink. Glass of wine about £5-£6 (very good quality though). Use the island ferries to get free fiord trips using Oslo transport pass card.

location hard to better

from reffin
Stayed here for four nights August 4 - 8, situation of hotel is ideal for access to harbour area with shopping and the main avenue of Karl Johan Gate.

As seen on another review on Tripadvisor, we were glad we had chosen to stay in this hotel at the quieter end near the Palace. Asked at desk on arrival for one of the refurbished rooms, but were told none available, given an upgrade to 22nd floor Business Class. Fantastic views over the Oslofjiord, but have to say the decor of room does look really tired and even for Business Class, more is not necessarily better.

One or two things we felt would put the hotel on par other Radissons we have stayed in were - Housekeeping; we noticed a cigarette (unlit) lying on the stairs from floor 21/22 and it was there for three of the days we were,as was a crumpled piece of paper and a large sticky looking stain on the black bench seat in the corridor outside the lift, same corner.One day we had no bathmat replaced and we were not entirely sure if surfaces and carpet had been cleaned.Reception - being summer there were a great number of Tour Parties, but surely the Management could find more than one person to staff a desk? On arrival we had to wait while a Tour Leader had EVERY SINGLE Guest Room allocated, on Departure we had to wait while two tour guests, probably only staying for one or two nights were found rooms nearer to each other, then not being aware of voltage differences, queried where they could find an adaptor,staff then disappeared to look for one they could borrow.Meanwhile there were more than ourselves becoming exasperated.

To be handed a customer satisfaction review when we finally got to the desk was not ideal. We did not have time to fill it in!!!The form is usually left in the room on the day before departure, by staff.

Breakfast was plentiful, what did concern us a little was the fact that to collect food involved a great deal of traversing the seated areas with laden plates and hot beverages.There were many children staying.

From the hotel it is possible to walk to all the major paces of interest in Central Oslo, taking the ferries to the Byogdy Museums, even the Vigtland Sculpture Park. Watch out for the prices in the cafe in the Visitor Centre,two Lattes and two brownies came to about £15 plus 5kr for the loo! 10krfor the privilege at the Bussterminal.

We had a quiet sandwich beside a little pond and stream in the Akerhus Castle complex in front of the information centre. The lawn on top of the castle wall facing the cruise ship terminal is a sun trap, it is the one with the cannons lining the seaward side.

We enjoyed our time in Oslo and found lots to appreciate, leaving more to do should we return, take your waterproof jacket and umbrella and you will be prepared for summer, don't forget the suncream ,we used that too!!

Outstanding hotel in an outstanding city

from KVA
Oslo is not what one expects. Everyone hears about Copenhagen and Stockholm, and figures its younger brother is just a quiet out-of-the-way capital. And then you get there. A bustling, young, unexpectedly dynamic city with great views of the Oslo Fjord, mountain trails within the city limits and ethnic neighborhoods, really good local restaurants, good mass transit, and great shopping make this city one hell of a sleeper. The SAS Radisson Scandinavia is kitty corner from the Royal Palace, a five minute walk from the National Theater (basically the center of downtown), and just a hop from the National Gallery. No need to go over the hotel's amenities, as it is a typical SAS Radisson with all the modern conveniences and great buffet breakfast, but I should mention that it is in a quite quiet location, and the front desk staff is great. If you stay here, use the lower level exits instead of the front, as it puts you right on the avenue leading to the center of town. This is one of those have-to-go-back places.

great location and view

from drewyorks
I stayed here at the end of June 2005. The staff were excellent, friendly with perfect english! Our room was located on the very top floor (21st). The room was a little dated. Hairdryer wasn't very powerful, and deco could do with an update. However, good tv, tv sound and phone in bathroom. excellent size bath, with shower and hand held shower. Great comfy beds with nice linen and best of all the most amazing view of oslo harbour.

Norweigen friends who visited the room, and who lived in oslo all their lives, said they had never seen their city from that height and they were impressed !

Like all scandanavian properties, they have the quaint way of the doors opening outwards into the corridor - so don't do what I did and complain I couldn't get into my room - they do open outwards !!!

I would recommend this hotel for tourists and business men alike.

Drew. Yorkshire

probably the best hotel in oslo

from A TripAdvisor Member
I've stayed in the Scandinavia 2 or 3 nights at least twice a month for the last year so have a lot of experience of the hotel. A lack of competition in Oslo (no Crowne Plaza, Marriott etc) means the hotel would not get more than a 3* rating anywhere else but is probably the best in Oslo. Certainly it's better than the other Radisson hotels in Oslo. About half the rooms have just been done up with a slightly futuristic, if possibly garish, look. Kettles are only in business rooms and there is a lack of english channels on the TV - CNN, Bloomberg/Discovery channel (depending on time of day) but Norwegian TV shows a lot of english and american shows in english. The Flybussen airport bus takes you to the door, is the last stop from the airport and goes every 20 minutes most times of day. The Flytoget airport train takes you to the National Theatre which is a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Staff are mostly helpful, occasionally very helpful and very occasionally plain awkward, especially on the phone, in my experience. The restaurant is rubbish but there are plenty of other restaurants nearby. Norwegian food is typical north European - not very exciting and extremely expensive. Breakfast is a plentiful buffet but not very exciting (especially after a year). Bar on 21st floor is a must see and I can recommend the mens toilet attached to the bar (I had better explain: you stand at the urinal with a glass wall in front of you, overlooking the city). 3rd and 4th floor rooms are noisy and have bad plumbing. Location is very good for a tourist being near the Palace.

Professional, caring staff!

from fairways
Stayed here over New Year's, which wasn't a busy time, but everything was wonderful. Upgraded to business class rooms and had a beautiful view. Breakfast buffet was huge and Scandinavian modern decor - bright and cheerful. Best Norwegian sweater shop in the basement shops of the hotel. Room was Very nice....not sure if they all looked like this. Have stayed in Oslo before and hadn't known about the wonderful shopping area next to here (Bogstadveien) for boutique shopping. Loved having the airport bus stop right in front of the hotel. Also close walking to Karl Johan's (more shopping!). Loved Oslo and this hotel with their wonderful staff (front desk, maids, waitresses, bartenders, and gift shop personnel!) Management must be well-liked!

Location, location

from UkCarl
After reading all the reviews of the RDSAS Scandinavia, I felt like giving all the readers some info of what to come. From Jan 2005 - Jun 2005 the hotel rooms (just about half) will be renovated and upgraded for the 30 years celebration as one of Oslo´s major landmark throughout the years in June. The rest of the rooms will get be renovated or get a "face lift" along the way. The trim room is soon to be fittid with new machines. And since this hotel has a really friendly staff and great location I wouldnt hesitate to go back to see what they have accompished. I stayed here in Jan 2005 and got this info from the friendly staff at the front desk, their Concierge knows everything it seems, always new suggestions on what to do and where to eat. Like other reveiws I would reccomend to upgrade to a business room since this gives you great view of the city and other things to make you comfortable.

Top Local Tips for Oslo

Take a little trek in the snow! We visited just before Christmas and to add a bit of magic for my young nephew, we jumped on the tram/metro to the end of the line at Frognerseteren. Covered in snow, we took a walk to a small kids' park then had hot chocolate in a wooden-clad cafe/restaurant, that was signposted and very acceptable. All-in-all, it was the highlight of the trip and provided hours of fun for all of us and proved to be very cost-effective.

train to airport superb fast and reasonable - compared with over priced taxis

Bring your umbrella In August, there was one rain shower after another.

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Other names for Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel

  • radisson oslo
  • oslo radisson
  • Address: 30 Holbersgate - Oslo - 0166 - Norway
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