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HI - Oslo Haraldsheim Hostel

Oslo (Grefsen)

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Address
Haraldsheimveien 4, Oslo (Grefsen), Oslo, Norway   Map
Price
Location/Contact
Details
HI - Oslo Haraldsheim Hostel Online Booking
Arrival Date:   Nights:  People: 
Their Description

Features

  • Free Breakfast
  • Kitchen
  • Lockers
  • Lounge / Common space
  • BBQ
  • Food/Restaurant
  • TV
  • Washing Machine (laundry)
  • Travel information provided
  • 24 Hour Free Hot Showers
  • Phones (public or in room)
  • Currency Exchange
 
The Hostelz.com Review
The Haraldsheim hostel is ok. It is expensive (even for Norway) and a long way out of town. The only real choice is getting tram four to Sinsenkrysset but the way is not very well signposted. If you are coming from Oslo Gardermoen airport it is probably easier (and quicker and cheaper) to get the bus to Grefsen station and walk around the corner to the hostel. Being four kilometers out of town would not be a problem if there was no curfew at midnight -- so nightlife options are necessarily restricted if one doesn't want to be locked out of the accommodation.

It is a YHA hostel and has all of the usual institutional rules and seems to attract a lot of families. The breakfast is a huge Norwegian buffet and of cold meats and cheeses. It is almost worth paying the extra amount to stay here just for the breakfast. It has two hundred seventy beds, so it is large and tends to attract school or family groups.

The kitchen area is the main common area although it is not big enough should all two hundred seventy hostellers want to eat at the same time. In summer the outside terrace gets quite busy with people eating there. There are plenty of wooden chairs and tables overlooking a large sports field between the hostel and the tram stop. The dorm rooms have four beds and is kept very tidy but there is an almost total lack of air conditioning and the windows don’t open so it is almost impossible to sleep in the heat during the summer. On the other hand, the beds are comfortable and the showers are reliable.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
June 2006


Ratings & Comments
4.2
6 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.
Comment by Mary Ellen Thoreson, USA
May 2008
I would choose this hostel over any other we stayed at
This is a great place. Clean, well maintained, helpful staff, laundry available, great breakfast (included), appropriately priced. I even liked the location -- refreshing to be away from the business of downtown Oslo and easily accessed by bus or tram. Looks out over a large playing field and has immediate access to walking and biking trails and frisbee golf. I recommend this hostel to anyone traveling to Oslo.
Comment by Ade, UK
February 2008
I love this place!
I was here a few winters ago and it was the coziest place I've ever stayed in! All the furniture was ikea and unusually for a hostel, proper duvets (quilts). It is a bit far from town but the tram stops at the bottom of the hill (bit difficult in a Norwegian winter). The breakfast is amazing! Seriously, probably one of the best I've ever had! If you're here in Winter the curfew shouldnt be a problem as it doesnt really get light anyway, is totally dark by 4 and probably about -15c by midnight!
Comment by AR, USA
October 2007
Fair
I read several reviews of this hostel before arriving. I expected it to be very hard to find, but it was not -- I got off the tram 17 from downtown, looked up the hill and saw the big HI logo on the side of the building. I had read that the place had lockers, but was surprised to learn that this meant essentially just safe-deposit boxes for 5 NOK. I don't think you could fit a laptop in one, for instance, not to mention a backpack or anything more substantial. There are cubbies in the rooms but there is no way of locking them. Be aware that if you bring your own sheets that means a bottom sheet and a duvet cover. Also be aware that while the hostel is not hard to see from the tram stop, it's hard to get there with a rolling suitcase -- the signposted path leads you on a tiny flagstone-paved walk through someone's garden, it seems. Staying here was a bit challenging for me because I was in a dorm room where people kept coming and going at midnight to 2 a.m., though I don't know how generally this occurs.
Comment by Karla, Mexico
July 2007
Far, but great breakfast
The best option for me was to take the tram 17 near the train station, it's far and you can lose lots of time waiting for the transport. But it is very clean. The staff were not too friendly but they have the a great breakfast buffet including cold meats, fish, breads, cereals -- which is worth it in Oslo, where a McDonald's regular burger meal deal costs 14 dls!
Comment by Rob
December 2005
Excellent hostel! Clean and tidy. Had the best hostel breakfast I had so far. It's a bit of a hike from the center of the city, but worthwhile.
Comment by Anonymous
October 2004
Oh my God, there is a GIANT hill, but overall staying here was a good experience. It has nice people, clean rooms, and affordable prices. What more can you ask for?
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