Gifts From Oslo to Take Home (That Aren’t Trolls)

The best gifts to bring home from Oslo are the things Norwegians themselves eat, drink and wear: brunost, Freia chocolate, coffee from an Oslo roaster, a wool blanket or sweater, or glass and porcelain from a Norwegian maker. Small food gifts cost NOK 50 to 300; wool and design run NOK 500 to several thousand. Skip the trolls. Nobody in Norway owns one.

What Norwegians bring when they travel

Ask a Norwegian what they bring to friends abroad and you will rarely hear "souvenir". You will hear brunost, chocolate and, from the ones who have lived abroad, "the stuff they can't get there". The best Oslo gifts work the same way. They are everyday Norwegian things that happen to be impossible to buy at home.

That rules out most of the shops along Karl Johans gate. Plush moose, troll figures and Viking helmets with horns (which Vikings did not wear) are made for tourists, and your friends will know it. You can do better without spending more.

Food: the gifts that get eaten

1. Brunost and a cheese slicer

Brunost, the sweet, caramel-coloured brown cheese, is the most Norwegian food there is, and it divides foreigners neatly into converts and the horrified. Buy a block of the classic Gudbrandsdalsost from Tine in any grocery store for under NOK 100. Add an ostehøvel, the cheese slicer a Norwegian invented in the 1920s, from Jernia or Tilbords, and you have a gift that explains itself. Brunost must be sliced thin. Tell them.

2. Chocolate and sweets

Freia Melkesjokolade is the national chocolate, and Kvikk Lunsj (a wafer bar Norwegians eat on every ski trip) is the national hiking snack. Smash, a salty-sweet corn snack covered in chocolate, is the one that converts people abroad. All are in any grocery store for NOK 20–60. For a Christmas gift, look for the seasonal boxes from Freia and Nidar.

3. Coffee from an Oslo roaster

Norwegians drink more coffee than almost anyone, and Oslo has some well-known roasters. Tim Wendelboe on Grünerløkka is the name coffee people abroad will recognise. Kaffebrenneriet has cafés all over the city. Expect NOK 150–250 for a bag. Coffee travels well and does not set off any customs alarms. Read more about Norway's coffee habit in coffee and Norwegian food.

If you want the coffee to say something, the custom coffee from Byvoks (NOK 349) is freshly roasted, whole beans or filter ground, with your own title and text on the label: "Greetings from a country where coffee is a personality", or the name of the street you lived on. It is made to order, so order it a few days before you fly, and it costs more than a bag from a café. Full disclosure: Working with Norwegians and Byvoks are run by the same person, Sean Percival.

4. Something from Mathallen

Mathallen, the food hall at Vulkan by the Akerselva river, has Norwegian cheese, cured meats, flatbread and seasonal specialities under one roof. It is the easiest place to put together a small Norwegian food box in one stop. Ask the counters to vacuum-pack anything that needs to survive a flight.

5. Aquavit

Aquavit is the Norwegian spirit, made from potatoes and flavoured with caraway, and Linie aquavit famously crosses the equator in oak barrels before it is bottled. Buy it at Vinmonopolet, which is closed on Sundays. It must go in checked luggage, and your destination decides how many bottles you can bring without paying duty.

Wool, glass and design: the gifts that last

6. A Røros Tweed blanket

Røros Tweed makes wool blankets in the mining town of Røros, and they are on sofas and in cabins all over Norway. They are expensive, expect NOK 1,500 and up, but a blanket is the gift that best captures the Norwegian idea of koselig. It is bulky, so plan your luggage.

7. A Dale of Norway sweater

The patterned Norwegian wool sweater is the real version of the thing tourists buy in acrylic. Dale of Norway is the best-known maker, and the price reflects it: several thousand kroner. For a cheaper nod to the same tradition, a pair of wool mittens or a hat is a better gift than a machine-made sweater from a souvenir shop.

8. Glass and porcelain

Hadeland Glassverk is one of the oldest glassworks in Norway, and a pair of their glasses is a light, giftable piece of Norwegian design. Porsgrund and Figgjo make the porcelain and stoneware found in Norwegian kitchens. A pair of mugs or a small bowl costs NOK 300–700. Pack it in your clothes.

9. Design and craft shops

Norway Designs and Pur Norsk sell Norwegian design, from kitchenware to textiles, and are good places to find something small and well made. Norsk Flid Husfliden sells traditional crafts, knitting yarn and the silver jewellery worn with a bunad. A small piece of bunad silver is a beautiful, expensive and very Norwegian gift for the right person.

What to buy for whom

• Colleagues back home: a big box of Freia or Smash for the office. Done.
• Parents: glass, porcelain or a blanket. Something that sits in their house and reminds them where you live.
• The friend who cooks: brunost, a cheese slicer and something from Mathallen.
• The coffee snob: beans from an Oslo roaster, ground or whole as they prefer.
• Someone who has visited Norway: something that references the trip. The cabin they stayed in, the fjord they saw, the street you showed them.

At Christmas: seasonal gifts from Oslo

From November, the grocery shelves fill with things you can only buy in Norway for a few weeks a year, and they make the best gifts of all for people abroad. Christmas editions of Freia chocolate, marzipan pigs, seasonal coffee blends sold as julekaffe, and julebrus, the Christmas soda, if you are driving rather than flying. Oslo's Christmas markets, including the one at Spikersuppa near Karl Johans gate, sell knitwear, wooden decorations and food from small producers. Prices there are tourist prices, but the products are often local and handmade.

If the gift is for someone who has never been to Norway, add a short note explaining what it is and how Norwegians use it. Brunost without instructions has caused more confusion abroad than any other Norwegian export.

Packing and customs, in general terms

Solid food like cheese, chocolate and coffee can go in hand luggage. Liquids, including jam, honey in some airports and anything in a bottle, follow the 100 ml rule in hand luggage. Alcohol must go in checked bags. Import rules for meat, dairy and alcohol depend on where you are flying to, and are stricter for many countries outside the EU and EEA. If you are bringing more than a couple of bottles or anything fresh, check the rules for your destination before you shop.

Norwegian VAT is high, and shops that offer tax-free shopping for visitors from outside the Nordic region will tell you so at the till. Bring your passport.

More gift guides

Going to dinner rather than going home? See what to bring to a Norwegian dinner party. Want the gift to make someone laugh? Read funny gifts that land with Norwegian humour. Visiting a cabin before you leave? Our guide to cabin gifts in Norway has you covered. And if you are still in town for a few days, our Oslo travel guide and Oslo neighbourhoods guide show where to go.

For every other occasion, start with our overview ofgift-giving in Norway.