Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel

“Great location, fabulous views, luxurious hotel”

Completely impressed by this gorgeous luxury hotel! We stayed three nights in a row in October and one night in November, 2024. We chose a room with a fjord view each time, and the room in October was on the top rooms floor (below the fantastic The Top Bar). The bathtub was deep and wide and th… more

Completely impressed by this gorgeous luxury hotel! We stayed three nights in a row in October and one night in November, 2024. We chose a room with a fjord view each time, and the room in October was on the top rooms floor (below the fantastic The Top Bar). The bathtub was deep and wide and the perfect way to relax after 4-6 miles of walking beautiful Oslo each day. The shower had good water pressure, the bath/shower products provided were high quality and the towels were extra large and fluffy! The bathroom floor was heated, which was a nice addition. The bed was big and comfy, the pillows were fluffy, the room had a temperature control (we turned it down because we preferred things on the cooler side) so we were very comfy. Most importantly… The room was CLEAN and QUIET! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Seriously. I normally suffer from insomnia… But I slept so well here! Staying somewhere clean, quiet, and safe are my TOP priorities at any hotel. The front desk folks were absolutely wonderful! So friendly, so nice, so professional. They do get quite busy, however. So, just to be aware of the fact that if you try to call during a busy time, they will not answer (We had to call one evening for some extra toilet paper—our room was not stocked—just a couple 1/4 rolls—the only true glitch from an otherwise perfect stay. But we went downstairs to the front desk, and it was absolutely no problem to get toilet paper, as well as extra coffee). The entire hotel just feels really high-quality. Beautiful design, everything clean and luxurious. They have a bar right in to the lobby as well as a Chicago style pizza and beer place that is almost constantly showing football games (awesome!)— The only bummer about this spot was that they didn’t offer any vegan options. There is also a very busy, trendy bar on the top floor where we had a few drinks on our last night. It was very busy, but the views were great and the bartender was very professional/delightful. There are also several pubs, cafés, delis, convenience stores, bakeries, etc in close walking distance—and the bustling train station is just minutes away. So, the location is absolutely fantastic! Pro tip: pay a little extra and get a room with a view. It’s worth it! We are not rich, “fancy” people 😂. This hotel was pure luxury to us. But it was surprisingly reasonable, compared to prices of basic hotels on the West Coast of the USA. We will definitely stay at this hotel more often in the future and absolutely seek it out now. >>>We had never stayed at a Radisson Blu before. But, on this trip, we stayed at this hotel four days total as well as as a Radisson Blu one night in Trondheim and a Radisson Blu two nights in Stockholm, Sweden. All three hotels were beautiful, very clean, quiet, and had beautiful waterfront locations (chosen absolutely intentionally), but this Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel was definitely the nicest. We did not include the breakfast, which, unlike the Scandic Hotel (which we stayed at in Tromso, Norway), was not free… because we assumed there would probably not be enough vegan and vegetarian options to justify the price, but this really didn’t matter. There were plenty of eating options nearby. And, they offered really fresh, high-quality fruit every morning down in the lobby. Just a simple bowl of fruit, but each day it had something tasty… Oranges or Asian pears or apples. And not your typical soft, crummy hotel fruit, but crunchy fresh fruit. It’s a small detail, but I found it. Impressive. It was a bit of a bummer that none of the hotel rooms offered a refrigerator or microwave, to store/heat leftovers from nearby restaurants and cafés, but we got by just fine. They did have tasty Nespresso coffee machines and teas in each room—thank goodness. The one thing that could be improved… And this seemed to be kind of a typical Scandinavian thing… It was really difficult to find a place to do laundry. This hotel offers laundry service, but it’s very expensive. My husband’s cousin, who moved to Oslo, Norway a couple of years ago, did inform us of a couple of laundromats in the city, one even served food and drinks, but we ended up not really having the time to visit either. His cousin has a washing machine we used, but no dryer. This is apparently a typical thing in a lot of Europe. Kudos to people for being so environmentally friendly and wanting to be sustainable— but, when you’re traveling for 2-3 weeks and changing hotels/cities every 1-3 days, hoping wet/washed clothes will dry overnight is a little stressful. Many hotels in the states offer self-service washers and dryers you can use with a credit card. This would have made things much easier. Just a suggestion. Pro tip: if you are vegan or vegetarian, I highly recommend buying food at the Espresso House in the train station (they had several delicious pastry and sandwich options, daily). And, I also highly recommend getting yourself to the waterfront and eating at KUMI—which we walked to. Really fresh and delicious food. And I recommend doing the KOK dry sauna/cold fjord plunge experience on the waterfront as well—which we also walked to. I also highly recommend visiting the beautiful Ekebergparken (Ekeberg Park), which is an easy public tram ride away.

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