Akershus Fortress tickets: what you actually need
The grounds have never been ticketed
I answered this question several thousand times across four winters at the visitor centre desk and it is still the first thing I want to fix. There is no gate ticket, no booking, no queue. You walk in. The main gate runs 06:00–21:00 all year. The side gates keep shorter hours: 07:00–21:00 on weekdays and 08:00–21:00 at weekends from 1 May to 30 September, then 07:00–18:00 daily from 1 October to 30 April. If you are arriving late, use the main gate. The full timetable, including the museums, sits on opening hours, and the plain answer to the money question is on is Akershus Fortress free.
One thing that catches people out: Akershus is a working military headquarters. The Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister’s office all sit inside the walls. That is why the gates have hours at all, why drones are banned outright, and why most of the doors you walk past do not open to the public. Visitors read a closed door as bad timing. Usually that building was simply never open to them.
What is ticketed, and shut
Akershus Castle, the castle chapel and the Royal Mausoleum are the ticketed interiors, and all three have been closed to all visitors since King Harald V died on 28 August 2026. He was interred at Akershus after the state funeral on 9 September. Forsvarshistorisk museum’s notice says they stay closed until further notice, and no reopening date has been published. The grounds and the two museums reopened on 11 September 2026.
I am not going to guess at a reopening. If you are travelling soon, plan the visit around the grounds and the museums and treat the castle as a bonus you will probably not get. What is behind those doors, written in the conditional because you cannot currently go through them, is on Akershus Castle and the Royal Mausoleum.
What is ticketed, and open
Two museums inside the walls are open and sell tickets:
Open and ticketed
- Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum, Norway’s Resistance Museum, at the top of the fortress in a 17th-century building. It covers 1940–1945 and holds about 5,000 objects, around 40,000 photographs and over 600 shelf-metres of archives. Daily 10:00–16:00 from 11 September 2026 to 30 April 2027, and daily 10:00–17:00 from 1 June to 31 August. Free entry with the Oslo Pass.
- Forsvarsmuseet, the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum, in a historic arsenal building that has been on the site since 1860. Norwegian military history from the 1400s onward, naval warfare, the union with Sweden, international operations. Daily 10:00–16:00 from 1 September to 23 December, and daily 10:00–17:00 from 1 May to 31 August.
- A combined ticket covering all three museums, sold at the visitor centre — the long red building by Karpedammen, which also has drop-in guided tours, a shop and refreshments.
Not currently available
- Akershus Castle — closed until further notice.
- The castle chapel — closed with the castle.
- The Royal Mausoleum — closed with the castle.
- The fortress grounds — not because they are shut, but because there is no ticket to sell you.
The Resistance Museum is the best thing open inside the walls right now, and I would give it the bulk of your time. I have written it up in detail on the Resistance Museum page. The Armed Forces Museum has not closed and has not moved, whatever you may have read; it was renamed and restructured under Forsvarshistorisk museum on 1 January 2025.
Where the Oslo Pass fits
The Oslo Pass gives free entry to over 30 museums and attractions, free Ruter public transport in zones 1, 2, 3, 4V and 4N, and free Vy local trains to and from Oslo Airport Gardermoen. For Akershus specifically: Akershus Castle and the Resistance Museum are free with it, the official guided tours are not, and the grounds are free to everyone anyway, so the Pass buys you nothing at the gate. Whether it covers the Armed Forces Museum I have not been able to verify, so I am not going to claim it either way.
The official fortress guided tours are run by the museum, not by us and not through any booking site: Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 and 14:00 in English, 13:00 and 15:00 in Norwegian, about 55 minutes. They are not included in the Oslo Pass. If your dates line up, they are the closest thing to an in-house tour of the place.
So what does a GetYourGuide booking actually get you?
Worth being blunt, because the search term that brings people here suggests they expect otherwise. Booking a tour does not buy you entry to Akershus Fortress. It cannot, because entry is free. What it buys is one of four things: a guide’s time on the grounds, a museum entry in the case of the private Home Front Museum tour, a seat on a boat that shows you the headland from the water, or a seat on a bus that saves you the climb from the harbour.
The one listing that includes an actual ticket to anything is the private Home Front Museum tour: a licensed guide plus entry to the museum, meeting in front of Festningen at Myntgata 9, two to three hours, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. It is a new listing with no rating and no reviews yet, which you should weigh yourself.
If what you want is context rather than a door, a guided walk does that for less commitment. All six tours that take in the fortress, and what each one is honestly for, are ranked on the all tours hub.
Book nothing for the castle. There is no waitlist, no advance ticket and no queue to skip, and any listing that implies otherwise is describing the fortress before 28 August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a ticket to enter Akershus Fortress?
No. The fortress grounds are free and have never charged admission. The main gate is open 06:00–21:00 every day of the year and nobody checks anything on the way in. Side gates close earlier, especially in winter — the timetable is on opening hours.
Can I buy tickets for Akershus Castle or the Royal Mausoleum?
Not at the moment. The castle, the castle chapel and the Royal Mausoleum have been closed to all visitors since King Harald V died on 28 August 2026, and the museum’s notice says they stay closed until further notice. No reopening date has been published. See Akershus Castle for what is behind those doors.
Which parts of Akershus Fortress are ticketed right now?
Two: Norway’s Resistance Museum and the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum, both open, both inside the walls. A combined ticket covering all three museums is sold at the visitor centre by Karpedammen. The Resistance Museum is the one I would prioritise.
Does the Oslo Pass cover Akershus Fortress?
The grounds are free to everyone, so the Pass makes no difference at the gate. It does give free entry to Akershus Castle, whenever the castle reopens, and to the Resistance Museum. The official museum-run guided tours are not included in the Pass.
What do I actually get if I book a tour online?
A guide, or a boat seat, or a bus seat — not fortress entry, which is free. The private Home Front Museum tour is the only listing that includes a museum ticket. Everything else is commentary, and the options are compared on the all tours hub.