Private tours of Akershus Fortress and the Home Front Museum
Why this is the one listing that gets you through a door
Every other tour on this site walks past buildings. This one includes entry to Norway’s Home Front Museum, which is the best thing open inside the walls at the moment and the reason most people with a serious interest come to Akershus at all. The museum sits at the top of the fortress in a 17th-century building and covers 1940 to 1945: about 5,000 objects from the occupation years, around 40,000 photographs, over 600 shelf-metres of archives, plus a reading room and library. It is described properly on the Resistance Museum page.
Germany occupied the fortress after the 1940 invasion and used it as barracks, prison and execution site. Over 40 Norwegian resistance members were executed here, including members of the sabotage group Pelle-gruppa. On 17 March 1945 fourteen Norwegians were executed at the fortress, among them members of Operasjon Betongblanding; their remains were sunk in the Oslofjord, and in March 2025 underwater drones located seven of them. On 11 May 1945 the fortress was handed over to Terje Rollem on behalf of the Norwegian home forces, and a marker in front of the Commandant’s Residence records it. There are living families attached to all of this. A good guide handles it as history, and that is the register I would want from anyone I paid to walk me through it.
No reviews yet, and what to do about that
Saying it a third time, because it is the single most useful thing I can tell you about this listing: there is no rating and there are no reviews. Nobody has scored it. The case for it rests on what it contains — a licensed guide, a private group, a museum entry, a meeting point inside the fortress rather than across town — and not on anyone else’s experience. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before takes some of the risk out of that, and if you would rather have a track record, the walks on the guided tours page have thousands of reviews between them.
What the private tour includes
- A licensed guide, privately, for your group only
- Entry to Norway’s Home Front Museum
- Commentary on the occupation and the Norwegian resistance
- Round-trip private transport on the three-hour option
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
What no tour can include right now
- Entry to the fortress grounds, which are free to everyone
- Akershus Castle, the castle chapel and the Royal Mausoleum, closed to all visitors until further notice
- The official museum-run weekend tours, which are separate and not bookable online
Where you meet, and what that tells you
Myntgata 9 is inside the fortress complex, reached by following Myntgata from the police horse stables along the walls. Meeting there rather than at a city-centre statue means the tour starts where the material is, and it means you walk in through the gate yourself, free, before anyone has taken your booking reference. If you are unsure of the approach, how to get there covers the routes in from Oslo S and from the harbour promenade.
The grounds rise from the harbour and mix paths, slopes and stairs at varied levels, so give yourself a few minutes in hand. The walls are high in places and the official advice is to watch children near them. Anyone weighing step-free routes should read accessibility first — the major accessibility works are inside the castle, which is currently shut.
Inside the wallsNorway Home Front Museum Oslo Private Tour & Transport
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If the occupation years are the reason for your trip, put the museum first in the day and the rest of the fortress after. The material is heavy going and it reads better before you are tired.
Comparing this against everything else that takes in the fortress, including what you get for nothing, is the job of the all tours hub and the tickets page.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Akershus Fortress tours and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the private Home Front Museum tour any good?
I cannot tell you, and neither can anyone else yet — it is a new listing with no rating and no reviews. What I can tell you is what it contains: a licensed guide, a private group, entry to Norway’s Home Front Museum, two to three hours, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Judge it on that.
Where does the private tour meet?
In front of Festningen at Myntgata 9, inside the fortress complex, reached by following Myntgata from the police horse stables along the walls. You walk in through the gate yourself, which costs nothing — see the tickets page.
What is the difference between the two-hour and three-hour option?
The three-hour version adds round-trip private transport. The guiding and the museum entry are the same. If you are staying in central Oslo and happy to walk, the shorter option covers the same ground — how to get there has the walking routes.
Can a private guide take me inside Akershus Castle?
No. The castle, the castle chapel and the Royal Mausoleum are closed to all visitors until further notice following the death of King Harald V, and no private booking changes that. The Resistance Museum is open and ticketed, and it is where the private tour goes.