Take the bus out to Frognerseteren where you'll find marked trails leading to Tryvannstua refuge, Ullevalseter refuge, and then on to Sognsvann (about 18km in all). Dark pine forests alternate with trembling delicate silver birch; there are secret ponds in the forest, lakes, marshes full of lurid green moss, where your boots squelch as you tread; tracks that scramble over pine roots and rock, and lakeside trails. The major trails are well marked, though you take minor paths at your peril - I walked an extra 3 or 4 kilometres in a circle at one point! From Sognsvann, you can take the railway back to the centre of town in just 15 minutes.

Frogneseteren station, reached by bus (train line under repair) from Majorstuen.
Google map: tinyurl.com/33chyvb

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You'll need a bike to get out of the city and on to Bygdoy - there is a bus, but it only goes to the museums. Cycling through the royal estate, through hayfields and pine forests, you'll come first to a lovely sandy cove at Paradisbukta, and then to Huk, at the very end of the peninsula, where you can swim clad (near the restaurant) or naked (a little further north). A little touch of wilderness 20 minutes' bike ride from City Hall.

Google map: tinyurl.com/34jxyzy

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An island in the Oslo fjord. The ferry is cheap, or free if you have one of the travel cards on offer, and it takes about half an hour. Some travel guides are in need of updating. There is no longer a campsite on the island so any listed phone number is obsolete. Anyone can go out on spec and pitch a tent - office parties, overnight school trips. Yet the island is big enough to get away from that if you want. Great place to chill out with a few beers or to do a bit of swimming in the summer. Hard to believe it's so close to the city

Catch the bus in the centre for Vipitengen Pier.

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Vigeland Park is a huge park in which to stroll and browse the sculptures of Vigeland - both bronze and stone – which are overwhelming in their beauty and size. The children I was with were climbing all over the sculptures at the top of the stairs, near the monolith crawling with naked stone bodies! What a wonderful experience. Ideal in summer, but lovely in winter too.

Right in the centre of Oslo;
www.visitoslo.com/Vigeland-Sculpture-Park/

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The National Gallery in Oslo has an interesting and varied collection of paintings and sculpture, including Monet, Picasso, Munch and Vigeland.

Universitetsgate 13, N-0164 Oslo (behind the Law Faculty of the university);
tel: 47 2220 0404;
www.nasjonalmuseet.no

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The park can be found in western Oslo, and has hundreds of statues by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland, a man obsessed with the body and its relationship with nature. In summer, the kids will enjoy the nearby waterpark, in winter they can skate at the ice-rink.

Main entrance: Kirkeveien

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500 metres above sea level on a hill opposite Ekeberg restaurant, Frognerseteren offers a higher vantage-point of the city, with a superb panorama of the fjord and its islands. And you can get there by tube in just half an hour.

Metro line 1, Frognerseteren station

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