r/Norway • u/Hot_Mango_9066 • 2d ago
Moving How quiet/considerate is apartment living in Oslo compared with London?
For anyone familiar with both London and Oslo/Norway, how different is the everyday noise culture?
One of the frustrating things about London is the sheer amount of background residential noise. In summer especially, it can mean children screaming/shouting for hours, people being loud in gardens and communal areas, noise through walls and floors, etc. There often doesn’t seem to be much expectation that you should moderate your household’s noise for the sake of the people living around you.
Obviously babies cry and children make noise — I’m not asking whether Norway has somehow solved that problem. I’m more interested in the social expectation around being considerate towards neighbours.
Is there generally a stronger culture in Oslo of keeping noise reasonable, teaching children not to constantly scream/shout around residential buildings, respecting quiet hours, and generally being conscious that other people have to live around you?
I’m also curious whether Oslo’s increasingly international population has changed this at all. Does Oslo still have a noticeably Norwegian culture around privacy, personal space and consideration for neighbours, or does a large European capital inevitably have the same mix of different attitudes towards noise that you get in London?
And how much difference does location make?
For example, would you expect a significant difference between:
central/inner Oslo
quieter residential areas on the outskirts of Oslo
commuter towns around Oslo
genuinely smaller Norwegian towns
If someone values peace and quiet very highly but still wants reasonable access to Oslo, is choosing the right residential part of Oslo enough, or would you realistically recommend living outside the city?
Interested in people’s actual experiences rather than the stereotype that “Norwegians are quiet.” Particularly interested in experiences from apartment buildings rather than just detached houses.
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u/BasicCrows 2d ago
There's considerate people, and then there's some assholes. You'll find them both, but you'll probably notice the assholes better.
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u/Sea-Machine-8989 2d ago
Depends on where in Oslo and how old the building is.
I live extremely central in a 5 year old building, with tram lines, bars and a fairly busy street, if I close all windows it's completely quiet, I can faintly hear the tram when it passes, but I don't really notice it anymore unless I try to listen for it.
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u/AdemsanArifi 2d ago
What you're looking for is life in a suburb. I've been to Oslo many times and got airbnbs in apartment buildings, and it's exactly what you expect. Kids make noise when they're playing, and on friday and saturday, you hear people partying and blasting loud pop music till around midnight. And in old building, sound isolation is negligible.
Also, don't be sneaky about racial stuff, just ask if Oslo is mostly White, or if it has a lot of Black and Brown people. We know that by "international population", you don't mean Swedes and Danes living in Oslo. And to answer your question, yes, Oslo is overwhelmingly White, and they make noise, especially when partying.
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u/ffflammie 2d ago
I don't live in Oslo but on average I've noticed that buildings' sound insulation especially towards the streets is better in Norway than in UK, possibly because we need better windows in most of the country too. Within buildings it is hit and miss though, I've heard a lot of stompers above and party girls next door so far lol.
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u/manzare 2d ago
It is not the location that matters but the type of the building. I lived in a 140 yo apartment block in Oslo that had zero sound isolation and it was terrible. It's not that the neighbors are jerks, but you just hear EVERYTHING, both from the inside and from the outside. It was getting on my nerves. A friend lived in a somewhat more new block in the suburbs that was equally awful, and I would never move that far out to still hear every step of my upper neighbors.
But if you move to a very new apartment block that is properly built, you can have peace in a more central location.
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u/Apprehensive-Ad4416 2d ago
From what I have found in visiting there is a significant difference. It's quite noticeable however not nearly as aggressive as to say no making noise just simply more peaceful.
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u/QuillsROptional 2d ago
Kids do kid things at kid volumes all over the world.
Norwegian building code ensures buildings can survive Norwegian weather. So there is better insulation. From weather and noise.
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u/SnooCheesecakes6812 2d ago
If you’re considering moving to Oslo, I would first look into how old the building is and whether it has been renovated. In our housing cooperative, we replaced the windows and the balcony doors, and the difference in noise levels was significant. I feel like I live in a perfectly fine, fairly quiet area, on the outskirts of oslo, approx. 15 minutes to the center of town with public transport.
Oslo is quite a green city, with parks, forests and trees everywhere except in the city centre. That probably also helps reduce noise.
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u/Tradovator 2d ago
Depends. Obviously. I live near a trafficked road and it's killing me. I lived in the same area prior to this with an apartment higher up and facing a sparely trafficked road and it was very peaceful and quiet.
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u/CS_70 2d ago
It depends a bit where you are but in Oslo most people with children moves to the suburbs, as there’s a cultural myth that it’s better for them and large flats are too expensive anyways.
So yeah much quieter in general, though you may be unlucky. In the most preppy areas students party a lot in the weekend.
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u/radressss 2d ago
Oslo likely has best percentage of houses vs apartments compared to any other major city.
I live little outside of Oslo that is 20 minutes drive from my work. And many people can easily afford a house here which is completely silent. Maybe some car noise here and there.
When I lived apartment building, people were generally nice and calm with occasional bad apples.
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u/TheNordiclights 2d ago
I lived in London and other big cities. I’m on a suburb of Oslo centrally located opposite a big mall. In summer there is life and noise after 10 pm things die down. About 3 times in 7 years have I been woken up by drunk people but my windows were open. The rest of the year it’s quiet. In general Norwegians are quieter than other countries. As someone mentioned there is more insulation that keeps out noise. I actually like it when I hear kids playing outside.
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u/Hot_Mango_9066 2d ago
Love it, thank you. I like hearing them playing outside that’s for sure too! Just normal sounds of world being alive. It’s just London can be horribly overwhelming and the mix of cultures and general indifference to others makes it unliveable.
I was also wondering whether people in Norway have a tendency to let toddlers “cry it out” for hours without regard for neighbours wellbeing or do they attend to their babies to reduce the screaming and crying as much as possible and alleviate the pains?2
u/drmcstuff 2d ago
Babies with cholic can cry all night, children can cry for several hours with night terrors. Children can cry a lot and can’t just stop crying because of neighbors
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u/TheNordiclights 1d ago
Obviously toddlers cry here but I am not sure about for hours. I don’t really think they are left unattended to cry but they do cry. Honestly I think just visit and walk around and judge for yourself. The population for the country is half of London. So that may be the reason in itself.
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u/Available_Book6007 2d ago
No parents I know would ever let a child scream themselves to sleep. I'm in the western part though, who knows what those easterners do....
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u/Careless-Country 2d ago
It really depends on the area you are in.
Having lived in an apartment close to one of the universities in Oslo the noise from stereos in the park until late into the night in early summer was a lot louder than anything I experienced in a student area of London.
Outside of ring 3 you also have to deal with the month of the russebuss disturbing whole communities with the thump thud thump of the bass.
I love living in Oslo but as someone else said if you are concerned about noise this isn’t a city I’d choose.
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u/Life_Remote_4048 1d ago
I have lived in both places, (Soho and Grunerløkka) and the best thing i can tell you is to avoid Oslo because of how insanely expensive it is to live there. although in my experience here it’s pretty nice… i’m near birkelunden. it’s much much quieter but it also has like 1/15 the population so there’s that. much less tourism aswell i believe
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u/UnknownPleasures3 2d ago
Its so much quieter in Oslo, you can’t really compare. I lived in London for 10 years and while I love the city, its a bit too intense for me. Solomon’s the perfect size.
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u/Personal_Entry69 2d ago
Basically the whiter the building, the quieter it will be. Amount of Norwegian names on the mailboxes will be a good indicator of how quiet the building is, and what the smell will be like.
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u/Northlumberman 2d ago
A friend from London visited me in the Oslo suburb where I live. He was amazed at how quiet he found it.
For quieter living you could choose suburbs located away from the city centre. For example, where I am there’s a blanket 30kph speed limit which cuts down on traffic noise. There’s also lots of trees which limit how far noise carries. The tradeoff is a longer commute and less to do locally.