Norway's third city looks expensive, but Trondheim keeps its best parts free: open fortress grounds, a 13-hectare botanical garden, a forest tramway and a student house pouring the country's cheapest beer. Three days here can run on very little.
Built 1682-84 after the great fire, the whitewashed donjon crowns a hill 60 m above Bakklandet. The ramparts and grounds are open year-round at no charge, and the tower interior opens free June through August.
The riverside workers' quarter east of the Nidelv, saved from 1960s demolition plans by resident protest. Ochre, red and mustard timber houses line Nedre and Øvre Bakklandet, and walking the cobbles costs nothing at all.
Norway's northernmost botanical garden covers 13 hectares of the old Ringve estate, with a renaissance parterre, herb beds and an arboretum of hardy northern trees. Open in daylight hours all year, always without a ticket.
The grass meadow below the cathedral apse, once the naval rigging yard. Locals grill here, swim off the Nidelv bank and wait for the Old Town Bridge lamps to come on. Open around the clock with no gate and no fee.
The fish hall at the harbour end of Munkegata has traded catch since the 1700s. Its counter serves creamy fiskesuppe from around 139 NOK and fried fish cakes in a bun for roughly 60 — the cheapest sit-down seafood downtown.
Trondheim's central square, laid out on Cicignon's 1681 street grid, with the Olav Tryggvason column doubling as a giant sundial gnomon. Summer stalls sell strawberries, flatbread and waffles for 30-60 NOK, and concerts here are free.
The old Trondhjems Mekaniske Verksted shipyard, rebuilt as a boardwalk of high-turnover eateries. Big Bite subs and Egon's weekday lunch land between 99 and 159 NOK, and the dock benches facing the marina cost nothing.
The round red 1929 hall on Elgeseter, run entirely by NTNU students. Beer is among the cheapest in Norway at roughly 55-75 NOK, and the Saturday Lørdagsmøte concerts undercut every commercial venue in the city.
The world's only bicycle lift, opened in 1993, pushes riders 130 m up the 20 percent Brubakken gradient beside the Old Town Bridge. A user card from the tourist office costs about 100 NOK; watching the launch is free.
Line 1 is the world's northernmost tramway, running 8.8 km from St. Olavs gate through the Byåsen villa hills and straight into forest. A single AtB ticket is about 46 NOK, or 130 NOK for 24 hours on all buses and trams.
The tram terminus opens onto Bymarka's 200 km of marked paths. Lianvatnet has a free public swimming beach, and the walk on to Grønlia or Skistua takes 40-60 minutes. Blueberries and cloudberries are yours to pick.
The 124 m telecom tower of 1985 dominates Tyholt; its revolving restaurant is expensive, but the open Kuhaugen ridge around it is public ground with a full sweep over the fjord, Munkholmen island and the Byneset hills.