KEY POINTS: Everything that changes in Norway in July 2024
The official three-week joint holiday, the summer's biggest and best festivals, and the annual memorial of the Utøya massacre. Here's what's happening in one of Norway's busiest and most idyllic months.
Norway goes on holiday
The joint holiday, referred to as fellesferie, will take place between July 8th and Friday, July 26th, in Norway.
This period in Norway sees many companies close or heavily reduce their operations for the summer to allow staff to take a holiday. In many cases, firms can also make staff take a holiday during this period.
The aim of the joint holiday is to ensure that everyone has time off at a time when kids are on their school holidays, and the weather in Norway is typically the warmest.
For those visiting the biggest cities and smaller towns, you can expect some businesses, shops and restaurants to close their doors or operate under reduced hours during this time.
The school holidays started on Norway on June 21st and will continue right up until August 19th.
Law changes
There will be a number of law changes in Norway from July 1st. Firstly, new rules should make things easier for energy customers. Furthermore, there will be new working laws put in places, and there will be a ban on the sale of flavoured vapes. Leasing a car will also become more expensive under new VAT laws.
The Local has rounded up the most important law changes next month.
READ MORE: The key law changes in Norway in July that you need to know about
Summer festivals
July is arguably the peak month for summer festivals in Norway. From July 3rd to 6th, the Stavernfestivalen takes place in the small town of Stavern in Larvik Municipality, outside Oslo, with stars such as Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, and Burna Boy all on the bill this year.
Tønsberg, an hour south of Oslo, hosts the Slottsfjell festival between July 10th and July 11th, with an eclectic mix of acts, including Doja Cat from the US, Zara Larsson from Sweden, and from Norway Arif & Stig and indie rockers Kaizer's Orchestra.
In Tromsø, the Bukta open air festival takes place between July 19th and July 20th, and is something of a throwback to the late 1990s with US indie rock band The War on Drugs and the Sweden indie rock band The Cardigans headlining.
The Molde International Jazz Festival, also known as Moldejazz, is among the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It takes place every year in July – this year, the festival will run from July 15th to 20th – and it has been bringing joy to jazz lovers in Norway since 1961.
READ ALSO: The top music festivals in Norway this summer
Norway marks 13 years since the Utøya massacre
Norway will commemorate the 13th anniversary of the brutal twin terror attack carried out on July 22nd by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
The attack saw a bomb set off in Oslo before Breivik headed to the holiday youth camp for young people associated with the Labour Party and opened fire on the people on the island while dressed as a police officer.
A permanent memorial has been erected on the island of Utøya, where Breivik carried out the shooting. The country is currently deciding between a set of proposals for a similar permanent memorial at the site of the attack on the government quarter in Oslo.
Expect standard Norwegian summer weather
Marek Ratajczak, a forecaster at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told The Local that July was shaping up to be "quite usual for the Norwegian climate", with a few days of sunshine, followed by a few days of colder weather, and dry days interspersed with rainy days.
"What the forecasts show is that there is a higher probability of low pressure systems in the Scandinavian region, which means that the weather will probably be changing a bit, like it has been doing in now in June. So we will have some cold days and some warm days."
Yr expects the highest temperatures on the weekend of the second week of July, when temperatures could hit 25C in Oslo, 20C in Bergen, and 17C in Tromsø.
READ ALSO: What is the weather going to be like during Norway's main holiday month?
Recreational boats banned from discharging sewage in Oslofjörd
From July 1st, all yachts and motorboats will be banned from discharging their septic tanks into the Oslofjörd, with boats instead required to use the 43 dedicated sewage facilities at marinas around the area.
"The situation in the Oslo Fjord is critical," Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said in a press release announcing the measure at the end of May. "A healthy fjord will be a joy for many, not least people who spend the summer in and on the water."
Bergen extends legal pub opening hours
People in Bergen will from July 1st be able to sup on first pint of the day a little earlier, after the city authorities brought forward the earliest legal pub opening hour from 8am to 6am. The change also extends the legal opening hours for outdoor establishments to 1am.
While the the more liberal opening hours will also apply on May 1st and May 17th, they will not on other public holidays, when pubs will only be able to open from midday.
LO work inspections begin
The country's largest trade union umbrella, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), will continue its annual summer workplace inspections until July 11th, after starting on June 24th.
Every summer, the union umbrella's "summer patrol" inspects the workplaces of young people in summer jobs. It does so to ensure that workers' rights are being protected. The union typically visits over 6,000 businesses each summer.
For three years in a row, the summer patrol has found an increasing number of violations of the Working Environment Act.
Norway's final Iceland store to close
The last remaining branch of the English supermarket chain Iceland will close at some point in July, store bosses have confirmed to The Local. The company will continue to import products from the UK to sell wholesale in Norway.
The franchise started in Norway in 2018 and grew to six stores before closures began to hit the chain.
READ MORE: Brits in Oslo mourn impending closure of last Iceland supermarket
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Norway goes on holiday
The joint holiday, referred to as fellesferie, will take place between July 8th and Friday, July 26th, in Norway.
This period in Norway sees many companies close or heavily reduce their operations for the summer to allow staff to take a holiday. In many cases, firms can also make staff take a holiday during this period.
The aim of the joint holiday is to ensure that everyone has time off at a time when kids are on their school holidays, and the weather in Norway is typically the warmest.
For those visiting the biggest cities and smaller towns, you can expect some businesses, shops and restaurants to close their doors or operate under reduced hours during this time.
The school holidays started on Norway on June 21st and will continue right up until August 19th.
Law changes
There will be a number of law changes in Norway from July 1st. Firstly, new rules should make things easier for energy customers. Furthermore, there will be new working laws put in places, and there will be a ban on the sale of flavoured vapes. Leasing a car will also become more expensive under new VAT laws.
The Local has rounded up the most important law changes next month.
READ MORE: The key law changes in Norway in July that you need to know about
Summer festivals
July is arguably the peak month for summer festivals in Norway. From July 3rd to 6th, the Stavernfestivalen takes place in the small town of Stavern in Larvik Municipality, outside Oslo, with stars such as Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, and Burna Boy all on the bill this year.
Tønsberg, an hour south of Oslo, hosts the Slottsfjell festival between July 10th and July 11th, with an eclectic mix of acts, including Doja Cat from the US, Zara Larsson from Sweden, and from Norway Arif & Stig and indie rockers Kaizer's Orchestra.
In Tromsø, the Bukta open air festival takes place between July 19th and July 20th, and is something of a throwback to the late 1990s with US indie rock band The War on Drugs and the Sweden indie rock band The Cardigans headlining.
The Molde International Jazz Festival, also known as Moldejazz, is among the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It takes place every year in July – this year, the festival will run from July 15th to 20th – and it has been bringing joy to jazz lovers in Norway since 1961.
READ ALSO: The top music festivals in Norway this summer
Norway marks 13 years since the Utøya massacre
Norway will commemorate the 13th anniversary of the brutal twin terror attack carried out on July 22nd by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
The attack saw a bomb set off in Oslo before Breivik headed to the holiday youth camp for young people associated with the Labour Party and opened fire on the people on the island while dressed as a police officer.
A permanent memorial has been erected on the island of Utøya, where Breivik carried out the shooting. The country is currently deciding between a set of proposals for a similar permanent memorial at the site of the attack on the government quarter in Oslo.
Expect standard Norwegian summer weather
Marek Ratajczak, a forecaster at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told The Local that July was shaping up to be "quite usual for the Norwegian climate", with a few days of sunshine, followed by a few days of colder weather, and dry days interspersed with rainy days.
"What the forecasts show is that there is a higher probability of low pressure systems in the Scandinavian region, which means that the weather will probably be changing a bit, like it has been doing in now in June. So we will have some cold days and some warm days."
Yr expects the highest temperatures on the weekend of the second week of July, when temperatures could hit 25C in Oslo, 20C in Bergen, and 17C in Tromsø.
READ ALSO: What is the weather going to be like during Norway's main holiday month?
Recreational boats banned from discharging sewage in Oslofjörd
From July 1st, all yachts and motorboats will be banned from discharging their septic tanks into the Oslofjörd, with boats instead required to use the 43 dedicated sewage facilities at marinas around the area.
"The situation in the Oslo Fjord is critical," Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said in a press release announcing the measure at the end of May. "A healthy fjord will be a joy for many, not least people who spend the summer in and on the water."
Bergen extends legal pub opening hours
People in Bergen will from July 1st be able to sup on first pint of the day a little earlier, after the city authorities brought forward the earliest legal pub opening hour from 8am to 6am. The change also extends the legal opening hours for outdoor establishments to 1am.
While the the more liberal opening hours will also apply on May 1st and May 17th, they will not on other public holidays, when pubs will only be able to open from midday.
LO work inspections begin
The country's largest trade union umbrella, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), will continue its annual summer workplace inspections until July 11th, after starting on June 24th.
Every summer, the union umbrella's "summer patrol" inspects the workplaces of young people in summer jobs. It does so to ensure that workers' rights are being protected. The union typically visits over 6,000 businesses each summer.
For three years in a row, the summer patrol has found an increasing number of violations of the Working Environment Act.
Norway's final Iceland store to close
The last remaining branch of the English supermarket chain Iceland will close at some point in July, store bosses have confirmed to The Local. The company will continue to import products from the UK to sell wholesale in Norway.
The franchise started in Norway in 2018 and grew to six stores before closures began to hit the chain.
READ MORE: Brits in Oslo mourn impending closure of last Iceland supermarket
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