Mad Goats is the main kayak operator on the Oslofjord. They run three city bases — Tjuvholmen, Sørenga, and Nedre Foss Park on the Akerselva river — offering guided sea tours, self-service rentals, and a three-hour våttkort basic-skills course. Sea-kayak rentals require prior experience or completion of the våttkort. Booking is online; pickup is by key code.
What Mad Goats actually is
Mad Goats is a Norwegian-run paddling outfit that operates both guided tours and self-service rentals. The guided tours get you a certified instructor and a route plan. The self-service rentals get you a key code, a kayak on a rack, and responsibility for yourself. The split matters, because the self-service side requires prior kayaking experience — they recommend you take their three-hour våttkort basic-skills course first if you have never paddled a sea kayak. Book online, pick up at the base, put it back when you are done.
The company is also the main visible operator on the Akerselva, which is a river, not the fjord. Shallow, urban, threaded through Oslo’s old industrial waterfront. Completely different experience from paddling open salt water, and worth its own day if you have the time.
The city bases
Tjuvholmen. Same pier we launch our boat from. Sea kayaks only. You paddle out under the footbridge, past the sculpture park, and you are in open fjord water within two minutes. The most exposed of the three bases — strong southwesterly wind can push chop up against the rock edge, so check the forecast. On a calm morning this is the most scenic launch in Oslo.
Bjørvika, behind the Munch Museum. Self-service rack, no staff on site. You unlock the kayak yourself. The launch puts you in the inner harbour basin — calm, sheltered, surrounded by the new Oslo architecture. Best route from here is out through the canal, past the Opera roof, and around the south side of Sørenga. Suited to first-time paddlers who are still nervous about wind and wake.
Akerselva (Nedre Foss Park). River kayak and packraft tours. The Akerselva drops through the city for eight kilometres from Maridalsvannet down to Bjørvika, past old textile mills, waterfalls, cafes, and a surprising amount of green. Mad Goats guides you down the navigable lower stretch from their Nedre Foss base. This one is not a place for a self-service rental — rapids, overhanging branches, and a few drops require an instructor. Book the tour.
The Fjord City guided tour
Their flagship sea-kayak tour is called Fjord City. You launch from Tjuvholmen, paddle along the central Oslo waterfront — Opera House, Akershus fortress, the Munch Museum — and, if the weather and your group’s fitness allow, continue out to Hovedøya and its 12th-century monastery ruins. A guide paddles with you the whole way. Most of the groups I pass on the boat are Fjord City tours doing this exact loop.
Three hours, all equipment included, no experience required. This is the one to book if you have never kayaked on open water before.
What it costs
| Option | What it is |
|---|---|
| Fjord City guided tour | ~3 hours sea kayaking, instructor included, no experience required |
| Akerselva river tour | Guided river descent through central Oslo, packrafts or kayaks |
| Self-service rental | Hourly kayak rental, keycode pickup, prior experience required |
| Våttkort basic course | 3-hour sea-kayak skills certification — the standard entry point for self-service renters |
| Private events | Group bookings, corporate days, bachelor parties, combined kayak + sauna options |
| Booking | madgoats.no |
Prices shift with season and group size. Check their site for current rates. Peak summer weekends book out — reserve ahead.
Kayak versus the other ways to be on the water
A kayak puts you closer to the water than anything else in Oslo. Swimming is closer, of course, but swimming doesn’t cover distance. In a kayak you sit at surface level, the bow cuts through the water six inches from your hands, and sound carries differently down there. Oars clicking in their locks, a cormorant diving, the wake of a passing ferry arriving as a slow roll two minutes later.
Compared to the other options: an eFoil is pure speed and silence, a sunset cruise covers distance and history, a kayak is slow, physical, and meditative. You work for it and you earn a different kind of attention to the water. Pick the one that matches the mood you want.
Best conditions
Calm mornings, same as the eFoil crowd wants. The inner fjord is often glassy before 11am. By mid-afternoon the southwesterly builds, and kayaking in 12 knots of wind against a tidal current is a workout rather than a pleasure. June and early July have the longest light. Late August has the warmest water for when you inevitably tip over once.
Current water temperature matters more than you’d think. Check our live water temperature before you book — under 14°C and a wetsuit becomes advisable for any group.
The Norwegian angle
Norway teaches sjøvett — sea sense — in primary school. The idea that you know the water you’re on, respect the weather, wear the vest without being told. The self-service model at Mad Goats leans hard on that instinct. They hand you the key and trust you to have done the course, brought the layers, read the wind. It is an unusually Norwegian way to run a rental operation, and it works because most locals who use it genuinely have the training.
If you are visiting and you have not paddled before, do not rent self-service. Book the guided Fjord City tour. It exists for a reason.
Practical details
Wear something that can get wet. Wetsuits are provided on guided tours, optional on rentals. Bring a dry bag for phone and camera. Water shoes are nice. Sun protection is mandatory on clear days — the glare off the fjord surface does the work of two hours of shoreline sun in half the time.
Book at madgoats.no. For everything else about the Oslofjord — the islands you’ll paddle past, what the water is doing this month, when the light turns gold — try the Explore hub.
If you want to go further out than a kayak comfortably takes you — past the inner islands, out to the deeper water around Steilene and Nesoddtangen where the porpoises feed — a private boat tour covers in an hour what you’d paddle all day for. Different tool, different fjord. Most of our guests who’ve kayaked in the morning end up on the boat by evening. The two don’t compete; they pair.
One last thing. The best paddle I have seen from the boat was two women in a double kayak, slowly tracing the outline of Hovedøya at six in the evening, with the light turning everything copper and not another boat in sight. They weren’t going anywhere fast. They didn’t need to.
More from the fjord
See for yourself
Private Cormate T28 charter on the Oslo Fjord.
Up to seven guests. Fixed pricing. Departures from Tjuvholmen, Oslo.
Check pricing & availability