The Easter holiday comes with several public holidays where most stores will be completely closed for a few days. This might put tourists in a bit of a difficult situation, especially if you didn’t plan for it advance.
To make your visit to Norway a bit easier, let’s take a look at when you can expect the stores to be open during the Easter holiday.
Maundy Thursday / Holy Thursday: All regular stores are closed.
Good Friday: All regular stores are closed.
Holy Saturday / Easter Eve: Stores are typically open with a limited opening time. Often open until 16.00 (4 PM).
First day of Easter (Sunday): All regular stores are closed.
Second day of Easter (Monday): All regular stores are closed.
Third day of Easter (Tuesday): All regular stores are open as usual again.
In other words, you should do all the shopping you need either before the Easter starts, or on Saturday. Be aware that there will be loads of people in all grocery stores on the Wednesday before Easter begins, as well as on Holy Saturday when the stores are open.
If you enjoy shopping in a chilled environment, make sure to shop a few days before the stores closed, and preferably before people get home from work for the day.
I have not included any dates in this information, since the exact dates for Easter will change from year to year. See the article “All public holiday dates in Norway” for an updated information about when Easter is this year. However, Easter is usually somewhere in the early or middle of April.
Stores that are allowed to stay open on Sundays can be open all Easter long
The Norwegian law does not differentiate between Sundays and other public holidays, so this means that any store that is legally allowed to be open on Sundays, will also be allowed to stay open during the Easter. These stores are typically open all Easter long, and does not even have to keep closed a single day.
Here’s a full guide to understanding which shops are open on Sundays in Norway.
The short summary is that there are usually a few Joker or Bunnpris stores in every city that will be open during Easter. The so-called “tourism municipalities” can choose to keep their stores open during Easter, but since there is little tourism in the Easter, they might not choose to.
Be aware that the opening hours will typically be shorter than on regular days, so they might close as early as 6 PM in some cases!
Kiosks, gas stations and restaurants will also still be open, and typically operate with the same business hours as they do on Sundays.
In other words, you won’t starve if you forget to buy food before the beginning of Easter. But keep in mind that kiosks and gas station charge a premium for everything, so it will be more expensive.
Easter dates for 2023
Easter will come early in 2023, beginning on April 6. The store will be closed from Maundy Thursday on April 6 until the Holy Saturday on April 8 where they will be open for the day.
After Saturday, the stores will be closed on Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th of April. From April 11 and onward, the stores will be open as usual.