Things to do
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Trondheim kunstmuseum
The city art museum beside the cathedral, strong on Norwegian painting from the past two hundred years and holding a room of Munch prints. It is small enough to take in properly in an hour.
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Archbishop's Palace
The oldest secular building in the Nordic countries, begun in the 1160s beside the cathedral and later a mint, an arsenal and a barracks. The museum in the west wing holds the original cathedral sculpture and the crown jewels, which are the only regalia in the country and are shown here rather than in the capital.
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Bakklandet
The old workers' quarter across the river, saved from a road scheme in the 1970s and now a run of narrow timber houses in ochre and rust. It holds the bicycle lift up Brubakken, the only one in the world, and enough cafes to make it the natural stop after the cathedral.
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Britannia Hotel
Opened in 1870 for the English salmon lords and reopened in 2019 after a four year restoration that returned the Palm Garden to its glass roof and its 1918 proportions. It holds the only restaurant in the region with three stars.
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Gamle Bybro
The old town bridge of 1861, red painted with a gatehouse at each end, looking straight down the line of wharf houses on the Nidelva. It is the view every photograph of the city is taken from and it costs nothing at any hour.
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Kristiansten Fortress
Built on the hill above Bakklandet after the fire of 1681 and never taken, holding off a Swedish siege in 1718. The grounds are an open park with the widest view over the city; the donjon interior opens only in summer.
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Munkholmen
A flat islet in the fjord that has been an execution ground, a Benedictine monastery, a state prison and a wartime gun battery. Boats run from Ravnkloa through the summer, and the crossing takes about ten minutes to a swimming beach and a cafe.
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Nidaros Cathedral
The northernmost medieval cathedral in the world, raised over the grave of Saint Olav and the end point of the pilgrim route from Oslo. The west front is a wall of statuary carved between 1905 and 1983, and the tower climb is sold separately in summer for the view over the river loop.
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Ringve Museum
The national museum of musical instruments, in a manor house above the fjord with a botanical garden around it. Guided tours are played rather than described: the instruments in the historic rooms are demonstrated as you go.
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Rockheim
The national museum of popular music, in a converted grain warehouse on the harbour with a lit box cantilevered over the quay. It is a hands-on collection, and the top floor works down through the decades to the ground.
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Stiftsgården
The royal residence in the city and the largest timber building in the country, 140 rooms raised by a wealthy widow in the 1770s. Guided tours run in summer when the court is not in residence, and the garden behind is public.
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Trøndelag Folkemuseum
Eighty relocated buildings on the site of King Sverre's castle of 1183, including the Haltdalen stave church of about 1170. The hill it stands on gives the long view back over the city to the fjord.