Photo: Far min·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Asker / Bjerkøya
Bjerkøya is a cabin island in the inner Oslofjord, about 1.3 km long and mostly built up with around 40 holiday properties. It has no fixed link to the mainland. A small protected natural monument sits on the northeast point.
This is a cabin island in the inner Oslofjord, about 1.3 kilometres long from southwest to northeast. From the water you see cabins spread over most of it. The northeast point holds a small protected natural monument, the part that was never built on.
Bjerkøya natural monument (a small protected area in the northeast). The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
Own boat or kayak (no ferry, no bridge).
The island is connected by road, so you need neither a boat nor a timetable.
Bjerkøya covers around 17.5 hectares (175 dekar) and is mostly built up with holiday houses on some 40 properties. The island has no fixed link, neither bridge nor ferry, and grew into a cabin area without the urban development that reached neighbouring islands such as Nesøya. Bjerkøya natural monument occupies the northeast point, a protected area of around half a hectare (five dekar) under the Nature Conservation Act.
Bjerkøya is a private cabin island. Around 40 holiday properties take up most of the area, and the use is mainly cabin owners in summer. The natural monument on the northeast point is the undeveloped exception.
You get here by your own boat or kayak; there is no ferry and no bridge. Most of the island is private cabin ground, so come ashore within the limits of the right to roam (allemannsretten) and keep clear of the private plots. The natural monument in the northeast is protected; check the rules before landing there.
Bjerkøya and neighbouring Nesøya lie close together and had entirely different fates. Nesøya got a bridge and became one of the most expensive residential areas in the country. Bjerkøya, with no link to land, stayed a cabin island.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Bjerkøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Bjerkøya på norsk.