Photo: Helge Høifødt·CC BY-SA 3.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Oslo / Lille Herbern
A small islet right next to Store Herbern, southeast of Bygdøy. Known for a long-established summer restaurant reached by a small ferry from Bygdøy.
Lille Herbern is the small islet right next to Store Herbern, southeast of Bygdøy. Look for the white restaurant building and the little passenger ferry shuttling across the short strait from Herbernveien on Bygdøy. Store Herbern beside it is protected and empty of people; Lille Herbern is a summer restaurant with tables out on the rocks.
Seasonal ferry from Bygdøy in summer; otherwise private boat.
Boats do run here, but the quay is not in Entur’s system — usually a summer service or a private crossing that never enters the national journey planner. Check with the operator before you build a day around it.
Lille Herbern is known for its summer restaurant. Guests come across on a small passenger ferry from the quay at Herbernveien on Bygdøy, one of the shortest ferry crossings in the world, with room for a maximum of eleven passengers at a time. The restaurant runs as a seasonal place through the summer, with service indoors and outdoors on the islet.
The islet is a restaurant in summer and little else. The menu is seafood and grilled dishes from a Josper grill; there is room for around 65 guests indoors, and the outdoor service takes groups of ten to forty. The ferry shuttles across the strait for as long as the place is open.
Seasonal ferry from the Herbernveien quay on Bygdøy in summer, otherwise your own boat. The ferry takes a maximum of eleven passengers per trip. Opening hours follow the season, so check the restaurant's own pages for current times and table bookings. Lille Herbern does not carry the same access protection as its neighbour Store Herbern, but keep a good distance from the Store Herbern reserve next door.
The crossing to Lille Herbern is marketed as one of the shortest ferry rides in the world. The strait is so narrow that the trip is over almost before it starts.
The restaurant likes to call itself Oslo's best-kept secret: an island restaurant a few minutes from Bygdøy, with no road to it.
The neighbouring islet Store Herbern is a fully protected nature reserve. Two islets side by side, one with barbecue smoke and guests, the other untouched.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Lille Herbern on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Lille Herbern på norsk.