Photo: Ssu·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Asker / Nesøya
A bridge-connected residential island in the inner Oslofjord, about 3 km². Once a noble estate and a centre of the ice trade, now one of the most expensive residential areas in the country, with its own school. A few swimming spots are open to the public, and Nesøytjern is a nature reserve.
Nesøya is a large wooded residential island in the inner Oslofjord, about 3 km², tied to the mainland by Nesøybrua across Grønsund to Slependen. From the water you see expensive detached houses on the slopes and boat harbours along the shore. The cable ferry out to neighbouring Brønnøya also runs from here.
Nesøytjern nature reserve. The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
road over Nesøybrua.
The island is connected by road, so you need neither a boat nor a timetable.
Nesøya has a long history of ownership. A noble manor stood here, the centre of the Nesøy estate. Norwegian noble families held it from the late 1200s and through the 1500s, and Danish ones such as the Rosenkrantz after them.
In the 1800s the ice trade was the main industry. Ice blocks were cut on the ponds and shipped out from the harbours at Hestesund and Kalkbukta to markets along the coast. The change into a residential island began in 1896, when an estate company started dividing the land into plots. Nesøya school opened in 1965/66. At the 2005 census 3,414 people lived here.
House prices on Nesøya are among the highest in the country. The island is densely built with detached houses and has its own school. Some swimming spots are open to the public, and Nesøytjern nature reserve protects one of the old ice ponds as wetland.
Nesøya is bridge-connected over Nesøybrua, so people come by car. From the sea you put in at the harbours or at the public swimming spots; much of the shoreline is private. The cable ferry to Brønnøya runs from Nesøya in summer. Nesøytjern nature reserve has its own protection regulations. Read the current rules before entering.
The pond that is now a nature reserve was once an ice pond. Ice was cut here, stored and shipped out as a commodity in the 1800s.
Nesøya was a noble estate for several hundred years before it was divided into plots. It passed from Norwegian to Danish noble families, among them the Rosenkrantz.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Nesøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Nesøya på norsk.