Photo: Kimsaka·CC BY-SA 3.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Oslo / Ormøya
A residential island in the Bunnefjord, 18 hectares (180 dekar) with around 120 households, with Swiss chalet style villas and 1970s terraced housing side by side. It began as a summer place for well-off Oslo families, the writer Camilla Collett among them, before permanent settlement took hold around 1900. There are swimming spots, a park (Kock-haven), Ormøy church and a small-boat harbour.
Ormøya is the residential island in the Bunnefjord inside Bekkelaget, densely built up with Swiss chalet style villas and terraced houses. A bridge over the narrow Ormsundet ties it to the mainland. From the water you see a small villa community with its own church, small-boat harbour and swimming spots. The neighbouring island Ulvøya lies right alongside.
Road across the bridge over Ormsundet from Bekkelaget and Mosseveien.
The island is connected by road, so you need neither a boat nor a timetable.
Ormøya began as a summer place for well-off Oslo families, the writer Camilla Collett among them, before permanent settlement became common around 1900. The buildings span Swiss chalet style villas from that period and terraced houses from the 1970s. Until the municipal merger of 1948, Ormøya belonged to Aker, not Oslo.
Ormøy church is a wooden church designed by the architect Bernhard Christoph Steckmest. The park Kock-Haven has a pond with a heart-shaped islet, and newts live under the bridge there.
The municipality maintains the beaches, boat berths and park for residents. The only sports club is Ormøya Tennisklubb. The bridge over Ormsundet means you drive here. People live on Ormøya rather than visit it for a day outdoors.
Road access runs across the bridge over Ormsundet from Bekkelaget and Mosseveien. Private boats can use the swimming spots and the small-boat harbour. There is no known ferry route, and no major conservation restrictions on movement on the island itself. Behave as a guest in a residential area rather than on public recreation ground.
Camilla Collett spent her summers here when Ormøya was still a country retreat for the well-off of the city, before the villas and the permanent residents arrived around 1900.
Newts live under the bridge in Kock-Haven, small amphibians in the middle of a villa district a few minutes from central Oslo.
Until 1948 Ormøya was part of Aker, not Oslo. When Aker was merged into the city, the island became Oslo overnight without moving a metre.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Ormøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Ormøya på norsk.