Photo: Magnefl·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Færder / Søndre Årøy
Søndre Årøy is an inhabited island in the Årøysund area, and parts of it lie within Færder National Park.
Søndre Årøy lies immediately south of Nordre Årøy in the Årøysund area at the south end of Nøtterøy, across Årøysundet from the hamlets of Middelborg, Stranda and Nestvik. On the high ground of the island there are burial mounds from the Bronze or Iron Age, and they are protected.
Partly Færder National Park. The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
Private boat or kayak.
No scheduled boat comes here. You will have to find the nearest public quay yourself, and the rest is your own boat or a kayak. Check the wind and wave forecast before you set out; the open stretches in the outer fjord turn unpleasant in a fresh breeze.
The island shares its name and its origin with its neighbour to the north. The Old Norse form was Alrøy, from *olr*, alder, the alder-wood island, pronounced “Årø” locally. Four burial mounds from the Bronze or Iron Age are recorded on Søndre Årøy, and they are automatically protected heritage sites. That puts human activity on the island at least three thousand years back.
Søndre Årøy is inhabited, with permanent residents and holiday cabins. Parts of the island lie within Færder National Park; the shoreline and the skerries are protected, while the houses and the farmland are private.
Private boat or kayak. Årøysund on the Nøtterøy side is the nearest place with a guest harbour and services. Respect private quays and farmland; access along the shore follows the right to roam (*allemannsretten*). The protected part lies within Færder National Park, established in 2013; check Naturbase, the national database of protected areas, for nesting-season access bans on the nearby islets.
Four burial mounds on the island mean people lived and buried their dead here in the Bronze or Iron Age, long before anyone called it a cabin island.
The Årøy islands are twins in name: Nordre and Søndre Årøy share the same alder-wood origin, separated by a narrow sound with the Geiteskjærene skerries in between.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Søndre Årøy on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Søndre Årøy på norsk.