Photo: Kurth Brekke·CC BY 3.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Hvaler / Søndre Lauer
Part of the Lauer islands, which historically held an important fish receiving station for the surrounding archipelago. Car-free and barely inhabited today.
Part of the Lauer islands south of Kirkøy, a small group made up of Nordre Lauer, Sva Lauer, Mellomholmen and Sør-Lauer. The islets are low and ice-smoothed, with cabins packed close together. The buildings gather on Nordre Lauer, where the harbour and the breakwater are; Søndre Lauer is the outer, quieter part.
Passenger boat from Skjærhalden (Lauer stop); private boat.
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.
Lauer was a fishing station. The islands were parcelled out for settlement from around 1900 until 1932, and Nordre Lauer had both a school and a fish receiving station. The station was run by Norges Makrellag S/A until 1979. The last permanent residents moved out in the 1970s and 80s, and in 2000 the municipality demolished the quay that had served the station. Vegard Krog Petersen published a book in 2024, *Øya og menneskene – historien om et fiskevær på Hvaler*, documenting the place from the earliest settlement to the present day. Older spellings were Løver, Lauver and Løvøe.
The islands are car-free and given over to holiday houses, with around 42 cabins spread across them and managed through the residents' association, Lauer Vel. Nobody lives here year round. The small-boat harbour behind its breakwater has both guest berths and reserved moorings.
A passenger boat from Skjærhalden calls three times a day. The service was reinstated on 7 April 2025 after the speed zone was adjusted. The harbour is managed by Borg Havn IKS together with the county authority. Protection status for Søndre Lauer specifically has not been verified here; check local access rules before landing during the nesting season.
Lauer was a mackerel station. Norges Makrellag, the national mackerel cooperative, ran the receiving point right up to 1979.
The municipality demolished the old receiving quay in 2000, which ended the fishing station as a physical structure.
There are 42 cabins here, no permanent residents, and a residents' association that runs the place. The village lives only through the summer.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Søndre Lauer on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Søndre Lauer på norsk.