Photo: Axeldronephoto·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Oslo / Ulvøya
A residential island in the Bunnefjord about 8 km from the city centre, with around 1,000 inhabitants. Building took off after Kristian Gjølberg bought it in 1923 and put up a bridge in 1928. Sydstranda on the southern point is a popular sand beach, and the open-water race Ulvøen Rundt is held here.
Ulvøya is in the Bunnefjord about 8 km from Rådhuset, Oslo City Hall, built up with villas right down to the waterline. From the sea it reads as jetties, gardens and small boats, with close to 1,000 people living out here. Round the southern point and Sydstranda comes into view, one of the few real sand beaches this close to the centre.
Rare pine forest on limestone; the country's last natural stand of dwarf thistle. The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
Road across Ulvøybrua from Mosseveien.
The island is connected by road, so you need neither a boat nor a timetable.
Ulvøya was almost empty of people well into the twentieth century. The censuses tell it plainly: one house and 14 people in 1801, two houses and 20 people in 1865, and as late as 1921 only two households. Ludvig Lange Dybwad owned it from the 1870s until his death in 1896.
The turn came in 1923, when Kristian Gjølberg bought the island and drew up plans for development, up to 150 villas. Ulvøybrua, the bridge, was finished in 1928 at a cost of around 250,000 kroner, and with a fixed link to the mainland the building went quickly. From a handful of residents the population grew to today's figure of nearly 1,000.
Ulvøya is a densely built residential island reached by road across Ulvøybrua from Mosseveien. Sydstranda on the southern point is run by the local residents' association, Ulvøya Vel, and is a popular beach. The island also has a rare lime-rich pine forest (*kalkfuruskog*), and the dwarf thistle had its last natural site in Norway here.
Road access across Ulvøybrua from Mosseveien, so no boat is needed. Private boats can moor at the guest quays, but most of the shoreline is private. Sydstranda is an open swimming spot. There is no ferry. No nature reserve has been established on Ulvøya itself, but the lime-rich pine forest and the threatened flora take little trampling, so keep to the paths and the shore.
Ulvøen Rundt is an open-water race around the island, revived in 2014 with 54 swimmers. The distance is 2,250 metres, and the fastest came round in 33 minutes.
Norway's earliest recorded car race is said to have been run on the ice of the frozen Bunnefjord in 1912, between Ulvøya and Nordstrand. In winter the fjord was a racetrack.
To save the dwarf thistle, botanists propagated it and moved it to the neighbouring islet of Padda. Ulvøya was the plant's last wild site in the country.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Ulvøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Ulvøya på norsk.