Hovedøye, Oslo Fjord

May 27, 2026

An 8 hour layover at Oslo is plenty of time to get to the city center. Sitting in front of Parliament on this warm late-Spring day planning what museums to visit, I espied a nearby wooded island on a map.

Hovedøye sits in the Oslo Fjorden and ferries run every 20 minutes. A lively crowd was heading over, people wanting to enjoy the fine weather. Circumambulating the island, the crowd thinned out, especially on the eastern side, where the trails were thinner and a bit overgrown. The 3 mile island walk was a good break from sitting on a overnight plane. Back to the airport for a flight to Bratislava, the Slovakian capital (1).

(1) A friend and I had planned a trip to Austria to visit the sites in the movie The Sound of Music, his favorite. A flight to Bratislava was about half the price of a flight to Vienna and the two cities are about an hour's train ride apart. My friend fell ill last week and was unable to join me, so I reconfigured the trip to spend some time hiking in Slovakia.

Leaving Oslo

On Hovedøye, the western side was like a public park

The east side was woodsier with narrow paths

Smells and looks like a lilac

Climbing to the island's summit 

The graining run north-south

Views to the southwest 

Seasonal fences protect the flowers 

Landing at Bratislava on a hot and humid day