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Great Discoveries: Norwegian anchorages part one: the eastern Oslofjord area
It seems that most people who sail to Norway skip over the entire Oslofjord region. If they’re coming from Sweden they’ll sail directly to Farsund or Eggersund. If they’re coming from Scotland, they’ll sail straight to Stavanger or Bergen. It’s really a shame, because the Oslofjord region is breathtakingly gorgeous!
We use three different guides to Norwegian anchorages and marinas.
1. Havneguiden
2. Norske Los (free to download as pdf files)
3. Norwegian Cruising Guide by John and Phyllis Harries (morganscloud.com)
We recommend them all, but the Havneguiden is the one with the most photos, taken from the air so you can really see what the anchorage looks like. If you download the inexpensive Eniro charts (charts for Norway and Sweden) for your iPad or smartphone, you see lots of anchorages marked. In addition, the paper charts for Norway often have anchorages marked out.
Fredrikstad
If you’re coming up from Sweden, a good stop may be Fredrikstad. It has a marina in the middle of town and a lovely historic old town, Gamlebyn, to visit. We arrived from the east, first going up the fjord, then river Østerelva that leads to the city of Sarpsborg There’s quite a current here, so consider yourself warned. You can also approach from the west side, in which case you’ll avoid having to wait for bridge openings.
Vintage boats in Fredrikstad
When you enter from the east to enter the city, you’ll see an old mill in full working order — that’s how strong the current is.
The mill at Fredrikstad
You’ll have to request and wait for a bridge opening to get to the marina if you come from the east side. They don’t open the bridge at request, but if you call, they know someone wants to pass and they will open the bridge at the set times. If you don’t let them know, the bridge doesn’t open at all (because they think no-one needs an opening). You can wait for the bridge opening along the quayside just before the bridge.
View towards the centre of Frekrikstad
The town itself is quite small but has a good choice of restaurants, cafés and bars along the quayside. We had dinner at a tapas restaurant there – excellent dishes and good prices (for Norway, that is).
The prices of berths at quayside range from 250 NOK to 600 NOK (15 meters and up). They have showers, toilets and laundry facilities.
We planned Fredrikstad as our first stop because we thought we’d have to check in our boat and our dog. We well called the Norwegian customs , we found out that you just need to carry your dog’s passport (with the stamps for all of the necessary vaccinations and the special worm treatment for Norway) in your pocket or purse — just in case anyone wants to check. The customs explained to us that since our boat is registered in a Schengen county and we are from a Schengen country, we didn’t need to clear in.
Filling up the diesel tanks. Diesel is a bit cheaper in Norway than Sweden.
If you leave Fredrikstad from the eastern side, you may want to fill your diesel tanks at the Nøkledypet marina. Glommen Bunkerservice is open between 8.00 and 20.00 during the summer season (until end of Sept.)
It seems that you don’t pay the road tax on diesel at marine fuel stations. You do pay the VAT though.
Korterødkilen anchorage
Another idea for a first stop in Norway is the charming anchorage of Korterødkilen on north side of the island of Kjeøya.. It’s kind of a Norwegian summer neighbourhood, though there’s not much activity outside the vacation period and the weekends. It is protective of winds from any direction. You just need to be careful of your anchor scope as there are several boats lying on buoys.
The lovely anchorage on Kjeøya called Korterøkilen
The anchor bottom consists of sticky mud/clay — good holding.
Summer houses in Korterøkilen
Our anchorage at Kjeøya. The GPS coordinates: 59°5’48N, 11°13’8E
Hankøhavna anchorage
Our first anchorage on the way up to Oslo was Hankø’s west side. Hankø also has a big marina on it’s east side. We chose the anchorage because we didn’t want to waste time going around the island.
Dramatic evening skies at Hankøhavna
In hindsight, we should have done so because the Hankø anchorage is not really suitable for a large boat like Freja. The problem here is that many boats are lying on buoys, and there are additional buoys for the Norwegian cruising club to use. The anchorage is so crowded with buoys, it’s difficult to put out enough chain to have a proper scope for strong winds.
We had strong winds at the anchorage of Hankøhavna
If your boat is 9 tons or less, you can use these buoys if they aren’t taken by a cruising club member. Since our boat displaces far more than 9 tons, (about 27 tons fully bunkered) hooking onto one of these buoys wasn’t possible. We prefer to use our big anchor in any case, as we know once it’s bedded in, we aren’t going anywhere.
Our 55kg Spade held throughout a night of 30-38 knot winds, even on short scope (about 4:1) but I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I was constantly waking up to check my iPad (which acts as a remote for our Furuno TZ plotter) to check the wind speed and to see if we were dragging.
Our anchorage at Hankøhavna. GPS coordinates: 59°11’53N, 10°46’7E
Son Marina
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We found the seaside town of Son utterly cozy and charming. Hyggelig as they would say in Danish. We arrived on a Saturday, so the village was full of activity and all of the littles shops, restaurants and cafés were open all weekend (except for the Vinmonopolet which is always closed on Sunday.)
View of Son Marina
Speaking of the Vinmonopolet — this is the Norwegian version of the state-run shops that sell alcoholic drinks. You see the same system in Sweden (System Bolaget) and in Finland (Alko). Norway has the most expensive wine of the three countries, so you may want to stock up before arriving. In Norway, Finland and Sweden, you can buy light beer (lower alcohol content) in grocery stores, but normal beer is also sold only at the state-run shops. You may think that because it’s a monopoly system that the prices are higher than in “normal” shops, but that isn’t always the case. We saw, for example, a 75 cl of 2014 Tignanello for sale at 600 SEK (61 Euros or 68 USD) in Sweden. The same bottle in Switzerland would cost twice that.
Out for a walk in the seaside town of Son
The beautiful cobblestone streets of Son
Getting back to Son Marina, we spent 2 and a half sunny days there. We sampled one of the restaurants, “Solsiden”, had coffee in one of the pleasant cafés, “Torvgården”, both very good. Jacques even had a haircut at the marina salon.
A view of the boardwalk at Son marina
.
Having some early morning cappuccino in a café at the marina.
Be warned though, that outside of the normal summer holiday period (from around the 25 of June to around the 10th of August, the restaurants and cafés are only open on the weekends.
The fire brigade museum in Son
A view of the town square in Son
We will definitely come back to this lovely marina town!
This dachshund was out for a ride on mom’s kayak.
Information on Son Marina:
This marina is open all year ‘round, with lower prices between around mid-September to mid-May.
Prices: 250 NOK to 500 NOK depending on the size of the boat. We paid 500 NOK for Freja (55 feet). A warning about prices — if you reserve a place with Dockspot, the price is 100 NOK higher than the official price. We reserved our first night with Dockspot. It was 600 NOK instead of the official prices of 500 NOK.
Marina telephone: +47 649 587 38
Marina email: post@sonhavn.no
This cutie was waiting for his owners to get back to the boat.
Fredagshølet anchorage
This anchorage is extremely well- protected from winds and seas from all directions. It’s located on the north side of the island of Seiløy (Sail Island!). Getting to anchorage is a bit tricky, no matter if you’re coming in from the night or south, so pay attention — there are underwater rocks on both sides of the channels.
The anchorage of Fredagshølet
The nature is that of a typical outer archipelago island — mostly smooth, rounded granite and small bushes and trees. It’s easy to find a warm rock for sunbathing if that’s your thing. The anchoring holding is excellent — we brought up lots of sticky mud on or anchor.
Smooth granite islands around Fredagshølet
If you prefer marinas, there is a small marina close to Fredagshølet called Bukta Gjesthaven.
A view of the small marina near Fredagshølet called Bukta Gjesthavn
Our anchorage at Fredagshølet. GPS coordinates: 59°7’21N, 10°51’21E
Enough already about the city of Stockholm! Stockholm also has one of the world’s finest, most beautiful archipelagos.
To be truthful, only one of these islands, Lisselö, was a real discovery for me. For Jacques, they all were new discoveries, except for Sandhamn and Träskö-Storö, which we visited together back in 2013 in a chartered Bavaria 40.
Lisselö
Lisselö was a true find for us. We visited it twice and each time, we were the lone boat in the anchorage. It has a cozy feel since there are a couple of fishing cottages and a few summer houses here. We liked observing the fisherman coming and going in their little semi-open boats, called Snipa in Swedish. They are kind of like pick-ups for the sea.
The anchorage of Lisselö, not far from the outer edge of Stockholm’s archipelago
We did need a couple of tries to finally get the anchor to hold here, at around 10 meter’s depth. Perhaps there’s some seaweed growth on the bottom. If you’re anchored just so, you’ll have a view of the open sea through a shallow channel towards the east. Lisselö is well-protected from all winds except for hard easterlies (that blow through the little channel).
Senna drying off after a swim. You can see out to the open sea through this little channel.
Our anchor spot was at 59°20′.43N, 18°54’59E
Lådna
We had a visitor at our anchorage in Lådna — a grey seal hunting for a meal. We were sitting in the cockpit after dinner, each reading a book, when we heard a strange sound. It sounded like a whale exhaling through its blowhole.
It was a seal! The sound is produced when they come up for air, open their watertight nostrils and exhale. We took some photos, but in all of them, the seal looked like a tiny black dot, even with a 120 mm telephoto lens — not worth putting up here.
The anchorage we chose was a new one for me. I’d been to the well-protected Lådna many times before but always on the western part of the island. The entire series of small coves at Lådna was already crowded when we arrived at around 18.00, so we didn’t have a huge choice of spots. Our little inlet on the far southeastern part had no boats at anchor when we arrived, so we quickly choose a spot there. We found good holding at about 8 meter’s depth.
It’s nice to have some flowers in the cockpit – here’s our little geranium.
The GPS coordinates for our anchor spot: 59°24’53N, 18°44’18E
Själbottna
This is another anchorage I’d visited before, but never in the western part. With a small boat, you can use the eastern inlets and tie to land, but with Freja, we need a good place to turn around our anchor. And turn around we did! During the evening, the wind died completely, and all of the boats lying at anchor floated every which way. We saw the track we made on the plotter — we had turned 360° around because of the lack of wind.
We had no wind at all in the Själbottna anchorage
The western bay of the island is protected from all winds and seas. We were anchored in about 10 meters’ depth (mud).
Cozy atmosphere in the anchorage
The GPS coordinates for our anchor spot (star): 59°33’32N, 18°46’44E. The places marked with an asterisk are ones I’d used with my former boat.
Sandhamn
Sandhamn is the archipelago’s version of St. Tropez. It’s the summer base for the Royal Sailing Society of Stockholm (KSSS), which means that almost every member will spend some time there during the summer. If you enjoy bars and house music, people and yacht watching, this is your place during the summer. Outside the period of June 20th to August 10th, it’s a much calmer place, and during the colder months, when only the year ‘round population is left, it’s pretty much in hibernation mode.
Sandhamn is the most popular marina in the entire archipelago
We visited Sandhamn with guests from Switzerland, just to show them another, livelier side of the archipelago. There are several small boutiques selling clothes, home décor, souvenirs, local artwork and boat “stuff”. Sandhamn also has a small grocery store and a lovely bakery. You’ll find ice cream stands everywhere during the high season.
The marina berths are expensive during the summer and they are hard to come by, so you really need to reserve a berth or risk ending up with nothing.
The Seglarhotellet houses part of the hotel as well as 2 restaurants and bars.
There are two sides to the marina — one that’s managed by the KSSS and one that’s managed by the restaurant called Seglarhotellet. We reserved a berth in the Seglarhotellet part of the marina.
The prices there run from 310 SEK to 380 SEK for a boat up to 38 feet, depending on the season, plus a restaurant voucher fee of 300 SEK. For a boat like Freja, 55 feet, it’s either 550 SEK or 620 SEK, plus the voucher fee, depending on the season. The restaurant voucher, for which you are billed 300 SEK is worth 350 SEK in any of the hotel’s restaurants or bars. We had planned to have dinner at the restaurant, anyway, so we got 50 SEK out of the deal. It’s a strange system; obviously to strongly encourage you to eat at one of the restaurants.
This is the marina attached to the Seglarhotellet. It was a tight squeeze for Freja.
I don’t think we would return to Sandhamn during the high season again, unless we had guests that really wanted to go there. It’s just so much more expensive than any other marina in or around Stockholm, and it’s not really our style, especially at night with all the noise! During the off-season, it’s much more quiet, but then all of the little shops have closed and the bakery is open only three days a week and a few of the restaurants have closed for the season…
Träskö – Storö
Träskö – Storö is a huge anchorage that spreads out over a few different islands and inlets, so there’s always room for one more boat. There is just one area to avoid if laying at anchor, though, especially with a west wind blowing. I’ve marked this on the map. It’s one of the most beautiful anchorages in the archipelago, in our opinion. That explains why we stayed for 2 or 3 days each time we came here. On weekends, there’s usually a “bakery boat” that sells bread and pastries by going from boat to boat.
Just a tiny part of the anchorage on Träskö-Storö
The GPS coordinates for our anchor spot: 59°26’42N, 18°46’45E
Gällnö Hemfladen
Gällno is one of the few genuine islands left in the archipelago. It still has farms and fisherman, unlike most of the other islands which are 80-100% summer cottages. You may hear a tractor working a small field or cows mooing. It’s an anchorage relatively close to Stockholm, so it’s a good choice if you’ve gotten a late start to the day, or if you want to drop the anchor for lunch. The anchor bottom is thick, heavy mud and it’s well-protected from winds and seas.
Our guests from Geneva swimming with Senna. The water was only 20° C.
It felt like we’d gone 100 years back in time here
The GPS coordinates for our anchor spot: 59°23’49N, 18°38’8 E
This café is located in the “oasis” in Gamla Stan, a little square called Brända Tomten. If it’s a hot day, the chestnut tree in the square will seem to call out to you to sit under the its shade-giving leaves. Under Kastanjen (Under the Chestnut Tree) serves all kinds of hot and warm drinks, pastries and light lunch. The lunch selections run from fresh salads to soup and sandwiches. They also service a daily lunch special.
Having a “fika” at Under Kastanjen in the Old Town
View of the square called “Brända Tomten” in the Old Town
Possibly the most famous bakery in Stockholm, the pastries and cakes here are just a little too tempting. It’s a dangerous place for the waistline! It was founded back in 1920, and has taken quite a few prizes in various pastry-chef competitions.
If you are really into beautifu, old-school kinds of pastry/coffe shops, you’ll love Vette-Katten on Kungsgatan. It was founded in 1928 and frequented by Grete Garbo. In addition to the delicious pastries, cakes, bread and biscuits, light lunches are served between 11.00 and 14.00.
Sture Katten is not at all like Vete-Katten and there is no connection, save for the word “katten” (the cat) in their names. Sture Katten is like going back to your great grandmother’s house. The pastry shop is laid out on three different floors of a building that dates back to the 1700s. Each former apartment in the building is a group of small dining rooms at Sture Katten. Each dining room is different and even the plates and glasses are different — it really feels like visiting three different apartments. It’s beyond cosy! I used to come here quite often for a dose of “hygge” when I lived in Stockholm.
Cafe Ektorpet (about 100 meters from the Navishamn Marina)
Café Ektorpet is an old coffee house hidden amongst the trees and flowers close to Print Eugens Waldemarsudde (a beautiful art museum). They are noted for their “våfflor”, a kind of waffle, lighter than then Belgium or American versions, heavier than the french one. In addition to pastries, cakes, våfflor, and ice cream, they serve a couple of daily lunch specials. “Simple, but delicious typical swedish food” is how we describe it. During the summer, the café moves outside, and you have a wonderful view of the sea leading in to Stockholm as well as of the Navishamn marina.
Rosendals Trädgårdscafé is well-loved by the locals and tourists alike. It’s placed right in the middle of a series of greenhouses selling plants and flowers. It’s wonderful for a fika, but you can eat a light lunch (between 11 and 14.00), a sandwich, or a bowl of soup if you’re hungry. All of the food, including the cakes and pastries are certified organic. All of the bread, biscuits, pies and cakes are baked in their own wood-burning oven. There’s even a little farm shop! It’s not far from the Navishamn — a 10-minute walk. If you’re staying at the Wasahamn marina, you can take the tram towards Waldemarsudde and get off at the “Bellmansro” stop. From there, it’s about 5 minutes’ walk.
This is yet another of Stockholm’s elegant tearooms. Svenskt Tenn is a home decorating shop (Swedish Design!) with its own tearoom. The best thing about Svenkt Tenn is it’s mini side-walk café/ice cream shop during the summer. It really is the best ice cream in town! Each day, you can chose from 5 or 6 flavours in the ice cream cart and it’s served in either a cone or a bowl. We were told the ice cream is hand-made in small batches by a mom and pop-style company on the island of Kungsholmen. Since the weather was sunny and warm almost every day during the month we spent in Stockholm, we were there at least 15 times. That’s a lot of ice cream tasting.
We saw this beautiful super yacht across the water from the sidewalk café at Svenskt Tenn (yellow building with green awnings).
We saw this 55 meter-long Royal Huisman as well – so impressive!
This café/restaurant/bakery is housed in a building from the 1600s at Stortorget (The Big Square) in the Old Town. Skip all of the tourist trap cafés at the Stortorget and come here. The Grillska Huset serves organic, home-made food (you can buy bread, biscuits, pies and cakes in the bakery part of the building. We bought lots of their knäckebröd (for me) and cinnamon buns (for Jacques) to stock in our galley. In addition, the Grillska Huset is run by a official charity called Stockholms Stadsmission, so you’ll be doing good by eating or buying here.
View from the café “Grillska Huset” in the Stortorget, Gamla Stan (Grand Square in the Old Town)
For Stockholm’s best views, go to the Kaknästornet. After walking around the tower with your camera/phone in hand to take photos, you can relax in the Sky Bar. We had a glass of wine and then coffee (it was late afternoon) while enjoying the amazing view.
If you’ve been shopping at the Östermalmshallen (and it’s really worth a visit), you can take a break at Robert’s Gourmet Coffee. We enjoyed cappuccinos and Jacques and our visitors some delicious cinnamon buns (called kanelbullar in Swedish).
Top 10 “other” things to do that are reasonably close to the either marina
Ride your bike (or rent a bike) around Djurgården.
We rode from the Navishamn out to the eastern end (Blockhusudden), then back along the canal.
We came across the “King’s sheep” while biking through Djurgården.
The shortest tour would be to do a “tour de canal” ride and the longest would be to ride along the shoreline and come back on the “other” side (the Gärdet side) and back over the Djurgård’s bridge. You can rent a bike at the Durgård’s bridge.
For a really great tour of the city, ride your bike into the centre of town, then along Södra Mälarstrand. Continue over the “Västerbron” bridge and then back along the Norr Mälarstrand. You can ride over Slussen (the locks) and then catch the ferry to either Kastellholmen or Djurgården from Gamla Stan. You’ll pass lots of places for coffee or a meal along the way. And you’ll pass lots of photo opportunities, so pick a beautiful sunny day. I used to do this tour often when I lived on Södermalm, near Hornstull (minus the going to Djurgården part).
Go for drinks, perhaps even a meal and a wonderful sunset view over Stockholm. Mossebacken Terrassen is located high up on the cliffs of Södermalm, providing a great view of the city. It’s open during the summer only. Check the website for opening times (depends on the weather as it’s outdoors).
You can rent kayaks at the Djurgård’s bridge, so it’s just not far from the Vasahamn marina. It’s great fun to paddle the canal.
Drinks along the Strandvägen waterfront
Strandvägen has lots of cafés/bars along its waterfront. We tried a few during the warm summer evenings as we’re always up for a glass of wine. You really can’t go wrong when you have the beautiful view of the Stockholm waterfront right in front of you as you sip your favourite drink.
Here you can see some of the “sidewalk” cafés along the Strandvägen Waterfront.
Go up to Fjällgatan for the view of the city
The area around Fjällgatan (means Fell or Mountain street) is a great place to visit. The low-slung row-houses lining the cobblestone streets were once housing for the working class back in the day. They are now some of the most expensive apartments on Södermalm. The view from Fjällgatan is so amazing all the tourist busses stop here on their site-seeing rounds. If you’re hungry or thirsty the famous (in Stockholm) Herman’s vegetarian restaurant is here. Otherwise, there’s a small café, Fjällgatan’s Kaffestuga.
This is a relatively new restaurant and bar in a “skyscraper” that used to be where the tax authorities worked. The building is known to the locals as the Skatteskrapan (taxscraper). The restaurant and bar are located on the two top floors — the 25th and 26th respectively. Because the other buildings around it are much lower, the view is incredible. Have a look at the website for photos of the view.
These are run by the Stromma Turism company. We took both of the couples who visited us (friends and family from Switzerland) on this tour and they all loved it. Even though we’ve done several times, we love as well. You’ll see a lot more of Stockholm by boat in an couple of hours than you will walking or riding your bike in a week. And you’ll see places that you probably would never have visited otherwise.
Go swimming like the locals at the beach called Smedsuddsbadet in Rålambhovs Park.
This is the most well-loved beach in town, and on hot sunny days it gets really crowded. It’s on the lake side of town so you’ll be swimming in fresh water — no need to rinse the salt off!
This little group of islands hosts seven different cafés/restaurants, several different artisans (glass blowers, painters, potters, textile artists, etc.) a smoke house for smoking fish, and lots of choice picnic spots. If you do sail over to the Fjäderholmarna, be warned that the marina is small and there aren’t many berths, so call ahead to reserve or see if there’s space (+46 8 716 39 10).
We saw this beauty just off the Fjäderholmarna (Feather Islands)
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It seems that most people who sail to Norway skip over the entire Oslofjord region. If they’re coming from Sweden they’ll sail directly to Farsund or Eggersund. If they’re coming from Scotland, they’ll sail straight to Stavanger or Bergen. It’s really a shame, because the Oslofjord region is breathtakingly gorgeous!
