Astol

Astol is about a kilometre round and something like two hundred and fifty houses stand on it, which is why it looks from the ferry like a single white mass on bare rock with no visible ground between the buildings. There are no trees, no cars and no roads - lanes and steps only. Settlement came late, in the nineteenth century, when herring fishing and a shellfish trade made it worth living on a rock this exposed, and the population has fallen since to a small permanent core with many summer houses. The old fish salting house on the quay is now a restaurant known for shellfish, which is the reason many people make the crossing.

What you actually see

• Houses covering the whole rock - about two hundred and fifty of them.
• No trees and no cars - lanes and steps between the walls.
• A nineteenth-century settlement - built on herring and shellfish.
• The old salting house - now a shellfish restaurant on the quay.

When to go

June to August. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is tiny and walked in half an hour. The restaurant needs booking well ahead. Outside summer the island is close to empty. There is no shelter anywhere on the rock.

Nearby

Tjorn and Pilane are on the mainland island; Gullholmen is north.