Storfjord Hotel

Storfjord Hotel was built in 2006 from whole logs in the traditional lafta manner, with turf on the roofs and the owners' eye for the interiors, and took its first guests in 2007. The Flakk family, who founded the travel company 62°Nord in 2005, wanted a house that felt older than it was, and the antiques, tartan and sheepskin do the rest. Thirty rooms are spread over four timber buildings on a hill above Glomset bay, with the Storfjord and the Sunnmøre Alps filling the windows on one side and dark spruce forest on the other.

Much of the pleasure lies in the setting. Two and a half private hectares sit inside thousands of hectares of protected woodland, reached by a minor local road. An outdoor hot tub and a sauna face the fjord in every season. Dinner is four seasonal courses from Florian Harnisch's kitchen, much of it fished, picked or aged within a few miles, and from Thursday to Saturday the boathouse opens for dinners cooked over an open fire.

Because the owners run 62°Nord, the hotel also works as a base for excursions, from helicopter flights over the Sunnmøre Alps to day trips by electric car. The Michelin Guide gives the house two Keys, Relais & Châteaux lists it, and dogs are welcome in selected rooms.