Storfjord Hotel – Two MICHELIN Keys carved from Norwegian timber

On a pine-covered hillside above the village of Glomset, looking down across the Storfjord to the jagged line of the Sunnmøre Alps, Storfjord Hotel is built the Norwegian way: whole logs cross-notched by hand in the centuries-old lafta technique, timber dried and slotted together like a vast jigsaw, insulated with lambswool and finished with a turf roof. The hotel looks far older than it is – it opened in 2007, the third property acquired by the Flakk family's 62°Nord hospitality group, which also runs Hotel Union Øye and Brosundet in nearby Ålesund. Thirty rooms are spread across four timber buildings looking out to forest or fjord, and the MICHELIN Guide gives it Two Keys, placing it among Norway's most distinguished addresses. A member of Relais & Châteaux, the hotel trades spectacle for stillness: open fires, sheepskins, antiques and paintings by Hans Dahl on the walls.

01The house

Storfjord began as a private estate on Øvre Glomset before the Flakk family – behind 62°Nord, the regional hospitality and travel group – acquired it as the third hotel in their portfolio and carried out a large renovation and expansion to turn the estate into a secluded luxury boutique hotel. The result keeps the silhouette of a Norwegian farmstead but multiplies it: a cluster of log buildings with chimneys stacked from stone and grass growing on their roofs, set amid thousands of acres of private, protected woodland.

Inside, wood panelling and stone floors lead to living rooms furnished with antiques, quiet library corners, and canvases by Hans Dahl, the Norwegian painter remembered for his scenes of the fjords – a fitting backdrop for a hotel named after the very water he painted.

02Rooms and suites

The thirty rooms and suites are divided across four separate timber buildings, no two quite alike, each built to frame either the forest or the fjord beyond. The largest is the Storfjord Suite, an 88 sqm room with its own open fireplace and a private balcony facing the fjord and the Sunnmøre peaks. The Corner Suite looks instead to the forest, with a private balcony or terrace and a fireplace of its own, while the Junior Suites – in forest and fjord-facing versions – keep the open fire and add generous living space. Superior rooms and the Deluxe Forest View category are smaller but no less considered, several with private balconies, garden access or a freestanding bathtub.

Insider tip

About an hour's drive from Ålesund; wellness area open 10.00–20.00; Boathouse dinners Fridays only.

03Where to eat

Dinner moves around the property depending on the night. The main dining room sits beside an open kitchen and an open fire, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner built on seasonal, regional ingredients from morning until evening. On Fridays, dinner shifts to the Boathouse at the water's edge, a short walk from the hotel, where a seven-course menu drawn from the fjord and nearby farms is cooked over open flame at one long communal table. A short hike into the forest leads instead to the Lavvo, a tent pitched for supper cooked over an open fire. Tuesdays, the hotel's wine cellar opens for a sommelier-led tasting of four wines chosen around themes of terroir and craft.

Much of what lands on the plate comes from close by: artisanal salt from Havsnø, harvested at Aukra, coffee roasted by the local company Jacu, herbs from the hotel's own greenhouse, honey from hives on the property, blueberries picked from the surrounding forest and strawberries from Valldalen in season.

04Wellness in the forest

Follow the path from the main lodge into the trees and the wellness area appears quietly among the pines: a Nordic sauna looking into the woodland, outdoor jacuzzis at the forest's edge, indoor and outdoor showers, and a lounge for afterwards. In October 2026 the area was open from 10.00 to 20.00, swimwear required, with access from the age of fifteen unless accompanied by an adult. A short list of treatments can be booked in advance, from a forty-minute back and neck massage to an eighty-minute full-body Swedish massage, alongside foot, face-and-scalp and pregnancy massage, priced from NOK 1,395 in October 2026.

05The neighbourhood

Storfjord sits on the Sunnmøre fjord system, a 110-kilometre, 679-metre-deep arm of the sea that gives the hotel its name, with Ålesund roughly an hour's drive away. The coastal town is known for its Art Nouveau quarter, rebuilt almost entirely in Jugendstil style after a fire swept through the old wooden town in 1904. Inland, the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord makes a natural day trip, and 62°Nord, the Flakk family's travel arm, can arrange routes further into the region, down to multi-day drives in electric Porsche Taycans.

06Making the most of a stay

The hotel leans into the seasons rather than smoothing them over. A Sunday brunch runs through the year, the wine cellar opens every Tuesday, and from late November the hotel dresses for what it calls 'a slow Christmas', with fires lit through Norway's darkest weeks. Outdoors, e-bikes wait by the main lodge and the hotel can arrange kayaking on the fjord, forest trails along Storfjord's ridges, or helicopter tours further into the Sunnmøre Alps. Guests staying three nights or more in spring and autumn currently receive a complimentary third night.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.