Finse 1222

Large expensive hotel with an interesting history in a stunning location on the Hardangervidda. Only accessible by train and located below the glacier in a stunning location. The area is much used by ski tourers and adventure enthusiasts in winter and walkers and fishermen/ wonen and travellers staying in mountains in summer. Also the hotel has strong links with polar exploration and Star Wars! Good for views and coffee and think it’s restarted ski hire!

We had a fantastic 24h at Finse! The area offers great biking and walking + hiking paths. The hotel is beautiful - cosy, with friendly staff and tasty food. The breakfast was very good as well, with an option to make own sandwiches for lunch - what we very much appreciated! We regretted that we haven’t decided to stay longer.

We weren’t residents of the hotel, we called only for lunch, so perhaps didn’t capture the potential magic of the place. It is quite unique, reachable only by train, bike or foot, & located directly on the platform, 1222 metres above sea level. Built in the early 1900’s as part of the Bergen Railway, it has a nostalgic, lost in time feel as you step off the train, one of just 4 services a day (& these are highly vulnerable to cancellation & long, long delays in winter). The hotel has been recently renovated & the website shows glossy restaurant photos so it was a bit disappointing that in reality our lunch experience was comparable to a local authority cafeteria, the offer some serve-yourself-soup, wrapped sandwiches & the odd cake. Pleasant staff were on hand to serve drinks but there was no table service, indeed signs instructed you to return your own used plates, glasses etc to a stack-trolley. Whilst appreciative of the costs of servicing such a remote location, the meal was poor value. The views are terrific but there wasn’t a lot of atmosphere during our visit.