Hotel berhampiran FjordSafari - Flam Guide Service AS, Flåm

The location of the hotel is close to the train station. It’s a historical hotel, grand but slightly old. However it fits nicely with the Flåm environment.

We booked an overnight in Flamt between the boat trip up the Sognefjord, and the train ride from Flam to Oslo. This was booked by my travel agent. While booked in December 2023, it was the last available room at this hotel. The hotel was nice, and surprisingly quiet. Until the fire alarm went off at midnight. Apparently, this is a known issue at this hotel when someone gets out of the shower the steam from the shower sets off the fire alarm, which interestingly is located right above and outside the bathroom. This property does most of the big things very, very well, lots of nice restaurants, very quiet rooms. Reasonably comfortable beds. Yet some of the things are oddly terrible. Small, raggedy gray towels. No face cloths. Nespresso machine that would not function properly. And then the midnight awakening by the fire alarm (which was not relaxing at all, on what was meant to be relaxing vacation). No way to control the temperature in the room, so that we woke up, ridiculously hot in the middle of the night, and ridiculous duvets on the beds which added to the crazy heat. The bed was reasonably comfortable, the brewpub was delicious, and the little town is super cute. When I return to this particular hotel? I’m not sure. Maybe if I could get a different room and maybe if they did a little bit better with the smaller things.

It's a quaint inaccessible place with dark corridors, visible plumbing and rooms that needed a makeover long, long ago. It is only reachable by using the expensive Flåm Railway, or walking or riding 20 kilometres. It was originally built as a sanatorium in 1896, but it was never used for its intended purpose. Instead, it became popular as a hotel because of the Bergen Railway. After the Bergen Railway was opened in 1909, and especially after the Flåm Railway was connected with the Bergen Railway in 1940 it became a go to destination but times, tastes and fortune change. My first impression; I thought I was in an old folks home. It's on different floor levels within so one goes up/down a few steps to get to different rooms. It's not for wheelchair users. We arrived here without any welcome as 'cash cows'. We were part of the Flåm £15O a head railway trip off as guests of Norwegian Prima. Our train guide walked us up a slope from the station, in the rain, into the hotel, on a wet dank afternoon, only to tell us to go down two floors inside, for rather poor - tasting filtered cool coffee that sat on the tables in flasks. As we were cash cows other cash cows who were there from an earlier Flam train trip had blocked the narrow hallway which was annoying given the cold rain and wind as we were held outside jostling to get in. As we were a crowd we were put in an ugly nondescript room packed tight with fellow travellers. It resembled a school assembly hall with a public sector school dinner approach. So once we got into the downstairs room allocated for us we poured flasked coffee into tiny hotel style cold cups ending up with lukewarm lousy coffee which is unpleasant. If the (cold, limp, thin) waffles that sat plated on a top table were loving made fresh by the hotel's chef, from the finest flour, mountain butter and cream, treacly cane sugar from Mauritius and fresh free range double yolked XL eggs from happy chickens living their best life on a mountain side then sadly it isn't working as these potentially microwaved limp offerings had all the hallmarks of vegetable oil and powdered egg factory manufacturing. The raspberry jam (I expected cloudberry) and runny sour cream helped but honestly if you were served this stuff in a local cafe you'd be reluctant to pay and you wouldn't return. Given it's a £150 a head they have a cheek serving this rubbish. Having loitered here two hours and looked around the hotel and its surroundings to relieve boredom I was glad ours was a brief visit. If the food served to guests is anything like the poor quality we got it has little going for it except the location. We have no desire to return.

ROOMS: all rooms are located in a separate building. Majority of them have a stunning view on a fjord and mountains. Rooms themselves are spacious, they decorated in a Viking-style. Rather big bathroom is equipped with a shower. There are TV, teapot in the room. There is a big window on a roof with a perfect view (we’ve got on a waterfall), but you can’t close it. That’s why sleeping mask and ear plugs are provided for better sleep. LOCATION: perfect location in a fjord’s shore. Here you can have a breakfast with a stunning view. There is a Viking village located next to the hotel across a small bridge. There are old buildings, some show, restaurants with traditional cuisine as well. 20min drive to Flåm, 2h drive to Trolltunga. FOOD: breakfast is included (7-10am). It’s a breakfast buffet, not very big, but there are all what you need for a start of your day: eggs, sausages, bacon, different meat, salmon, veggies, yogurts, corn flakes and muesli. There are two restaurants on site, one of them is Seafood. Both have perfect view on a fjord. There is also another one with coffee and other hot drinks, pizza and pastry. There is a big bar btw. FACILITIES: wi-fi, parking, souvenirs shop. There are hiking and cycling routes nearby (all the information is provided by the hotel). STAFF: polite and helpful.

Loved the traditional feel of the hotel. An old place, which has been updated. I had a pleasant en suite room, very clean, excellent crisp white bedding and towels. A fridge in the corridor and a kettle in the room. Meals are not provided but can be taken at nearby Fjordtell. Quiet and peaceful. Perfect for me! Would love to stay there again. Nice sitting under laburnum tree in garden at the end of the day.