Hattvika Lodge — Hotel in Vestvågøy

We have just come back from a Lofoten road trip, having stayed in 5 different, well-reviewed venues, the length of the islands.

Ballstad is very centrally located in the islands and if you were choosing 1 place to stay then would be a reasonable choice as it offers day-trip opportunities to Svolvaer and Reine without being too onerous a drive.

Right from the outset we were warmly greeted. The first thing you see in reception is the incredible view of the sea through the restaurant's full length windows. Our room wasn't ready so our Hosts offered us safe storage and spent a considerable amount of time giving us advice about our itinerary. It was incredibly helpful.

On our return we were delighted to find that we had been upgraded to one of their seaside suites. Kristian took us there and showed us round. It was absolutely stunning and without a doubt the nicest place we stayed at throughout our trip. A beautiful lodge, with a boutique, rustic, feel, decorated to a very high standard and historically preserved from an old fishing hut. It even had its own hot tub (We were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights from the hot tub that evening)! Full of nice touches, including a Bluetooth speaker, it would be almost impossible to come up with even a minor criticism.

Dinner at Fangst restaurant is highly recommended. Billed as a "fine dining" experience, it certainly is that. A bit more pricey than the standard Lofoten meal, but you get what you pay for. We both had the sea(weed) menu, which was excellent. The courses are bought out to you by extremely knowledgeable staff who explain them, including a personal meet with the chef. The fish is delivered to the marina 100 yards from the Lodge and the menu adapted to the daily catch, so cannot be any fresher! One of waiters bought out the skin of the rare deep-sea fish that we were eating, which was really interesting. His knowledge of the wines served as part of the wine tasting with each course was excellent. It was a fantastic meal.

Breakfast was also good, with the nice touches of the cod liver oil and also a morning shot of lemon juice and ginger, which does the trick of waking you up!

Just to mention, Hattvika Lodge is reached by an off road, but very driveable, track. In view is the property's working cod liver oil factory (that you get served at breakfast) that is one of the premium manufacturers in the world. Once we had a better understanding of the nature of the structure, in our opinion, it added to the character of the lodge.

We stayed 2 nights and were disappointed to leave. The service provided by the staff at Hattvika Lodge was impeccable throughout. Kristian Boe and Team were fantastic and shared insightful local knowledge with us, which was greatly appreciated. Our Seaside Lodge was immaculately clean, cosy, comfortable and luxurious. The breakfast and dinner were a winner. I have no hesitation in giving Hattvika Lodge my highest...

We were very excited for our visit to Hattvika but beware!! The owner, Kristian (spelling?) is a JERK! We had made a dinner reservation weeks back when planning our trip but later saw that the dinner is a set menu that was very limited in variety and VERY expensive! $90 USD per person and this did not include any drinks. Upon arrival we informed Kristian that we would like to cancel our dinner reservation (2+ hours prior to the time of our reservation) and he very rudely scolded us and was very condescending saying “You cancel now when you arrive, is that nice? Is that nice!?” We apologized and he kept going on about how rude we were for cancelling. We explained that the limited menu did not fit our tastes and he just kept telling us how rude we were. It was a very awkward way to start our stay there and left us feeling unwelcome.

We also read other reviews of similar rude interactions with him. I would recommend dining and or staying at Silosiden Lofoten just across the small harbor 2 mins away. Just don’t order the grilled fish- it was very dry and tasted like plastic- but the scene and drinks and staff were great at Silosiden. Ironically we saw Kristian having dinner there- and NOT at HIS restaurant with the limited menu, LOL!

The lodge itself was cute, but we had booked a “King suite with sea view” that the photos gave the impression of having a private deck or balcony but it was only a window with view of the small harbor and some fishing boats- with access to a community deck.

Also- be careful if you select one of the hillside cabins as some of them face a giant Codfish processing factory of ugly factory looking tankers and towers- they don’t show this view on their website. Lastly, the walls were VERY thin and a group of loud guests came in at 2am (midnight Sun here in June) and woke us up and were very loud.

Overall it was a fine stay- but I would probably look elsewhere if recommending to a friend. The town of Reine and Eliassen Rorbuer was beautiful and the neighboring restaurant Gaddus was delish! And no one scolded us when we asked if we could move our reservation to a later time because the Sun had finally...

We had a nice stay at Hattvika Lodge, though the claims to luxury we read about in various reviews and articles feel more like creative marketing than reality. Our suite, a little fishing cottage or rorbu overlooking the water, was cosy and thoughtfully designed in a modern style, with modern amenities like a coffee machine and kitchenette. However, it was situated right next to a construction site so we were awoken at 8am by what sounded like Thor himself drilling through the earth next door. The excavation sounds and bangs made our little fishing hut move on its foundations. Nothing says holiday relaxation like your fishing hut vibrating itself into the sea. We had no awareness of the construction at the time of booking or we would have happily booked another type of room. We booked a seaside suite specifically for the bathtub, which seemed like a nice idea after long, cold hikes. Small catch: you can only fill it about one-third before the hot water taps out. After that, you’re either embracing lukewarm arctic immersion therapy or waiting an hour for enough hot water to shower, if you’re patient enough to not fossilize first. When we asked, we were told the hot water allows for “reasonable use,” which turned out to mean one modestly sized human can bathe while the other one cheers them on. The Lodge has a sauna onsite, where for just $150 per session on top of your already $700USD a night stay, you too can watch forklifts dance and factory workers hustle at the cod oil plant across the water (not exactly picturesque), all while you sweat in front of a giant window. We were left wondering if the glass was one-way. If not, then somewhere out there a group of bewildered Norwegian plant workers are still recovering from the sight of blindingly pale tourists steaming like dumplings. On the bright side, the staff were genuinely lovely and helpful, and their restaurant Fangst is fantastic. It’s worth making a reservation even if you’re sleeping at a completely...