Straand Hotel

Welcoming guests for more than 150 years, the family-run Straand Hotel in the pastoral hamlet of Vrådal has been offering gracious Norwegian hospitality for five generations. Its story began back in 1864 when Olav and Kari Straand decided to build a bus station to help support their burgeoning homestead. Thanks to the village’s remote location and the area’s steep mountainous landscape, the bus station was a success, and they opened their home as a guesthouse to accommodate travelers passing through soon after. Since then, that quaint country farmhouse has grown into a popular retreat, with 125 guestrooms spread across the Straand Hotel and hearty homemade dishes served in the hotel’s onsite dining venues, just like when the boarding house first opened those many years ago.

Complementing the Swiss chalet-inspired hotel is its idyllic alpine setting in the historic district of Upper Telemark. Once home to an ancient North Germanic tribe known as the Thelir during the Viking Age, the rugged region’s picturesque forests, mountains, and lakes now play host to action-packed activities like hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and skiing. The best way to take it all in is with HUBRiding, a travel concept developed by the Straand Hotel, which allows adventurers to experience the best that an area has to offer by following expert- and time-tested routes, whether by car, bicycle, motorcycle, paddle, or on foot.