Norway’s oldest fishing outpost has long offered shelter to weary seafarers, who braved icy waves to fish from Nusfjord’s bountiful waters. Sleep like sailors in traditional red-painted rorbuer, wooden cabins perched on stilts around the historic harbour. The boathouses, fish-packing warehouses and salt stores have new life as restaurants, an art gallery, and pizza tavern. Nordic bathing rituals are played out across the fjord-fronting spa’s wood-fired sauna and hot tubs, where treatments are infused with mineral-rich salt and hand-harvested seaweed.

At the edge of the Arctic Circle, Ytrí (a name drawn from Old Norse, meaning 'the outer point') sits among the remote Træna archipelago, where low-slung buildings meet sharp, sea-cut peaks and an endless horizon. Drawing on fishing heritage, its design pairs weathered materials with clean lines and light-filled interiors. Summer days stretch long – spent island-hopping by boat, hiking to ancient caves or swimming in clear waters alongside seals and white-tailed eagles. Back ashore, a sauna, boathouse and seafood-led restaurant anchor this elemental retreat by the open sea.

Carpentry and cod liver oil production were the calling cards for this once-abandonded factory from the 1940s, which is now run as a hotel by four Norwegian brothers, with industrial-chic dining and events spaces, plus a yoga studio and sauna. It’s certainly rough and ready from the outside, but the preserved machinery and timber framing throughout the bedrooms are softened by the seafoam green and cream colour scheme. The adventure-hungry team organises ski tours, Northern Lights hikes, and yoga retreats.

Private art collectors Venke and Rolf Hoff (who also own Hanningsvær’s lighthouse) fill this former factory with curated works by Norwegian and international talent. You might admire installations by Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramović, alongside the mixed media creations of Bjarne Melgaard. The endless views over the Vestfjord’s rolling waves are veritable masterpieces, too.