Juvet Landscape Hotel, Valldal, Norway

Where it is

Juvet stands on an old farm at Alstad in the Valldal valley, on the Norwegian scenic route between the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord and the hairpin road of Trollstigen. Right beside it is Gudbrandsjuvet, a narrow, thundering gorge.

Ålesund, with direct flights from several international airports, is about 90 minutes by car, and you will want a car to explore. Trollstigen is open from around the end of May to the end of October; when it is closed, the drive from Åndalsnes goes the long way round, via Sjøholt.

Rooms

The seven Landscape Rooms are small cubes on stilts, each with one or two walls of glass, angled so every room frames its own view of river, rock, forest or mountain. Interiors are dark and minimal and there are no curtains, yet the rooms feel private because of the way they are placed. Each has a double bed and a shower.

The two Birdhouses are tiny, about 8 square metres, perched high among the trees, without private bathrooms; guests use the Bath House. There is also a Writer's Lodge for groups. Breakfast and a three-course dinner are included in the room rate.

Bath house, food and the rest

The Bath House sits right by the river, largely glass, with a steam room, an outdoor hot tub and quiet relaxation rooms; it is open from midday to 8pm and only to staying guests. Soaking outdoors while the river races past is the experience people talk about.

Dinner is served at 7.30pm around a long table in the converted barn, with menus built on local, seasonal ingredients. There is no lunch service, so pack your own from the breakfast buffet before setting out. Days are for hiking, kayaking on the fjord, climbing, fjord sightseeing or, as the hotel puts it, doing nothing.

The moment

Waking in a Landscape Room and watching the forest and river through a wall of glass, the light and weather changing hour by hour. Beyond the hotel, standing above the Geirangerfjord as waterfalls tumble from the cliffs, or driving the eleven bends of Trollstigen, are moments you will not forget.

Why we chose it

Juvet is one of the most influential hotels of the past two decades, a masterclass in architecture that treads lightly, and a place that genuinely slows you down. It is not conventional luxury: rooms are small, nobody brings room service, and everything is about what lies outside the glass.

For design lovers it pairs beautifully with The Omnia in Zermatt; for an even wilder, fully guided adventure, see Awasi Patagonia.

When to go

Juvet is a seasonal hotel, open from the beginning of March to the beginning of November. July and August are busiest, when Norwegian and European school holidays fill the fjords and the cruise ships are in at Geiranger.

If you are free to choose, go in June or September. June has near-endless light and Trollstigen is open; September brings autumn colour, quieter roads and settled days. March to May is for snow on the boulders and ski touring in the Sunnmøre Alps, with Trollstigen still closed. Book ahead whenever you go: there are very few rooms.

The longer stay

The hotel asks for a minimum of two nights at weekends, so a midweek arrival gives you more choice of rooms. Three or four nights lets you mix a fjord day at Geiranger, a walk in the mountains and an afternoon in the Bath House. For a longer journey, add Ålesund's Art Nouveau streets and a few nights on the Lofoten Islands or along the coast.