From farm to hotel
The history of Visnes Hotel is dated back to 1850. Visnes Hotel was originally one of the biggest farms in the area, when the owner Anton Visnes decided to furnish some rooms and to receive guests in the main house.
From then, the farm slowly developed into a hotel. The property was constantly expanded, and the son of Anton, Arne, made it into a complete hotel in 1887. At that time Visnes was a central and important place for the community in Stryn, with the dock located just by the hotel and the main road passing right by. Goods and guests came by both by the road and by sea.
Style studies
The largest renovation and expansion of Visnes Hotel happened in the interwar years, this was also when the hotel got its Swiss styled façade. The hotel now got 30 guestrooms, and the owners were also running a gas station and a garage at the time. From 1957-1986 no one was running the hotel, and the business was closed for several years. Then Kristin Visnes, 5. Generation of the family, decided to run the Hotel. In 2000, 6. Generation Visnes came to Stryn to take over the family business. Vibeke Visnes renovated several of the rooms, and all of them now got their own bathrooms.
Today the hotel has 15 rooms all decorated in interwar style and Art Nouveau. The style in the hotel is characterized by the many eras of history it has been through. You will see traces of the large farm Visnes once was, with the old barn as a landmark. Now we have rebuilt the barn and made 4 family rooms in the attic. In the ground floor, there will be room for meetings and gatherings.
Visnes Hotel is a proud member of Historic Hotels Worldwide, and has been assigned “Olavsrosa”, which is a quality symbol for the Norwegian cultural heritage. We take care of this old wooden hotel, and work all the time to achieve our sustainability goals. Visnes Hotel is a certified Eco-Lighthouse company.
Your hosts
Early spring 2014, Visnes Hotel was posted for sale. Since 1850, the hotel has been hosted and operated by the family Visnes, throughout six generations. With a desire to run their own business, and to contribute to the local tourism and environment, the couple Marit Nordheim Otterdal and Arvid Otterdal, decided to buy the hotel.
Marit is originally from Eastern Norway, a small mountain village called Vats, located in Ål in Hallingdal. Here she grew up with her parents and siblings, running the family business, Nordheim Fjellstue. She has a lot of experience from the hotel-, tourist- and restaurant sector. For the past 12 years she has been a store manager at “Vinmonopolet”, the main distributor of wine and spirits in Norway. She has a great knowledge of food and wine, and has achieved several diplomas and courses within the subject.
Arvid was raised at a farm in Hornindal, a village located 30 minutes from Stryn. Previously Arvid worked as a carpenter and salesman for garden machines. Arvid has a desire for the maintenance of the hotel and the property at Visnes. He does also have a big interest for outdoor activities, such as hiking, hunting and fishing, and will gladly share his knowledge with you.
The couple has always loved to travel, collecting inspiration from many different places. As of today, they’re biggest interest is to reveal the best from the local area and develop the potential of Visnes Hotel and its surroundings. They wish to maintain a historical hotel in one of the most famous tourist sites in the world. They will contribute with local knowledge about both outdoor activities in the area and history, as well as a passion for food and wine.
“You feel like you enter into someones home when arriving in this historic hotel. The owners are present at all times and they are so, so passionate about this place and they alway stop by and talk to the guests. The hotel is charmingly old, but well renovated, keeping it old-fashoined. Highly recommended.”
