Walaker Hotel is the oldest hotel in Norway, and it’s a perfect place to stay while exploring the fjords. In fact, Walaker Hotel is on a fjord with great views. The staff is so helpful, working hard to make their guests’ stays enjoyable and relaxing. This is a place that you don’t need to stray from to relax. How about reading while sipping coffee in the morning on the front porch, spending some time on the front lawn just steps from the water’s edge, or walking around the neighborhood? When you do explore the region, you’ll probably be so happy that you’re returning to Walaker Hotel for the evening. I was! It was hard to leave this special place when our trip was over.
Walaker Hotel: Solvorn, Norway / Walaker Hotel / +47 57 68 20 80
DISCLAIMER: My husband and I have stayed in many hotels, inns, and other properties in our travels, but a few stand out above the rest — this is one of them. Although I am highlighting this property that we enjoyed while on vacation, we have not accepted free trips, endorsements, or gratuities from it. All the opinions, along with the photographs (unless otherwise noted), featured in this article are my own. I simply share this property profile because it was unique in its location, hospitality and views, so I think others may consider staying there as well. Happy travels!
Why Walaker Hotel?
- You can’t beat the views from this Walaker Hotel — if you fancy views of a gorgeous fjord. This hotel sits right on a fjord in Solvorn, a tiny Norwegian town. We stayed in one of the historical rooms, so we had a breathtaking view of Sognefjord including its surrounding mountains. The mountains line the valleys of water that are the remnants of ancient glaciers. The views are amazing from the time you wake up until late at night during the summer. Take a look at the picture I took on my phone close to midnight from our room!
- The breakfasts and dinners are excellent. There is a variety of sumptuous breakfast items served as a buffet, so you get to pick what is most tempting to you. The four-course dinners are events in themselves with suggested wine pairings for each course.
- Enjoy an after dinner drink on the front porch overlooking the fjord while dusk gently settles in later in the evening.
- Sip tea or coffee on that same front porch while reading or enjoying the view — a great way to spend a little time in the mornings before setting out on the day’s excursion.
- This is the oldest hotel in Norway, and it’s been beautifully maintained. It’s been in the Nitter family since 1690. The present owner, Ole Henrik Nitter Walaker, is the ninth generation in his family to own and operate the hotel.
- The staff wants to make your stay enjoyable and will give you suggestions of things to do and places to visit. Plus they will help make excursion arrangements for you.
- Its proximity to Urnes Stave Church (across the lake), the Jostedal glacier, the oldest in Europe, and the abundant outdoor activity options are reasons this location is perfect.
Overview
Walaker provided the perfect respite from busy traveling by plane, train, car and ferries which were our modes of travel to and around Norway. Solvorn was our base from which we explored the fjords over a number of days. Solvorn is a small village hanging on the edge of one of the tallest, steepest, and most beautiful Norwegian fjords. We enjoyed our stay in the quaint Walaker Hotel which is perched on the shoreline. As mentioned, it has wonderful views and outstanding breakfasts and dinners. Highlights of our visit include:
- Taking the Urnes Ferry across the fjord (steps from the Walaker) and driving up a steep mountain road to visit the Urnes Stave Church (the oldest stave church in Norway dating back to the 12th century).
- Driving around the fjord. If you are in Solvorn, you almost certainly have rented a car. So, once you are across the Sognefjord, take a leisurely spin around the fjord (going north) and stop at some of the small towns on the way.
- Visiting the Jostedal glacier.
There are several different options when selecting rooms. We stayed in one of Walaker’s “best historical” rooms — there are two, rooms 20 and 23 — and we highly recommend them. They provide a guaranteed view of the fjords and mountains straight ahead as well as Walaker’s garden in the foreground. There are other historical rooms that are smaller, and their views are of the valley. Every historical room is unique with their own characteristics. Walaker also has rooms in the “new building” from 1964. These are larger rooms with their own patio in front. Since they are not historical rooms, they are less expensive.
Things To Do in the Area
- Visit Urnes Stave Church, the oldest stave church in the world was built in 1130. A stave church is one built with thick wooden posts — called staves — that hold them up. These wooden structures feature Nordic architecture and date back to the 12th to 14th centuries. This one sits majestically above the little hamlet of Urnes, right across the Sognefjord from Solvorn. We took a guided tour which we’d recommend. Urnes Stave Church has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1979 and is absolutely worth a visit.
- As mentioned above, take a drive around the fjord after visiting Urnes Stave Church. You’ll be treated with more beautiful views and some waterfalls.
- Hike! Solvorn has a network of hiking trails and paths going around the village. Here you will find trails for different energy levels in the surrounding forests and mountains. Spend an hour or day enjoying this beautiful Norwegian area.
- Visit the Jostedal glacier, about an hour’s drive from Solvorn, where you hike to — or just enjoy a view of — the biggest glacier in mainland Europe. There is also a glacier center that we thought was worth a visit. Of course you can hike to the base of the glacier. If you are even more daring, you can rent crampons and climb the glacier as part of a guided tour.
To get to the glacier, we drove down an unpaved road from the visitor’s center, parked our rental car, and took a pontoon boat (for a very small fee) across the lake. After being dropped off, we hiked to a spot near the base of the glacier. Just before attempting to climb a boulder (with a rope railing) that would enable us to hike a little further to the glacier, we waved a couple ready to descend the boulder to go ahead and come down while we waited below. Well, this hiker fell hard on his backside — and our enthusiasm for trying to climb it quickly vanished. We had to settle for the view of the glacier from a short distance, which in hindsight, was probably a pretty good compromise! We enjoyed the peacefulness of the area and lingered a bit while taking in the incredible views of the valley and mountains before hiking back to pick up the boat for our return trip to Walaker.
- Visit Molden, one of the most famous mountains in the area, with an amazing view from the peak. The hike can start from Marifjøra, which is the longest and hardest way to reach the top of the mountain, about 5 hours from the fjord to the mountain peak. An alternative and an easier hike is from Krossen, which will take about 2 hours from the starting point to the peak. Halfway from this starting point, you will reach the old summer farm Svarthiller, which is a perfect place for a rest with a magnificent view over the fjord.
- Visit Jotunheimen National Park which is located just an hour’s drive from the Walaker Hotel. Hurrungane is one of the spectacular mountains in the national park, and you can see the different peaks from Turtagrø.
- Go kayaking, boating, whitewater rafting, hiking, and/or biking. The reception staff at Walaker Hotel will help make all your arrangements.
- Ride the Flåm Railway, one of the most scenic train journeys in the world. We traveled from Oslo to Myrdal by train, and then from Myrdal to Flåm (and then connected to Leikanger and Solvorn) and the views were indeed breathtaking (as most Norwegian views are!).
How to Get There
To reach Solvorn, it is best to rent a car (which we did). To get to Walaker Hotel, we started in Oslo and took the train to Myrdal early in the morning. Then we transferred to the Flåm Railway — a breathtaking ride past majestic waterfalls. There are shopping areas and places to eat in Flåm while waiting for a high-speed ferry to Leikanger. When we arrived at the Leikanger dock, we were met with our rental car! It was like clockwork. Walaker Hotel referred us to a local company that provides rental cars — there’s no Hertz, Avis, or Budget to be found! From Leikanger, we navigated ourselves (thanks, Waze!) through Sogndal to Solvorn and then finally to our temporary home away from home — Walaker Hotel.
If you won’t be renting a car you can get there by boat and bus. There are a few bus departures from Sogndal, the nearest town center, to Solvorn. We recommend contacting Walaker Hotel directly so they can help you with your itinerary whichever way you prefer to travel there.
A Norled boat navigates on a fjord in Norway.
Next Stop
After we left Solvorn, we took a Norled express boat from Leikanger (so we could drop our car off at the dock) to Bergen — just short of a five hour journey. You just walk on the boat, stow your luggage, and relax in one of the seats and get ready to enjoy the gorgeous scenery offered by Norway’s longest and deepest fjord the whole way to Bergen. (There are some refreshments available for purchase on the ferry.) You will be dropped off right in the busy (and touristy) harbor of historic Bergen. It’s then an easy walk to some good hotels.
