Fretheim Hotel

We visited in February and enjoyed the quiet, with no cruise ships around. The room was comfortable, the bathroom warm, and the lounge areas pleasant. At the top of all those wooden stairs there’s a lovely observatory. It must be stunning for stargazing on a clear night. Breakfast was good, and the staff were attentive.

The room walls were the thinnest I’ve come across anywhere. We could hear people in the next room coughing, even when they were doing it quietly. We stayed in the America wing, which was meant to be the luxury section, but it didn’t feel luxurious. I didn’t try the food, but paid £12 for three bottles of 500m still water. In a place where the hotel knows there isn’t much choice, it seems able to charge a lot for very little.

The dinner buffet was average, though the service was great. We had a nice room on the 4th floor looking toward the harbor, train station, outlet mall, and supermarket. There are nice libraries on each floor, too.

The staff were friendly enough, and both check-in and check-out were super fast. We only stayed one night, had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and left the next day, so we didn’t need much service. The hotel is right by the train station and pier, which made things easy when we arrived by train and when we headed out for our Nærøyfjord Fjord cruise. It’s literally just 5 mins walk.