Hemmingodden Lodge

We stayed 2 nights in one of Lottebua appartment. Wow, what a view !!! It is really a marvelous scenery and surrounding. It is a small fishing village, quite sauvage, with mountains falling in the sea. It was the end of our 2 weeks in Norway, and we had seen many nice scenery, but this is truly beautiful. From our apartment we had a terrasse facing the mountains and sea, where we could sit, and we very much enjoyed this. They have also a restaurant that we tried one night. The menu is small and simple but the food is excellent, and the staff is very nice (as in the reception by the way). So definitely recommend it. There is no breakfast served, but there is a Joker 5 minutes walking distance where you can buy coffee, bakery, and other things there or for your stay. So that was not a problem for us. Other things to be known, which could be a problem, or not, depending on your needs: - the 3 bedrooms were small with only twin beds, which were fairly small (don't think they are 90cm large). So it was a bit rough the first night, but we accomodated. - there is only1 bathroom with shower and toilet inside for the whole apartment, so if you are a family of 4-6, it can be sometimes not ideal. - it is not very well equipped. There was absolutely no drawer, cupboard, ... nothing where to put our clothes. So we kept everything in the suitcases on the floor of the living room. Not a problem for a short stay but not sure for a longer stay. There was very minimum equipement also for the kitchen, which again could be, or not, an issue. They have other types of apartments which may be equipped differently, so worth checking if these things are important to you. - our apartment was upstairs and we could hear our neighbours. It was not too noisy, so ok. But there are apartments downstairs, and don't know for them, if they hear steps upstairs,... Last thing we realised that in fact this is a paradise for the fishers. They have many boats of all sizes, that can be rented or there also organise all sorts of sea trips. We regretted not to have used them to do a day trip on a boat, and even may be try fishing. It would have been much nicer than to do the road to Reine and A which we found very touristic and disappointing. So overall we definitely recommend and would (will) go back, knowing the plus and minus and adapting the stay in consequence.

Our room was what seemed to be one third or one fourth of an original fisherman`s cabin. This was the back part of the cabin with no view worth mentioning. The name of the room indicated that this was were the fishermen sat and mended their yarns. Coming from a fisherman family myself I find this very unlikely as I doubt that the fisherman would take his yarns to the back side of a building and up to first flor; sitting with no seaview. The bed was up in a loft with a very truoblesome access. Going down from the loft was even more troublesome as there were no railing to ensure a safe descend. As a result, my very light-footed wife required help to get down. She learned from one of the satff that this was a general problem. And we spent night no 2 on a very unconfortable IKEA sleeping sofo.

Organized a PhD course with 15 participants. The staff found good solutions to all challenges during planning, and shoved warm hospitality during the stay. The cabins/rooms was great, the conference facilities fine, and the food was excellent! And all this for a reasonable price. Higly recommended!

Ballstad is a nice location. It is a fishing village and is quiet. We decided to stay here to try a different part of Lofoten. The cabins are brand new and are really nice. The bedroom has a window that overlooks the mountains nearby which is simply awesome. The shower is great and it is a very relaxing experience staying there. Staff were helpful and the restaurant looked nice. There is a sauna built in front of the lodge overlooking the mountains and the sunset here is nice. You will see boats coming in and out of the area and the tide changes a lot here - with low tide revealing the bottom of the sea. The only criticism I have is that you cannot book one of the new cabins based on the pictures as they are not accurate and the descriptions in English do not tell you where your cabin is (there are rows of cabins). We chose one of the most expensive ones expecting an awesome 180 degree view, but we got one with fishing buildings to the left and other cabins to the right, The view we had of the water and mountain was in the middle. That was disappointing because based on the description and pictures on the website, we expected something else. There are four rows of cabins that are new. The one to the far left is called Viljen. It is independent of the others but has the smallest view. We stayed in the next one called Havørna which is also independent of the others. (see illustration) There were then two more rows of cabins. The last cabin on the fourth row has the best view. We did not know this - but when you read the Norwegian version of the website and its description, you can find out which cabin this is. We thought that we booked the one with the best view, but this other is a little more expensive. I do not want to take this away from the fact that Hemmingodden is a really nice place to stay. Like I said, the cabins are brand new and awesome but it would really help the visitor if there was a clear may to show you which cabin it is that you are getting so you know what type of view to expect. The other family cabins at the other end of the lodge all have great views over the water and mountain. Again, it is a really nice place to stay, we just wanted to offer the visitor some information which will help them in booking the cabin they want.