Perched above the Arctic Circle in northern Norway, the Lofoten Islands are one of the great "end-of-the-world archipelagos", known for their towering, serrated mountains, wild seas and lonely white-sand beaches.
My husband and I visited in March, following a health scare, said Sophy Roberts in the FT, and found the trip restorative. That was partly thanks to the islands' vast silences and the "awesome scale" of the landscape – and partly because we stayed at an excellent hotel. Holmen Lofoten is set beside the sea in the village of Sørvågen, where its owner, Ingunn Rasmussen, grew up. She is the daughter of a local fisherman, and the hotel is largely made of refurbished fishermen's cabins. They are "close to perfect" – "simple" but "cosy", with wood burners and soft wool blankets.
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