Go big or go home.
Hi! I’m Tilla, the manager of Skårungen basecamp, and this is how this dream came true.
4 years ago, in 2018, my husband Christer and I moved to Lofoten to pursue nature and endless adventures, nothing else. We never thought about running a hotel. Yet, I knew this was a dream Christer had since we met, but I never expected it to become true that fast. Neither did he.
This wasn’t planned at all, that’s the truth, but sometimes opportunities like this happen, and you get the choice to take them or not, but if you don’t, you may regret it. So we chose to take it and that’s how everything started.
I was a physiotherapist in Drammen, in the south of Norway, so you can imagine how much experience I had running a hotel. None.
To make things easier, just three months after taking over the place, COVID came and we saw how the bookings for the entire season disappeared in front of our eyes. Cancellation after cancellation, we thought that was the end, there was nothing we could do, and no cancellation policies or insurance covered anything like this.
A few weeks later, I got out that I was pregnant and my dad had a brain attack.
That’s how everything started.
But the dream and the potential of the place remained untouched, so we started again.
We manage to renovate the reception just 7 days before the big opening! This is how it was and how it looks now.
RCEPTION BEFORE / AFTER
The traditional cabins were the next step, and we began by renovating one of them before gradually completing the other nine.
CABINS BEFORE / AFTER
Our dream is to make Skårungen the best basecamp in Lofoten, a place where you can find everything you wish, from activities, rentals, spa, massages, and beautiful hikes nearby, to a cozy restaurant with a fireplace to chill after a day in the outdoors. Its great location allows our guests to explore the whole of Lofoten, getting to the very end of Lofoten within two hours’ drive.
For many years prior to moving here, we spent our time discovering Lofoten in this manner. We always set up a basecamp, and from there we explored from east to west instead of changing accommodations every few days, so we avoided packing and unpacking constantly, searching for many hotels, checking in and out, and an endless list of other things to do.
Staying in one place feels more like home to us, and that’s the feeling we would love to share with all our guests.
Come to Skårungen any time, we are open the whole year. From the polar night and northern lights of the winter to the midnight sun and endless days of the summer. Lofoten has so much to see that you will definitely come back!