Twenty peaks rise straight from the fjords on Andørja, an island so mountainous it’s considered Northern Europe’s most vertical stretch of land. No roads reach most of it. From June 2027, a small number of travellers will be able to base themselves there, at a new lodge built by a company better known for making the jackets people wear to climb places like this than for building the places themselves.
Norrøna, the 97-year-old Norwegian outdoor brand, has revealed its first Arctic lodge, opening on Andørja in northern Norway. The Norrøna Lodge at Andørja is the opening move in what the brand calls its Arctic Voyage, a planned network of lodges intended to link one of Norway’s most untouched coastlines by sea rather than by road.
A lodge built on poles, not roads
The lodge’s main building started life as a research centre studying basking sharks, and rather than clearing the site, Norrøna built around it, working with Dark Arkitekter on a design that keeps the island’s ground and vegetation largely undisturbed. There is no road access anywhere on site. Cabins and infrastructure sit raised on timber poles, connected by boardwalks, with the prefabricated timber structures shipped in and craned into place rather than built in situ.
“At Andørja, we’ve focused on preserving the ground and the vegetation,” says Jørgen Jørgensen, CEO and fourth-generation owner of Norrøna.
“Everything we’ve built sits on poles, the boardwalks cover the infrastructure, and there’s no road access anywhere on site. We’re building base camps for guests who come here to ski, hike, bike or climb, whatever their experience level.”
The finished lodge will hold just 15 guest cabins and no more than 30 guests at a time, alongside a restaurant, lounge and bar, two wood-fired saunas and a Norrøna shop. Every cabin includes a fireplace, bath and floor-to-ceiling glass looking out onto the surrounding terrain.
Arctic adventure by season
Guests arrive by air before transferring to the lodge by boat, weather permitting, and every stay is fully inclusive of guiding, dining, recovery and transport. What that buys access to shifts with the season: skiing untouched terrain and chasing the aurora through the Arctic winter, or hiking, mountaineering and trail running under the midnight sun through summer, when darkness barely arrives at all.
For a slower pace, guests can join local guides to learn the island’s fishing traditions, photograph the Arctic light, or simply cool off with a dip in the fjord between sauna sessions. Guiding runs daily in small groups of five to seven, with a private guide available on request, and at least one guided trip to a neighbouring island included per stay, weather permitting. Neighbouring islands Rolla, Grytøya and Senja offer similarly remote terrain reachable only by boat, much of it otherwise inaccessible.
Meals lean into the same Arctic landscape guests spend their days exploring, built around king crab, sea urchin, foraged berries and wild herbs, served over a three-course dinner each evening.
Part of a bigger Norwegian adventure map
Andørja is the first of what Norrøna intends as a connected string of lodges along Norway’s northern coastline, following the brand’s existing ventures into hosted adventure: Canvas Telemark, a mountain biking hotel in southern Norway, and Varg S/Y, an expedition sailing yacht.
“We’ve always made the gear,” says Jørgensen.
“Now we’re building the places it takes you, where guests can test that same gear in the very landscapes that inspired it.”
For a brand built on technical outdoor equipment, the move into hosted lodges is a logical, if ambitious, extension: rather than simply outfitting travellers for the Arctic, Norrøna is now inviting them to stay in it.
Bookings open from the end of October, with rates from €990 per person, per night. Drinks are not included in the all-inclusive package.
