Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Norway / Flam / Fretheim Hotel
Fretheim Hotel
Flam, Norway · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Christen Fretheim started renting rooms on his Flåm farm in the 1870s when English Salmon Lords arrived after Lord Wigram leased the Flåmselva. Locals called the Swiss-style inn the English Villa, the village's first purpose-built tourist lodging. Marthe Fretheim kept the garden after 1916, and seventeen rooms still hold claw-foot tubs and fireplaces from that era. The Flåm Railway has sat beside the white wooden house since 1940, trains sliding in under Aurlandsfjord.
- Opened 1870
About Fretheim Hotel
- Christen Fretheim began renting rooms on his farm in the 1870s when wealthy English anglers called Salmon Lords arrived after Lord Wigram leased fishing rights on the Flåmselva river.
- Locals nicknamed the Swiss-style inn Christen built for the anglers the English Villa, converting a humble fjord farmstead into the village's first purpose-built tourist lodging.
- Marthe Fretheim managed the hotel after Christen's death in 1916 until 1933, cultivating the renowned garden that still frames the white wooden facade facing Aurlandsfjord.
- Seventeen guestrooms retain late nineteenth-century furnishings with claw-foot tubs and fireplaces, preserving the atmosphere of the salmon-fishing era that transformed Flåm from farming village to resort.
History
Christen Fretheim began renting rooms on his farm in the 1870s when English anglers, the Salmon Lords, arrived after Lord Wigram leased fishing rights on the Flåmselva. The Swiss-style inn locals nicknamed the English Villa became Flåm's first purpose-built tourist lodging. After Christen's death in 1916, Marthe Fretheim ran the house until 1933 and cultivated the garden that still frames the white wooden facade facing Aurlandsfjord. Seventeen guestrooms retain late-nineteenth-century furnishings. The Flåm Railway station opened beside the hotel in 1940.
The setting
1 km from Flåmselvi river. 3 km from Flåm Church.
Amenities
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Open Fretheim Hotel in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.