Hotel

Hotel of the Month, Sweden Tranquillity among the treetops

Step away from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life with a detour to Trakt Forest Hotel. Nestled in the fairytale-like coniferous forests of Småland, this experiential venture, with its almost-floating forest suites, invites you to enjoy the silence and let your body relax.

By Emma Rodin | Photos: Trakt Forest Hotel

Unlike any other hotels around, Trakt is a breath of fresh air on the Scandinavian hospitality scene. Launched in the summer of 2022, it is an extension of a family-owned farm located on the same lands, and its overall concept is about forest floor, with narrow paths leading to each one. “We wanted to provide an escape from the ordinary – somewhere people can come to recharge their batteries and perhaps regain some perspective, too,” explains Sandra Sälleteg, co-founder of Trakt.

Designed by architect Gert Wingård to fit seamlessly into the woodland, the forest suites make a minimal impression between the trees, providing guests with unspoiled views of the surrounding

connecting with nature and celebrating local talent – combined with Scandinavian simplicity and luxury comforts.

It all comes together in a series of individual suites which are raised from the

wilderness and sky through large panoramic windows.

“We also have an ongoing partnership with students studying furniture design at Nässjö Träcentrum. They design pieces for our suites which is a great way of threading that local aspect into our offering,” explains Sälleteg.

A place to eat Trakt’s main reception and kitchen can be found in the nearby log house, a short walk from the hotel suites. This building is the first thing you’ll see when arriving at the hotel and is where all meals are served. However, guests are also welcome (and encouraged) to treat it as a place to just sit down and think.

“We cook seasonal food sourced from the farm, the forest, and the area surrounding us,” says Sälleteg. We aim to make the most of everything nature has to offer without forgetting the rich traditions and history of the region, and we let the food take its time just as it should.”

Business bonding in the great outdoors This log house is also ideal for hosting team-building events and conferences away from the city. Companies can book space just for a day, for the opportunity to spend time outdoors, and perhaps build relationships over the open fire.

Speaking of the great outdoors, there is more to Trakt than just stunning accommodation. There are walking trails with numerous viewpoints and fishing spots in the nearby lake. The more adventurous can try the zipline hosted by either at a beautiful place nearby or in your forest suite. Rest assured that you will get a map of the best drinking spots.

Trakt aims to offer guests a one-ofa-kind experience that smells, tastes and feels like Småland. For maximum value, Sälleteg recommends booking a two-night package to make sure there is enough time to enjoy everything on offer, with all your senses.

the company Little Rock Lake, about an hour’s drive away; an activity which is also great for conference guests.

Then, of course, there is the sauna and outdoor bathtub, where you can splash around under the stars. “This is a special experience that visitors like to rave about,” explains Sälleteg.

“Imagine a cold winter’s night where the only light comes from the moon and stars in the sky, and you’re sitting in a hot bathtub just taking in the silence and atmosphere, knowing you’re far away from the stress of society.”

Drinks tastings The Trakt team also offer two types of drinks tastings of locally produced, non-alcoholic drinks, either guided or not.

Going solo? Then you will get a backpack including the relevant drinks as well as some local snacks to pair with the beverages. And although a guide will present the tasting initially, you will be left to enjoy the drinks on your own, www.traktforesthotel.com Instagram: @traktforest.hotel Facebook: Traktforesthotel

How to get there By train: the closest train station in Nässjö. From Nässjö: taxi. By plane: Växjö Airport or Gothenburg/ Landvetter Airport are the closest airports. From the airport: rental car. By car: on Riksväg 47, turn off towards Alseda. In Alseda: follow the signs to Trakt Forest Hotel, which is about 6km away.

Welcome. Photo: Salpalinjan Hovi

Hotel of the Month, Finland Salpalinjan Hovi: a unique themed hotel in the middle of nature

At the family-owned Salpalinjan Hovi hotel in south-eastern Finland, guests take centre stage from the minute they walk through the door.

By Linda A. Thompson | Photos: Salpalinjan Hovi

Salpalinjan Hovi, a small boutique hotel located a stone’s throw from Lappeenranta in Finland, has been shaped by Anne Sorsa-Vainikka’s own experiences as traveller. When her children were young and the family travelled abroad, Sorsa-Vainikka and her husband would regret splitting the family up at night, with the children in one room, and them in another. This got them wondering which services and activities their ideal hotel would offer.

In 2012, Sorsa-Vainikka, a biologist by training, fell in love with a former village When the pair came across the gorgeous, listed building, it was immediately clear what Sorsa-Vainikka would do next. She would convert it into a small, cosy hotel, where she would offer guests the best-possible stay. Her hotel would be unique and different from chain hotels. Couples, families, nature and culture lovers would be welcome. Two years later, Salpalinjan Hovi opened.

In furnishing the hotel, Sorsa-Vainikka preserved the references to the building’s former life. “I wanted to honour the history of the school building and I decorated all the rooms according to different school subjects,” she explains. “We have a mother tongue room, a history room, a biology, geography and an art

school building in their native city of Lappeenranta, where she and her husband, a lawyer, had relocated from Helsinki.

Strange rock. Photo: HiskiShow

room. All our rooms are family rooms, so that families can stay together.” Though the hotel has one small room that can accommodate a maximum of two people, most of its other rooms can sleep up to four guests, while its biggest room can sleep six.

As a Finnish touch, the hotel features a traditional wooden sauna. “Foreign tourists might not understand why a school would have a sauna, but in Finland, teachers used to live in the school building. So, of course, they needed to have the sauna,” she explains with a smile.

Family-friendly hospitality Salpalinjan Hovi is a family-friendly hotel in several ways. Sorsa-Vainikka’s own children were picky eaters – and as a result, eating out at restaurants could be a stressful experience on holiday. So, she built a kitchen corner in each hotel room, where guests can make their own meals if they wanted to. Furthermore, guests can borrow everything from board games and books, to skates, skis and snowsuits for free during their stay.

The hotel is located a mere nine kilometres from Lappeenranta, a city in south-eastern Finland renowned for its rich history and breathtaking nature. Nearby, visitors will find idyllic hiking trails, birdwatching, biking, fishing and paddling, as well as a 17th-century fortress, a former bunker line known as the Salpa Line, and stunning views of Saimaa, the largest lake in Finland. The hotel also offers multiple seasonal travel packages, from a three-day cycling tour, to a guided tour of the area’s most important war history sites. In addition, the hotel’s partner companies can bring rental equipment to the hotel and organise various activities and services.

Salpalinjan Hovi is the hotel in the wider Lappeenranta area with the best overall score on Booking.com (9.4), and the only hotel in the region with a score above nine. Sorsa-Vainikka attributes the many positive reviews to the personable and warm approach she has offered every single guest in the hotel’s eight years of operation. “When I go abroad and visit a city, I want to know what the most important sites are. And often, it’s difficult to find out,” she says.

That is why, as a hotel manager and host, Sorsa-Vainikka is always on hand to offer guidance and advice to first-time visitors to the area. “When guests, especially foreign guests, come to our hotel, I always tell them what there is to see and experience around the Lappeenranta area. I want our guests to have a superb holiday in which they discover the many interesting places here in Lappeenranta. And I think guests really appreciate that.”

Music room. Photo: HiskiShow

www.salpalinjanhovi.com Facebook: salpalinjanhovi

Harbour boardwalk Lappeenranta. Photo: City of Lappeenranta Cooking on the grill. Photo: SLP Group Oy

Hotel of the Month, Norway Experience history through luxury and farm-to-table cuisine

Tucked away in the county of Trøndelag lies a small piece of Norwegian history. Nordmeland Gårdshotell is a love story between two local family farms who have come together after several generations. Today, the modern family business aspires to provide an authentic, local and historical culinary and hotel experience.

By Celina Tran

Many city-slickers will swear that there’s nothing like living in a metropolis of bustling life and flashing lights. But sometimes, the electric glow and the cacophony of car horns can turn into an urban cocktail of headaches and stress. For the moments where you need a break from the fast-paced city life, look to central Norway, where a much-needed countryside staycation awaits you. sulted in the creation of their farm food business Nordmeland Gårdsmat (Nordmeland Farm Food), and the hotel itself.

“Our goal is to give our guests a historical, yet comfortable and welcoming experience,” says Jørn. “Visitors also get a unique farm-to-fork food experience, as everything is homegrown and produced.”

Step into history and nature through a modern, luxurious stay at Nordmeland Gårdshotell.

Nordmeland Gårdshotell is a hotel, restaurant and farm in the country, run by husband and wife Jørn Nordmeland and Signe Lillian Fagerdal Nordmeland, both heirs to their respective ancestral homesteads and farms. Their union re-

Combining tradition and luxury Both the Fagerdal and the Nordmeland family farms hark back several generations. Jørn’s family has run the Nordmeland farm for over a century. His ancestor Ingebrigt Sivertsen took over the grounds in 1902, and passed it down to his daughter, Sofie, who did the same with her children and so forth. In 2012, Jørn and Signe Lillian took over the Nordmeland farm.

Signe Lillian’s first ancestor to run the Fagerdal farm was a man called Peder Pedersen, or ‘Per Persa’. Per and his wife Elen Marie built the on-site farmhouse in 1871, and the Fagerdal farm has been passed down through the generations, since. Signe Lillian explains that the farmhouse in Fagerdal was to be torn down in 2016 – but they did not have the heart to let go.

“We started Nordmeland Gårdsmat in 2016, at the same time as the farmhouse was to be torn down. This got our thinking-wheels spinning and we developed some new ideas,” she says. “In 2018, we began planning the establishment of Nordmeland Gårdshotell, a farm hotel, to give the original farmhouse new life.”

The Fagerdal farmhouse was disassembled and transported to Nordmeland in 2021, and exactly 150 years after her

ancestor built the house, Signe Lillian and her husband gave it a new purpose where it now serves as a historical, yet modern hotel with different rooms for each and every personality.

“Both of our familial histories and traditions are long and have been important in the making of Nordmeland Gårdshotell. We really wanted to honour our forefather, so two of the hotel rooms are called Per Persaloftet and Sofieloftet, after our ancestors Per Persa and Sofie,” says Jørn.

Though tradition and history still play a big part of the Nordmeland experience, the farmhouse doesn’t look exactly the same as it did in the 1800s. Today, it has been spruced up and modernised, offering guests a historical, yet cosy and luxurious experience. Along with everything a 21st-century hotel visitor could want, from Wi-Fi and a minibar to a warming spa experience, Nordmeland Gårdshotell also offers an exquisite view of the nearby waterfall and river.

At Nordmeland Gårdshotell, environmental preservation and consciousness is a big priority. They utilise geothermal heat, and any surplus heat is retained in the bedrock 310 metres underground, so it can be used later.

“We only have one world, and we want our climate footprint to be minimal,” says Signe Lillian. “By extracting rock heat, and storing the surplus heat for reuse, the need for other heating is minimised. We only use renewable energy, and when it comes to the greywater, we have a cutting-edge pressure-filtration system that ensures that no emissions harm the valuable nature that surrounds us.”

On the doorstep, visitors can enjoy the picturesque surroundings. Perhaps the very image of Norwegian romantic na-

tionalism, the local area offers stunning nature and farm life – a breath of fresh air to hikers, avid and amateur fishers, and nature-lovers alike.

A unique, homemade experience History and tradition are not only part of Nordmeland Gårdshotell’s walls, but also their culinary production and experience. In 2022, the area of Trøndelag was recognised with the ‘European Region of Gastronomy’ title. You could say it serves as central Norway’s very own pantry.

Jørn explains that every ingredient and food product is prepared and served with both love and history. The couple describe their cuisine as ‘unpretentious, humble, but still luxurious’, and they follow their products from farm to fork, collecting and telling the stories as they go.

“Our dishes are made of homegrown ingredients from our own farm and those of others nearby,” says Jørn. “Through Nordmeland Gårdsmat and our close relationships with local producers, we support and champion local tradition. From the mushrooms and the milk to the steak and fish, we can tell the exact story of how it ended up on our guests’ plates. No ingredient ever travels far from farm to table.” In fact, guests can even enjoy the food with Nordmeland’s homebrewed aquavit and beer. “In 2021, we were also awarded the title of ‘Meat

Producer of 2021’, which we’re very proud of,” says Signe Lillian.

Upon returning to their urban and suburban homes, visitors might find it hard to let go of the fresh air and the hyperlocal food that the countryside offers. If the taste of the countryside is a little too difficult to let go of, Nordmeland also sell everything from homemade sauces and jellies, local cheeses and lemonades, to spices and meat products, so visitors can bring a piece of Trøndelag home.

www.nordmeland.no Instagram: @nordmelandgardshotell Facebook: Normeland Gårdshotel