It was the alps
which offered shelter and food to the first adventurers and tourists coming to experience and climb the mountains.The owner of Hindsæter alp decided to build a hotel in 1898. There were quite a few artists staying and for a period Hindsæter was called “Hotel of the Artists”. You can still see the cultural landscape of the alp history with timber buildings, stone walls, wooden fences and animals.
You can still enjoy the view of Sjoa river, Stuttgonglie Nature Reserve, and the peaks of Jotunheimen – just like it was over 100 years ago.
Hindsæter takes care of this history. You find traces of it in your room, in the mountain spa and in the old timber walls of the dining rooms. Traces of the nature and culture you can find in the food and in the way we serve. In the local produce. In our wine-, beer- and aquavitselection. In our bakery and store house. In 2023 we have published our book with history and recipes from our kitchen. It is possible to purchase at the hotel.
Hindsæter is proud holder of “Olavsrosa”, given by Norwegian Heritage Stiftelsen Norsk Kulturarv.
Regenerative and environmental philosophy
Situated close to Jotunheimen Nationalpark, between nature reserves, it is our duty to run our hotel as sustainable as possible. We are positive to more nature conservation and traffic restrictions. We decided ourselves not to extend our company, but to downsize and offer higher quality to less guests. Once the alps were extentions to the farms and used mountain natures resources, but in a sustainable way. It is not easy to get back to a circular economy today. Some steps are small, some bigger:
Food and purchase: Our kitchen is based on seasonal, very local produce, preferably from Jotunheimen mountains and valleys. We work after a strict nose to tail philosophy, we do not buy fillet, chicken or sea farmed salmon. All our beers, cider and alcoholfree drinks are produced in Norway from small, partly local producers, all our wine is produced in Europe.
Recycling: All garbage gets sorted. We ask our guests to help and use the sorting stations in our corridors. We work every day on reducing food waste, we run daily statistics and implement concrete actions together with our chefs.
Energy: The hotel built a water power plant in 2007 together with the local saw mill. The power station covers all the energy needed at Hindsæter in addition to a few more hundred households in our commune.
Activities: The activities we offer our guests are nature experiences with no physical installations needed and very little impact on nature. Our marked hiking trails shall tempt you to book longer stays and experience nature directly from our doorstep. Our cross country trails are groomed with small scooters with minimal fuel use. We offer several tracks for snow shoes and mountain skis which are not prepared.
Transport: Our guests have to travel to visit us. Public transport possibilities are rather limited in our remote situation. Our packages and our rates shall encourage to book longer stays. In winter we encourage our guests to travel with ferry and train and we offer bus shuttle from/to Otta station. Our marketing focus is on Scandinavian and Northern Europe customers.
Maintenance: During refurbishments we try to use used, old items and recycled material. New furniture is mainly produced locally. All wooden products are purchased from the local saw mill in Randsverk.
Guest service: You shall find meaningful and natural decoration. We use organic soap. Bathrobes, bigger towels and extra pillows are available on demand. This way you help to avoid unnecessary laundry, and even more important: Unnecessary transport of heavy dirty laundry.