This Norwegian Archipelago is stealing the spotlight thanks to a new private retreat

"After heating up in the sauna built into a wartime electricity station on the island's edge, my partner and I recline in the hot tub in the reddening evening light, womb-like, as the grasses sway and the Hurtigruten ferry drifts towards Bergen, becoming a spectral shadow on the horizon. Any thoughts are as ephemeral as the little snarls of foam buffeting the neighbouring island of Ytstøy."

"Sleeping 12 people between a traditional house and a whimsically converted boathouse by the jetty, it's the latest opening from a Frankfurt-based group that has three other small hotels, including two in its home city, and another, the cult Lost Lindenberg, on a relatively undiscovered stretch of jungle-fringed black sand on Bali 's south coast."

"This July trip feels like one long Terrence Malick golden hour: a time for goose-bumped sea leaps and evening boat trips over swaying kelp; for long games of Rummikub soundtracked by the electronic meditations of Ólafur Arnalds; and for sublime plant-based meals cooked over the Aga. Our co-host Antje de Vries is a food scientist, peripatetic chef and Frisian force of nature whose near-daily dives to forage for seaweed are part of a wider food mission that has inspired her to write vegan cookbooks and work with female-focused NGOs from Hamburg to Sierra Leone."

"Having opened in early 2025, Lilløy Lindenberg has brought us to the Bergen archipelago with a question: why isn't this corner of the world better known? The city of Bergen is relatively familiar: for its history of maritime trade, for an outsized culture that runs from the composer Edvard Grieg to the alt-indie Bergen Wav"

Lilløy Lindenberg is a private island retreat 45 minutes north of Bergen in Norway’s Bergen Archipelago. The property accommodates up to 12 guests across a traditional house and a converted boathouse by the jetty. Guests can unwind in a hot tub after using a sauna built into a wartime electricity station. The stay includes evening boat trips, sea views, and relaxed indoor games with music. Meals are plant-based and prepared on an Aga, guided by co-host Antje de Vries, a food scientist and foraging-focused chef who dives for seaweed and supports broader food missions through vegan cookbooks and work with NGOs. The retreat raises interest in why the region is not more widely known.

Read at CN Traveller