Family-friendly Hotels in Flam

Stately and elegant in white, Fretheim stands so close to the Flamsbana train station and the pier that you immediately see it as you step off either boat or train. it has a pretty flower garden in front with tables and chairs you can 'park' in for minutes or hours. There's a cozy but spacious lobby with a fireplace where guests waiting for their train or express boat ride can sit in comfort with enough privacy. The front desk staff are very accommodating and take the time to explain things, even though most of their guests are there for only one night. The rooms are standard sized with great balconies that overlook the village center-cum pier and train station. Furniture is standard but the amenities are pretty basic - there's no fridge, no coffee machine (though there's a hot water pot with instant coffee). There's wifi but pretty slow. Checkout time is a bit earlier, at 11 am. The breakfast has a very good spread, with a wide assortment of vegetables and good hot food selection. Plus so many variations of salmon which was impressive. We also found out that you could buy a paper bag and stuff it with a make-your-own sandwich so you could do a picnic lunch while touring the fjords - nice option. A big plus was the walking trail behind the hotel which got you to a higher elevation that gave a great view of the lake and the village center. You could walk for an entire hour without repeating your walk. Several had commented on the need for an update but I didn't notice this.

We booked an overnight in Flamt between the boat trip up the Sognefjord, and the train ride from Flam to Oslo. This was booked by my travel agent. While booked in December 2023, it was the last available room at this hotel. The hotel was nice, and surprisingly quiet. Until the fire alarm went off at midnight. Apparently, this is a known issue at this hotel when someone gets out of the shower the steam from the shower sets off the fire alarm, which interestingly is located right above and outside the bathroom. This property does most of the big things very, very well, lots of nice restaurants, very quiet rooms. Reasonably comfortable beds. Yet some of the things are oddly terrible. Small, raggedy gray towels. No face cloths. Nespresso machine that would not function properly. And then the midnight awakening by the fire alarm (which was not relaxing at all, on what was meant to be relaxing vacation). No way to control the temperature in the room, so that we woke up, ridiculously hot in the middle of the night, and ridiculous duvets on the beds which added to the crazy heat. The bed was reasonably comfortable, the brewpub was delicious, and the little town is super cute. When I return to this particular hotel? I’m not sure. Maybe if I could get a different room and maybe if they did a little bit better with the smaller things.