Lødingen Brygge

A staffed hotel with its own restaurant and bar on the water, breakfast included, and a room type for most budgets. Its Booking.com score of 8.2 comes from more than 1,500 reviews, and the hotel says a white-sand beach is a few minutes' walk away.

Travellers heading between the E6, Vesterålen and Lofoten who want a hotel rather than self-catering, including families (cots are available) and people with a dog, who can book one of the designated ground-floor rooms.

Lødingen is outside the Lofoten islands, about 62 km from Svolvær in a straight line. Some of the cheaper rooms share a bathroom, and upper floors are reached by stairs only. Check-in is from 15:00 to 23:00, with photo ID and a credit card required and your arrival time sent in advance; later arrivals need arranging with the hotel. Check-out is by 11:00. Children from 3 are charged as adults, and cots for under-3s cost NOK 200 a night. Dogs are accepted only in designated ground-floor standard rooms; the hotel has quoted NOK 200 extra.

The hotel's own site gives 21 rooms in three buildings. Booking.com lists eight room types: Budget Twin Room (12 m²), Double Room (12 m²), Double Room with Shared Bathroom (12 m²), Deluxe Double Room (15 m²), Deluxe Double Room with Balcony and Sea View (15 m²), Superior Twin Room with Sea View (25 m²), Superior Twin Room with Balcony (25 m²) and a Three-Bedroom Apartment with Sea View (60 m²) with two single beds in each bedroom. Every room has a flat-screen TV, fridge and kettle, with linen and towels.

Booking.com lists facilities for disabled guests; upper floors are reached by stairs only.

WiFi and private parking are free, with two electric car charging points, restaurant, bar, coffee house, room service and a terrace. Booking.com lists facilities for disabled guests and family rooms; upper floors are reached by stairs only.

The on-site café-restaurant serves a breakfast buffet and meals through to dinner, including seafood, Norwegian and international dishes. Children's meals and special diet menus are available on request, and wine and champagne are served. One unit has its own kitchen, with a fridge and stovetop.

Sjøvegen 12 on the seafront in central Lødingen, a settlement named by Kartverket, on Hinnøya east of Raftsundet and outside the Lofoten islands. Views take in the sea, a lake and the mountains. Svolvær, the nearest destination this guide covers, is about 62 km away in a straight line.

The hotel's site points to Harstad/Narvik Airport and to the ferry from Bognes on the E6 as the ways into Lødingen. The hotel says the nearest beach is about two to five minutes' walk.