the times Saturday June 11 2022
Travel 41
‘Myriad tiles in blue and white
stretch out, complementing
the sea view beyond’
Sarah Tomczak at the newest hotel on the Amalfi coast
on a visit is nature hollering, “Come
hither!”, and as any Scandinavian will tell
you, the best hither in summer involves
H 2 O. It’s no coincidence those water-
rich Scandi nations are the happiest
on earth.
As the region’s capitals
rediscover their harbours, the
smart visitor skips grander
hotels for stays where breakfast
is served beside a sparkling fjord.
Travel within two hours of a city
and you’ll find Scandinavian
holidaymakers ensconced in a
smart clapperboard hotel on the
coast, or enjoying simple #bestlives in
a pretty red cabin beside a lake; fishing,
canoeing, barbecuing at midnight,
perhaps a swim in the half-light before a
sauna or hot tub, an essential element
of the Scandinavian experience. To
embrace the life, consider a floating
Fancy a break in a
f loating cabin or
designer beach
cottage? Here’s how
to have a dreamy
Nordic summer.
By James Stewart
T
here’s a Norwegian
concept known as
friluftsliv. Coined by the
playwright Henrik Ibsen,
it translates as “open-air
living” but is better
understood as the
transcendent, spiritual value of being
outdoors. If that outdoors can be remote,
so much the better.
Perhaps only a Scandinavian truly
appreciates getting outside. Not just
because they have an awful lot of it but
because there’s nothing like a long, dark
winter to make you embrace gilded
summers with messianic zeal. Over the
next couple of months, the days and
nights blur – now, in early June, Tromso
is experiencing 23 hours of daylight. The
light assumes a luminous quality and
birch forests become a symphony of
greens. That persistent sound you hear
cabin in the lakeland of Finland or in the
Rane River valley, Sweden.
Around Norway’s awesome Lofoten
Islands and in the Swedish Arctic
accommodation becomes more
sophisticated as the scenery
becomes grander. Remote resorts
have minimalist glass-walled
cabins with a front-row view of
the scenery. Most places offer a
ton of activities but I bet you’ll
spend as much time goggling at
mountains and watching light
shift across the sea.
In short, you’ll slow down,
reconnect with nature. Probably with
yourself too. Because that’s the
unspoken benefit of friluftsliv. Smart
cookies, the Scandinavians.
Great Scandi escapes next page
Arctic Bath,
Harads, Sweden
Travel
Page
46
Scandi escapes
by the water
GETTY IMAGES
A fisherman’s
cabin in Hamnoy,
Lofoten Islands
Huts, hotels and houseboats