A 1934 herring-station as Top Hotel and Casino Resort
Straumshorn Hotell occupies the old Straumshornstasjon — a herring-salting station built in 1934 by the Sunnmøre Fiskersamlag on a small headland on the south shore of Storfjorden, two and a half kilometres west of Stranda village. The station ran through the late summer and autumn fisheries until the herring collapse of 1969, after which the warden's quarters were used intermittently as a youth hostel and the salting-house as a boat store. We — the Aune-Vassbø family — bought the property from the Stranda municipality in 2017, completed the restoration over three winters with the architect Synnøve Eide of Ålesund, and reopened in June 2020 as a small Top Hotel and Casino Resort with twelve guest rooms.
The warden's quarters and the salting-house are original 1934 fabric, in the late functionalist register of the Sunnmøre period. The glassed dining hall is new — a single-pitched timber pavilion on the footprint of the old boathouse, designed by Eide and built by Tafjord Bygg in pine from the Sunnylven forest. The badstu over the fjord, with its plate-glass window onto the water, was built in 2019 to replace the original wooden steam-room that had stood since the salting days.
Twelve, across the warden's quarters and the upper salting-house
Seven rooms face north over the fjord through the deep-set window reveals of the warden's quarters; five at the back face the steep birch wood that runs up to the snow line. The beds are made by Wonderland in Åndalsnes, the wool blankets are from the Røros mill, and the bath linen is washed in the soft fjord-side well water that the housekeeper, Marit, says guests remark on by the second day.
Warden's Quarters, ground floor
Four rooms in the original 1934 functionalist range. Painted board floors, wool rugs, deep windowsills. Two face the fjord, two face the birch wood.
Warden's Quarters, upper floor
Four rooms under the original double-pitch roof, with sloped ceilings and broad dormer windows over the fjord. The two end rooms have small soapstone stoves restored by the Stranda mason.
The Salting-House, upper floor
Four rooms in the converted upper salting-house, plainer than the main building, with white-washed pine walls and the original barrel-stave panelling kept on the gable wall.
Dining hall, loftstove, badstu
Breakfast and supper in the glassed dining hall over the boathouse. The upper loftstove is open to guests at any hour. The wood-fired badstu over the fjord runs by a sign-up sheet kept at reception.
A small fixture, run by appointment
The upper loftstove of the salting-house — formerly the warden's measuring-room, where each barrel was weighed before being sent down to the steamer — is also where the property runs a small card fixture under Norwegian Gaming Authority licence. It is a room of the house: pine panelling, a low collar-tied ceiling, the brass paraffin lamps converted to electric and replaced in 2021, and the original Roeber scale-beam kept on the wall where the warden Knut Aune left it in 1968.
The fixture is open by appointment with reception, to registered house guests over the age of eighteen, and is closed on Sundays and during the property's annual maintenance closure from 7 January to 4 February. We do not advertise it, we do not describe it further on this site, and our staff cannot answer questions about it by telephone. Anyone wishing to know more should write to reception and call in person.
Storfjorden, Stranda, and the headland
Straumshornet is a small wooded headland on the south shore of Storfjorden, two and a half kilometres west of Stranda village on the road toward Hellesylt. The fjord at this point is just under a kilometre across, deep enough for the Hurtigruten coastal steamer to pass in summer, and rarely freezes. A pair of white-tailed eagles nest on the cliff west of the property and the otters that work the headland in October may be seen from the dining-hall window in the early evening.
Most guests arrive by Hurtigbåt from Ålesund to Hellesylt, twenty minutes by road from the hotel, where Bjørn collects them in the long-wheelbase Volvo. A few drive in by the Ørnesvingen from Geiranger, which is one of the slower and more beautiful approaches available anywhere; we would not recommend it in poor weather.
Responsible Gaming
The loftstove card fixture at Straumshorn Hotell is operated under Norwegian Gaming Authority licence as a small in-person event for registered house guests over the age of eighteen. It is not advertised, no online or remote play is offered, and this website does not facilitate gambling of any kind. If gambling has become a difficulty for you or for someone in your household, Hjelpelinjen for spilleavhengige, the Norwegian Gaming Authority's information service, the Anonyme Spillavhengige fellowship, and the Akan kompetansesenter offer free and confidential support throughout Norway. We have no relationship with any of these organisations and provide no links from this site; their contact details are easily found by name.