The bathroom is a hundred meters away.

That's not a complaint – it's an intentional part of what makes this stay special.

You see, you're not staying in a luxury hotel. You're staying in a cabin built in 1888 for men arriving by boat each winter to fish Arctic cod.

Every January, the cod migrate from the Barents Sea to spawn off the Norwegian coast. For centuries, that drew up to 900 fishermen to this harbour – arriving by boat, packing into the rorbuer, working through to April.

The settlement itself dates to approximately 425 BC. Those fishermen were coming to a place already two thousand years old.

Today, 19 people live here year-round.

The concept is a bit insane: the owners didn't build a resort near a historic fishing village. They made the village the resort.

The rorbuer are the rooms. The cod liver oil factory is a museum. The smithy, the sawmill, the smokehouse – all still standing.

In 1975, Nusfjord became one of three Norwegian pilot projects for architectural heritage preservation. As a result, no new buildings were built around the harbour since the golden age of the late 19th century, long before the first road arrived in the 1960s.

Not every guest wants the 100 meter walk to the bathroom, however. The owners have you covered: the Isolated Fisherman is a private cabin on a hillside, ten minutes from the village. Champagne on arrival, fireplace, northern lights overhead when the season cooperates.

The House of Dahl, built in 1926, sleeps ten in five bedrooms. Also on the other end of the spectrum from the fisherman's rorbuer.

This spring, Fotografiska chose Nusfjord for a major exhibition. Not in a gallery – woven through the rorbuer, the coastal paths, the working structures. Their work is installed in salt-weathered buildings where fishermen once slept.

The Fotografiska exhibition runs 20 March to 31 October 2026. Best visited January–April for northern lights and the Lofotfiske cod season, or June–August for midnight sun.

Which side do you fall on: authentic working class cabin or luxury suite on the hill? Shoot me a reply; I'd love to hear from you.