The breakfast is the reason to book this hotel. Thon Hotel Lofoten won Norway's Twinings Best Breakfast award in both 2023 and 2024, then took first place in the new Culinary Hotel Awards Norway for 2025 (and still placed second in Twinings that same year, behind the perennial champion Scandic Nidelven in Trondheim). Over a hundred items on the spread, most of them made in-house: hot-smoked salmon, savoury waffles with salmon, liver pâté, falafel, local cheeses from Aalan Gård on Vestvågøy. There's a chef station doing fried bacon and hot dishes to order, barista coffee, and live piano most mornings. Budget at least an hour, because you'll use every minute of it.
The hotel sits directly on Svolvær harbour, physically attached to the Lofoten Culture House. If you're arriving on the Hurtigruten, you walk straight from the dock to the front desk without crossing a road. Boat tours, RIB safaris to Trollfjorden, and the bus station are all within a few minutes on foot.
Rooms
The design is clean Scandinavian and standard generic Thon design, just like any other Thon in Norway, nothing that tries too hard. Every room comes with a pair of binoculars for watching the fishing boats and Svolværgeita peak from your window. Standard rooms often face the parking area or back street, though. If you want the harbour and mountain views from the marketing photos, you need to pay for a superior or view room. Request floors four and above facing the harbour.
Paleo Arctic
The on-site restaurant does dinner only, Monday to Friday, 18:00 to 22:00. The menu leans hard into local sourcing: stockfish, whale, Lofoten lamb, Arctic char. The sommelier pairing is worth doing. It fills up fast in summer and during the World Championship in Cod Fishing (March), so book your table when you book your room.
Don't confuse Thon Hotel Lofoten with Thon Hotel Svolvær, a separate property also on the harbour run by the same chain. That one is more upmarket, has a floating sauna and its own gym. Different buildings, different prices.
No gym
There's no gym in the building. The hotel gives you a free pass to Health Fitness, about 500 metres away. Parking costs around 150 to 200 NOK per day, as opposed to the rorbu accommodations which have free parking.
Alternatives in Svolvær
Svinøya Rorbuer is the pick if you want the traditional rorbu experience with a kitchen and self-catering setup. The cabins are scattered across Svinøya island, connected to Svolvær by a short bridge, and range from original fishermen's cabins to modern XXL units sleeping up to eight. Børsen Spiseri, their on-site restaurant, is one of the better dinners in town. The trade-off is that you're a 10 to 15 minute walk from the town centre and there's no daily housekeeping.
Anker Brygge sits on the tiny island of Lamholmen, about 150 metres from the town square. The rorbu suites are spacious and well-equipped with full kitchens, two bedrooms, and furnished terraces on the water. It splits the difference between hotel comfort and rorbu charm. Be aware that the bar downstairs gets lively on weekends, and some units above it get the full benefit of that.
Thon Hotel Svolvær is the newer Thon property in town, with its own floating sauna, in-building gym, and air conditioning. If the lack of cooling at Thon Hotel Lofoten puts you off in summer, this is the obvious alternative, though the breakfast at Thon Lofoten is the better of the two.
Choose Thon Hotel Lofoten if breakfast matters to you and you want to stay in the town centre. Pick Svinøya or Anker Brygge if you want a kitchen and more space. Pick Thon Hotel Svolvær if you want modern amenities and a sauna without leaving the building.
Neighbourhood vibe
Other hotels nearby
