With its sheer cliffs, lush greenery and thrilling fjords, Norway’s dramatic landscapes appeal to anyone. So it’s no wonder they drew the team behind the TV phenomenon Succession.
The fifth episode of the hit HBO series’ fourth and final season brought the Roy siblings to Scandinavia, where they joined a company retreat with Swedish tech-bro mogul Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) in the hopes of closing the sale of Waystar Royco, the family-controlled conglomerate.
The backdrop for their tense meeting was the luxurious Juvet Landscape Hotel, outside the village of Valldal on Norway’s northwest coast, which boasts uninterrupted views of the surrounding birch forest, striking minimalist architecture and a glass-fronted spa. Film fans may recognize the location as the on-screen home of Oscar Isaac’s reclusive inventor in Alex Garland’s 2014 sci-fi film Ex Machina.
Rather than constructing a large, single building, architects Jensen & Skodvin opted for smaller, self-contained cabins dispersed around the site to leave minimal impact on the environment. The result is a seamless blend of Scandi minimalism and rugged wilderness.
The 24-bed hotel offers three types of accommodation. Guests can follow in the Roys’ footsteps in one of the Landscape rooms. These concrete-and-glass “cubes” are raised on stilts that give the appearance of floating above the forest floor, each with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the valley, trees or winding river below.
The decor is deliberately dark and unfussy to avoid pulling focus from the scenery, with only the sunny yellow bathrooms (seen in Succession) injecting a shot of color. Rooms start at $440 for one person ($600 for double occupancy), including breakfast, dinner and use of the spa.
For a more spacious stay, the Writer’s Lodge sleeps four people across two bedrooms and has its own living room, kitchen and patio facing the forest. Bookings for a minimum of two nights start at $735 for two people.
There are also the Bird Houses, two neat little structures perched high on the slope of a hill. Built in the style of a traditional Norwegian log house, each room is 85 sq ft of bare wood, complete with a glass front. Prices start at $300 for one person – though the room can accommodate two in its queen-sized bed.
In the Bath House, guests can take a soak in the outdoor hot tub, sit in the sauna or watch the river run by through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can explore the area through outdoor activities including hiking, climbing, skiing, kayaking and rafting, all available to guests at additional cost.
For further sightseeing, the hotel is set between the Geirangerfjord, a Unesco World Heritage Site, and the Trollstigen viewing point, overlooking the region’s serpentine mountain pass, with its 11 hairpin bends (featured in the opening shots of the Succession episode).
Located 90 minutes’ drive from the nearest town, Ålesund, the hotel is quite isolated – which is very much by design for a place that invites its clients to “leave the world behind.” You’ll get to know your fellow guests at meal times, with dinners served communally in the 100-year-old farmhouse. Menus are seasonal, and always made with locally sourced produce.
