High in the southern Åre mountains of Sweden, eight kilometres from the nearest road, lies Hållfjället. A small mountain lodge dating back to 1943, surrounded by ancient forests, open wilderness and a landscape where nature still has the final say.

The journey begins in the little village of Ottsjö. Here, you leave the car behind and continue into the mountains on foot, on skis or by snowmobile. The trail winds through forests, past marshes and mountain birches, before the landscape opens up. It takes a little while to get here. And perhaps that is part of what makes it so special.

Hållfjället is a place of contrasts. Outside, the wild and sometimes unforgiving mountain landscape. Inside, something wonderful is cooking, the beds have been carefully made and the cellar holds bottles we are particularly fond of. The wood-fired sauna is warm and waiting for you, and perhaps there is a perfectly stirred dry martini with your name on it.

We have brought our love of food, wine and hospitality to a place where nature constantly reminds us who is in charge. There are no shortcuts here, and very little can be taken for granted. But there is time for long dinners, good conversation and that particular kind of stillness that comes from being a long way from anywhere.

So brush the snow from your boots and come inside.

You are expected.

At Hållfjället, dinner begins long before anyone takes their seat at the table. Down in the little village of Ottsjö, we tend our own kitchen garden, growing everything from the first tender leaves of spring to the last cabbages of autumn. We grow much of our own produce and spend a great deal of time preserving the harvest, so there is always something good to bring out, even when the mountains lie deep beneath the snow.

We love cooking over an open fire, fishing when the waters allow and making the most of whatever the forests and mountains have to offer. Alongside this come meat, cheese and other fine ingredients from people we know and are fond of. It is a way of cooking that calls for patience, resourcefulness and a little imagination, particularly through the long winter months.

One floor below, in what was once the old boiler room, we have made a home for our wine cellar. Here, beloved classics sit alongside small, independently minded growers and bottles we simply couldn’t bear to leave behind. We have a weakness for wines with character, wines that speak of the places they come from and the people who make them. But our affection for a good drink hardly ends with wine. There is always room for a beautifully made cider, a proper beer, an intriguing spirit or a rather well-stirred cocktail. Above all, we love the simple pleasure of opening something wonderful, pouring a glass and discovering what happens when food and drink meet.

Dinners tend to be long, and nobody is in much of a hurry. Perhaps the evening begins with a glass of champagne by the fire and ends with someone wandering down to the cellar for just one more bottle.

Good things take time. Especially dinner.

Some places are best experienced when you stay the night. Hållfjället is one of them.

The journey through the forest, the warmth of the wood-fired sauna, a dinner that lingers long into the evening and, eventually, that particular kind of silence that settles over the mountains after dark. To us, these things belong together. It is only when you spend the night that you truly begin to know this place.

We have ten small, cosy rooms, where much has remained unchanged since the 1940s.
The floorboards creak, the woodwork is painted by hand, and in each room we still make up the charming bunk beds from the lodge’s earliest days, rather more modest in size than their modern counterparts. In some ways, sleeping here is much as it was all those years ago, though today there are soft linens, carefully made beds and all the little comforts we believe are part of being a good host.

As in the mountain lodges of old, bathrooms and showers are shared, while the wood-fired sauna, with its quite extraordinary views across the mountains, is very much part of the experience. Soft bathrobes and fresh towels are waiting, and we have taken great care with the little things that make it a pleasure to settle in after a day outdoors.

As evening falls, we gather around the dinner table. Perhaps there is another glass from the cellar, or a little time by the fire before heading upstairs to bed. In the morning, breakfast awaits, along with fresh coffee and the mountains beyond the windows.

We are not quite a restaurant, nor are we an ordinary hotel. Hållfjället is a small place, far from roads and the usual demands of everyday life, where you come to be part of life in the mountains, if only for a night.

There are places that seem to bring out sides of us we hardly knew existed.
Hållfjället is one of them.

Up here, we find a use for everything we know, and quite a few things we have yet to learn. There is something rather beautiful about such a way of life. Where the practical and the artistic go hand in hand, where new ideas are born out of old limitations, and where very little comes about on its own.

Hållfjället was built in the early 1940s by the Austrian Theodor Seefried, a man of remarkable talents and a certain artistic temperament. He designed, engineered and built the mountain lodge himself, creating something quite extraordinary for its time. Guests would arrive on skis or in walking boots, perhaps with a pair of dancing shoes tucked away for a fine dinner and a turn around the floor to the sound of the piano.

What we love about Hållfjället, beyond the vast and untamed landscape, is how little has changed. It remains a place where uncompromising ambition and artistic expression meet.

Today, we are a small group of people with roots in gastronomy, growing things, hospitality, technology and enterprise, carefully tending to Hållfjället and carrying its story forward. Our skills and experiences may differ, but we share a curiosity about what can be achieved together. There is room here for artistic whims and practical solutions alike, and a particular pleasure in putting our hands to work as well as our minds.

Running a restaurant and a small hotel in a place without roads calls for versatility, imagination and a fair amount of ingenuity. A single day can involve everything from ambitious cooking to the most down-to-earth chores. Nature sets the terms, but within those limits lies a rather wonderful freedom to think differently, try new things and make a small difference.

Perhaps it is this that connects us to the idea upon which Hållfjället was first founded.
The joy of making something that might mean a little more, both to ourselves and to those who find their way here. A place where people feel at home, find a little inspiration and perhaps take something with them that stays long after they have left the mountains.

Reaching Hållfjället begins with understanding where we are: in true roadless country. From the village of Ottsjö, the path winds eight kilometres (five miles) up into the mountains. Whether by skis, snowmobile, or on foot, the journey up the mountain has always been part of the experience.

In days long past, it was pure muscle, and sometimes the help of a horse, that carried guests along the trail. But once you arrived, a welcoming fire, cozy shelter, and a delicious meal awaited you.

Back in the early 1940s, the mountain hostess would remind visitors to pack a lunch satchel and a compass and kindly urged them not to burden the trail leader with oranges or spare mittens. It was, as she wrote, “plain wrong for the guide to haul everyone’s sandwiches—no matter how charming the company.” Her advice was plentiful, and always delivered with a wink: woollen layers, a map, a bright cap, and above all, a cheerful spirit.

Practicalities
Ottsjö, the village at the foot of the trail, is a 20-minute drive from the train station in Undersåker and 30 minutes from Åre. The nearest airport is Östersund (just over an hour away), while Trondheim Airport lies a few hours across the mountains.

Today, as always, making your way here by foot or skis is a part of the experience.
Contact us and we’ll gladly tell you more.