Hardanger Panorama Lodge

Climbing a short path from the car park, guests reach Orion or Aquila, the lodge's two cabins set on stilts above a farm at Ljono, outside Ulvik. Orion stands 11 metres up on pillars, with three bedrooms sleeping six behind a wide living-room window that frames the fjord and the hills across it. Aquila sits lower, at 9 metres, with two bedrooms for four and a glass façade rising 7 metres, so the water and treetops fill the wall as you step in. Both are fully insulated and run on mains water and electricity, with a fitted kitchen, shower and flush toilet in each. It is a compact stay, built by hand by owners Arild Opheim and Claudia Saathoff, who named the cabins after the constellations they spotted from the farm on a clear winter night. Ulvik sits at the centre of Norway's only fruit and cider route, and the lodge is close to orchards at Syse Gard and Ulvik Frukt & Cideri, along with fjord kayaking and RIB tours. Hikers can push on to Osafjellet, over 1,000 metres above sea level. Parking sits beside each cabin, with an EV charging point included. From the deck, birdsong carries up at breakfast and the fjord stays visible until the light goes.