King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway decreed in the 16th century that guesthouses be built along the Norwegian coast at every half-day’s sailing distance, a policy meant to keep sailors fed and sheltered as they moved goods along the shipping lanes. Bekkjarvik Gjestgiveri went up at the end of the 17th century to fill one of those posts, in a fishing village on the island of Austevoll south of Bergen.
The settlement around it grew into a working harbor, with a barrel factory, herring-salting works, a lobster reception dock, and a steamboat terminal all built up around the inn over the following centuries. It’s stayed in continuous operation as a gathering place for the village ever since, now spread across three white timber buildings by the harbor with 48 rooms. The inn is family-run today, and its kitchen, led by twin chefs Ørjan and Arnt Johannessen, sources much of its menu from the surrounding sea and moorland.