Dalen Hotel

Dalen Hotel is a landmark historic property at the inland end of the Telemark Canal, with a guest sauna that reflects the same quiet, considered style as the rest of the 1894 wood-built fairytale-castle hotel. The sauna is electric, shared between guests, and works as a slow afternoon ritual after a day on the canal boats, the surrounding hiking trails or the nearby Heddal stave church. The sauna at Dalen Hotel pairs naturally with the hotel's restaurant, fireplaces and reading nooks — the kind of property where heat in the sauna leads to tea in the library and then dinner at the long table. The setting is rural Telemark, with the lake and forest only steps from the door. Dalen Hotel is a strong choice for travellers tracing the Telemark Canal route who want a real sauna inside a building that already feels like a destination of its own.