Alten Lodge: the adventure base above the Altafjord
Alten Lodge is an Arctic adventure base on a hilltop above the Altafjord, fifteen minutes from Alta airport in Finnmark, Norway. One group takes the whole place. Sixty8 Adventure collects you from the airport, stocks the kitchen or brings a private chef, and puts snowmobiles at the door.
Where is Alten Lodge?
The lodge stands alone on the hilltop of Sarves, above the Altafjord in Norway's far north. Alta and its airport are fifteen minutes away, with direct flights from Oslo. We arrange transport to and from the lodge, so the trip starts the moment you land. Below the hill sits the fjord. Behind it, the land climbs to the plateau.
What is the lodge like?
One main lodge and three cabins. The main lodge has nine ensuite rooms: eight with double beds and one with bunks, and the doubles can be set up as twins. They sit around a long dining hall, a large kitchen and one shared living room. The three cabins beside it each sleep up to four in bunks, built with families in mind. The whole place works two ways. It suits a corporate event, with a meeting room over the fjord and fast WiFi. It suits a big group of family or friends just as well. After the cold there is a sauna, and an outdoor hot tub that faces the sky.
The lodge, floor by floor.
What can Sixty8 Adventure arrange?
Almost everything, before you land. A private chef team for the stay, or a stocked kitchen if your group would rather cook. Snowmobiles delivered to the lodge and hired for the weekend or the week, fuelled outside the door each morning. Dog sledding and snowmobile days run straight from the lodge, and for groups that want it, a private guide can be with you at all times, on the trail and off it. And through the darkest months the whales are in the water: from November to January the herring pull orcas and humpbacks into the northern fjords, and we build sea days around them.
Where does the trail above the lodge go?
A short climb behind the lodge, a winter trail leads onto the Finnmarksvidda, Norway's largest mountain plateau. It covers more than 22,000 square kilometres and runs roughly 300 kilometres east from Alta, crossing the border into Finnish Lapland. The same high country rolls on towards Russia's Kola Peninsula. Our guides put it more simply: from the back of the lodge, the wild does not stop. In winter you cross it by snowmobile, on marked routes through birch forest, frozen lakes and open fell.
Can you take Alten Lodge for Christmas?
Yes. One group can take the whole lodge over the Christmas period. Alta sits 350 km above the Arctic Circle, so snow on the ground at Christmas is about as close to certain as weather gets in Europe. The polar night brings real darkness from mid afternoon, which is exactly what the northern lights need. No one can promise the aurora, but over a Christmas week in Alta the odds are strongly with you. And you watch from the hot tub, not a midnight minibus.
Tell us who is coming and when. One person plans the whole stay, from the airport pickup to the last breakfast. Start at the Alten Lodge page, or join a hosted Alta Winter Weekend in February or March.
