Although the Pater Noster property is not well known in the United States, this remote, 154-year-old lighthouse complex, located on Hamneskar island off the west coast of Sweden, won the Gold award in the Best Hotel Concept category at the 2021 AHEAD Awards. The Swedish design firm, Stylt Trampoli, converted a lighthouse, the lighthouse keeper’s residence, a restaurant and café on a barren and windswept rocky island into a rustic, pricey destination with magnificent views of the open sea.

© Erik Nissen Johansen

The AHEAD Awards, an acronym for Hospitality, Experience and Design, is one of the most important competitions in the international hotel and hospitality industry, rewarding the most innovative projects on each continent.

The hotel building sleeps 18 guests in nine rooms. Open April through September, the property offers an exhilarating, adventurous stay with incredible views of the sea and stars. Dinner is served in the Boathouse, the Lighthouse Keeper’s dining room, or outside depending on weather. The fine-dining menu is planned around the day’s catch of fish and seafood, and home-baked goods are available at the café in the old boathouse. Visitors are welcome to climb up the 105-foot Pater Noster lighthouse to admire the fantastic view from the top. Guests arrive by helicopter or speedy RIB boats from the Swedish cities of Marstrand or Gothenburg.

© Erik Nissen Johansen

The island was inhabited by lighthouse keepers and their families for more than a century. In 2002, the buildings were completely restored, retaining as much of their original identity as possible, and, in 2020, Pater Noster reopened as a sustainably operated small hotel and conference venue.

Per night rates include double room with full board (homemade breakfast, hot lunch, seafood dinner) and welcome drink, a guided tour around the island, lighthouse visits, bathing in saltwater barrels and a sauna bath.