Our history

Dombås has been a stopping place for travelers for a very long time, as it is strategically located between north, west and east.

Travelers have always needed accommodation here, and the offer has therefore been constantly expanded.

Dombås Hotel is built on the grounds of Søre Domaas, the neighboring farm to the hotel. Søre Dombås, incidentally an old crown estate, was established as a shuttle station as early as 1858. The shuttle station had a number of famous guests. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (norwegian writer and poet) stopped by and wrote a good review in the guest book. Syver Domaas took over the property in 1867, and became the initiator of the later Domaas Tourist Hotel. The name Domaas Hotell was used as far back as 1892, when a large two-storey building was erected where the hotel is located today.

In connection with the railway development, the hotel was set aside as its own property. Søre Domaas' daughter, Christine Domaas Michelsen and her husband Aksel, built the old Dombås hotel. The hotel that burned down in May 2007 was built 1915-1917. It was designed by the architect Arnstein Arnberg, who has designed several famous buildings, including the town hall in Oslo and the Viking Ship House.

The hotel was always far ahead when it came to product development. In its time it was the valley's finest, and in 1927 it was the first hotel in Gudbrandsdalen with cold and hot water in all rooms. There were also 6 corridor bathrooms in the hotel.

In the 1980s, a new bedroom wing attached to the hotel was built. There were 60 rooms and they are still used to this day. In the spring of 2021, all the bathrooms in this bedroom wing were renovated, and the facade is planned to be changed and renovated. In the vernacular, the building is called the old wing.

The 2007 fire
In the afternoon of 19 May 2007, a fire started in the attic of the hotel. All the guests were evacuated, but unfortunately the old wooden building could not be saved. It was a tragic day for Dombå's hotel and all the residents of Dovre. The mayor at the time, Erland Løkken, said this about the fire: - A big fire like this is a tragedy. Both for the village and the people. This is a hallmark here in Gudbrandsdalen and one of Norway's most central landmarks. This is incredibly sad, he said.
To read more about the fire, see these cases: VG, GD, Branrnredning.no.

Despite the fire, operations at the hotel continued. An era in the hotel's history was over, but there was no doubt that Dombå's hotel would continue. In the period between the fire and the new building, one building at Dombåstun was used as a reception and breakfast room. The rooms in the old wing were also used during this period. In 2014, Dombås hotel as we know it today was completed. Since the new opening in 2014, we have seen solid growth in the number of guests, and more people use us again and again. In 2019, we renovated Dombåstun, and there are currently 18 newly renovated hotel rooms there.

Corona year 2020
The corona affected us like everyone else, but we have been open all along. The summer of 2020 was very good and in the autumn of 2020 we started renovating the bathrooms in the old wing, and it was good to be able to use the otherwise quiet time to renovate.

sources: Dovre history team, GD, VIGGA