Lighthouses have stood watch over notorious and awe-inspiring waters for centuries. Today anyone can taste the isolated and majestic lifestyle once experienced by the keepers of these now outmoded maritime relics.
Things to consider when choosing to stay in a lighthouse…
- Location: remote or town
- Vista: sea, lake or river
- Accommodation: actual lighthouse or keeper’s cottage
- Self-catering
- Would you like to volunteer as a keeper (sometimes in exchange for cheap rates)?
Below are our picks for fantastic lighthouse stays.
Rose Island Lighthouse – Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA
- Location: semi-remote – located on an 18-acre island a mile off the coast of New England
- Vista: sea – Narragansett Bay
- Accommodation: attached keeper’s house – become a keeper for a week or a night The lowdown – abandoned in 1970, subjected to vandalism and decay for 14 years, before being saved and restored by a foundation (during WWI and WWII, the US Navy used Rose Island as a torpedo station)
Goose Rocks Lighthouse – North Haven, Maine, USA
- Location: Very remote – accessible by boat only
- Vista: Sea – Fox Island Thoroughfare between North Haven and Vinalhaven, guarding a ‘killer’ ledge lying just below the water’s surface
- Accommodation: actual lighthouse – four levels of surprisingly homely quarters including a kitchen area, sitting room, two queen-sized bedrooms and an overflow room with a bunk bed
- The lowdown: donors who support the society that preserves the lighthouse are entitled to an all-day or overnight stay for six people
Belle Tout Lighthouse – Beachy Head, Eastbourne, England
- Location: remote – South Downs countryside beside famous Seven Sisters chalk cliffs
- Vista: sea – the English Channel
- Accommodation: keeper’s cottage – luxurious B&B
- The lowdown: decommissioned in 1902, ravaged during World War II and recently restored and relocated 50ft inland due to cliff erosion
Cape Otway Lightstation – Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia
- Location: remote – situated off the scenic Great Ocean Road
- Vista: Sea – sitting on towering sea cliffs where Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean collide
- Accommodation: keeper’s cottages – self-catering or B&B (café on site)
- The lowdown: built in 1848, it’s the oldest, surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia
Molja Lighthouse – Ålesund, Møre og Romsdal County, Norway
- Location: town – guards the entrance to the Ålesund harbor
- Accommodation: actual lighthouse – now ‘room 47’ of the Hotel Brosundet (the 46-room hotel is a two-minute walk away on the harbor edge)
- The lowdown: a luxury hotel room with exposed stonework, wood paneling, glass partitions and a sparkling white bathroom (designed by prestigious architects) situated in an historic fishing town
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Images: Cape Otway Lightstation, Rob Wassell, Belle Tout Lighthouse, charliekwalker, Beacon Preservation, Inc., Brosundet.no // Marte Garmann Johnsen, 62.no // Steve Røyset)
