The Molly

The light
is kept.

A lighthouse hotel above the Arctic Circle, kept by an AI named Molly.

Reserve a staySee the rooms
Opening
1 February 2027
Position
67°06′N 13°18′E
Today on the island
Sun up 08:47, down 14:55. 6 h 8 min of it.
The light
Two flashes, white, every twenty seconds

Eighteen rooms on a bare rock in the Norwegian Sea. Nine people, one Molly, eleven machines. The lighthouse had a keeper for ninety-four years. Now it has Molly.

The rock is called Mollyholmen. It is four hundred metres long and has no trees. There is a red iron lighthouse at one end, a long black house on stilts at the other, and ten cabins between them that light up at dusk.

You come by boat. The boat drives itself. A small white machine takes your bags and you walk the boardwalk behind it, and by the time you reach your door somebody has already lit the stove.

About the island

Mollyholmen at dusk: a red lighthouse, a long black house on stilts lit from inside with people at the tables, and dark rock.

From the boat to your door

Seventy minutes on the water, then the boardwalk. Odd brings the bags. You bring a coat.

The jetty.
The boardwalk, north shore.
A Lantern Cabin.

Four ways to sleep on a rock

Every rate covers the crossing, breakfast, dinner and the sauna. All eighteen rooms

Molly keeps the light

She is an AI. She answers the phone, takes the bookings, watches the weather and never sleeps, which is the job.

Tell her you want to see the aurora and she will watch the sky all night so you don't have to. When it comes she lights one lamp by your bed. If you didn't ask, she lets you sleep.

There is a brass switch by every door. Flip it and Molly is gone from the room until you flip it back.

Meet the whole crew

Molly is on watch

From last night's log

  1. Sun down. Lamp lit.
  2. Wind west-south-west, force five. Lillemor stays on her mooring.
  3. Cloud breaking from the north. Solar wind rising.
  4. Aurora, green, low in the north-east.
  5. Nobody to wake until February. Watched it myself.
  6. Stove igniters tested, cabins one to ten. All ten lamps answer.

Eleven machines. None of them has a face.

They carry, pour, wash and keep watch, so that the nine people here can spend their time on you.

NameWhat it does
LillemorThe TenderCarries you over
Odd, Even, Liv and TorThe PortersCarry your bags
OttoThe arm at the barPours after hours
The Linen RunnersNight shiftMove the laundry
The GlaziersWindow keepersTake the salt off the glass
The WatchThe mast on the LightReads the sky

One table, one menu, one sauna

Naust seats twenty-two and cooks what came off the boat. The Keeper's Bar closes when the last guest leaves. The sauna is at the end of the jetty, with a ladder down into the sea for anyone who means it.

Eating and doing

Naust: guests along one long oak table by candlelight, a chef setting down a plate, the evening sea beyond the glass.
Two people in white robes walk a timber jetty to the glowing sauna over calm water.

Getting here

  1. Fly north to Bodø

    An hour and a half from Oslo. Sit on the left.

  2. Ten minutes to the harbour

    A host meets you at arrivals and takes your bags to the boat.

  3. Seventy minutes on Lillemor

    She sails twice a day. There is coffee aboard and nobody at the wheel.

The whole journey, with the timetable

Chart of MollyholmenA hand-drawn nautical chart of the invented islet of Mollyholmen, showing the lighthouse at the south-west end, the row of Lantern Cabins along the north-west shore, the Long House at the north-east end and the jetty and sauna on the sheltered south-east side.3428521262192214692688411165249648721217425213729412762The LightLong HouseLantern CabinsSaunaMOLLYHOLMEN14Fl(2) W 20s 19m 16MNorskehavetLillesundetLandingVar 3°E (2027)13°18′E67°06′N0100200 mMollyholmenDepths in metres. Drawn for The Molly, 2026.Not to be used for navigation.
The islet, drawn for the hotel. Depths are in metres; the magenta flare marks the Light.

Come when the weather does.

Opening 1 February 2027. The diary is open now. Two nights or more.