Reopened with a clear new vision, Fanø Krogaard brings fresh energy to one of the island’s best-known addresses. Just 12 minutes by ferry from Esbjerg, the inn combines thoughtful hospitality with honest culinary experiences and a deeply relaxed sense of place. Behind it are co-owners and sisters Mette and Mie Hyttel and head chef Kasper Elmholdt Pedersen – long-time friends and professional collaborators united by a shared belief in quality without pretension.

Set in Nordby with sweeping views across the Wadden Sea, Fanø Krogaard has the kind of location that instantly lowers your stress levels. The ferry arrives, the pace shifts, and the island’s particular blend of history, sea air and quiet begins to take hold. “There is something about Fanø that meets you already on the ferry,” says Mette Hyttel, who manages the inn’s daily operations. “Your shoulders drop, there is a sense of calm, and you feel that you do not have to perform – you can simply relax.”

Fanø Krogaard: A taste of island bliss

For Hyttel, the project was a genuine return to her roots. Raised in Esbjerg and brought up in the hospitality trade, she had gone on to work as a buyer at Magasin in Copenhagen. But when her family aired the idea of buying the inn in 2019, she found herself drawn back to the island and into the process of shaping what the inn could become.

Pedersen, meanwhile, brought a notably strong culinary background. Trained at Henne Kirkeby Kro, he later worked at Geist in Copenhagen, spent two years in Canada and helped launch restaurants in Shanghai, winning heaps of culinary awards in the process. “He is very good at making simple things taste good,” Hyttel says. “That was exactly right for the inn.”

Fanø Krogaard: A taste of island bliss

That philosophy runs through the kitchen as a whole. Fanø Krogaard’s food is rooted in familiar, flavourful dishes made with local and fresh ingredients, shaped by seasonality, ecology and animal welfare, and prepared with respect for the classical Danish kitchen. As Hyttel puts it; “It should not have to be anything other than good quality.”

The sense of ease continues throughout the house. With 25 rooms spread across the main building and adjoining houses, as well as three welcoming lounges for dining, a library, an orangery and spaces for communal dining and seasonal events, the inn feels less like a staged hotel than a welcoming home away from home.

Hostess and co-owner Mette Hyttel. | Fanø Krogaard: A taste of island bliss

Hostess and co-owner Mette Hyttel.

Web: www.fanoekrogaard.dk
Facebook: fanoekrogaard
Instagram: @fanoekrogaard

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