Wangen Hotell

In about 1770, Captain Juell built a home on the property that later became Wangen Hotell. In 1849 the house was sold to Knut Rosendahl, who worked in fishing before moving into trading at Aurlandsvangen. In 1853 he sold the property and the general store to Hans Johannes Brun, who laid the foundations for hotel, commercial, post and port services at Vangen. During the summer, tourists flooded in to Aurland. In particular, there were a lot of British salmon anglers. Brun died in 1886, and the property was then sold to Ellend Wangen. He and his wife, Stina, ran the hotel successfully right up until the second world war under the name Wangen Hotell. Ola Wangen took over the hotel and the commercial operations, and ran them until the end of the 1960s. Back then, the hotel was closed down partly to the lack of fire precautions. Following modernisation, it was re-opened in 1975, this time as a motel. A number of fisherman's cabins were also built down at the side of the fjord.

Aabelheim

Aabelheim was built on the property by Colonel Meidell in mid-eighteenth century. In 1830 was sold to the priest, Ole Aabel, who had a new main building constructed. His family continued living here until some time around 1900. The hous was then sold to Johannes Skjerdal, where the house got the name Skjerdals house. But in 1943 Anna Jordal started running a boarding house here under the name Aabelheim Pensjonat. The place became popular amongst anglers, including a lot of Norwegian ship owners. Wealthy foreign tourists were also frequent guests. Anna Jordalen's son, Ingmund Stigen, took over early in the 1970s. As fishing in the Aurland river declined in the 1980s, the anglers were replaced by ordinary tourists. Aabelheim is now under a preservation order from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

Vangsgaarden

The company Vangsgården AS (Vangsgaarden Gjestgiveri) was established in 1992. Since then, Astrid Ohnstad and Arvid Stigen have run both Aabelheim and Vangen Motell under this name. They have built new cabins by the fjord, renovated most of the buildings surrounding the courtyard and continued to develop the business to the present day. The final stage of the major expansion work was completed in 2018, with a number of new hotel rooms, a renovated hotel wing, three new fisherman's cabins and a covered outdoor dining area with panoramic views out to the majestic fjord scenery.