Some hotels have a story. Fogo Island Inn is a story that happens to have a hotel in it.
Zita Cobb grew up on Fogo Island as the daughter of a fisherman, an eighth-generation islander in a place where the economy had been built on cod for centuries. She left at 16, eventually became CFO of a fibre-optics company, made her fortune, and then did something almost no one does with a fortune: she went home. Not to retire, but to help rescue a community that was quietly hollowing out. The cod moratorium of the early 1990s had devastated outport fishing communities across Newfoundland. Fogo was no exception. When Cobb returned in the early 2000s with her brothers, they established Shorefast Foundation, a registered Canadian charity focused on building cultural and economic resilience on the island. The inn, which opened in 2013 and was designed by Newfoundland-born architect Todd Saunders, is its most visible expression. After operating costs, all surpluses are reinvested in the community. There is no private gain. Shorefast describes the community as the inn’s ‘beneficial owners,’ since all operating surpluses are reinvested locally and there are no private shareholders.
Understanding that story before you arrive changes the experience of being here. The furniture in your room was made by hand on the island at the Shorefast furniture studio, by craftspeople whose families have shaped wood on this rock for generations. The quilt on your bed was sewn by local quilters using vintage fabrics, each one different, each one carrying its own small history. The person who meets you at the ferry and spends a half day introducing you to the island is a community host: a fisherman, a teacher, an artisan, an ordinary resident who is also your guide into a place and a way of life that most of the world has never come close to. None of this is staging. It is the actual community, invited in.
The building itself demands attention. Saunders took the language of traditional Newfoundland outport architecture, the simple, functional saltbox structures that line the island’s coves, and reinterpreted it in a way that is boldly contemporary without being foreign to its surroundings. The inn sits on the northern shore at Joe Batt’s Arm, raised on stilts above the rock, its white-clad form cantilevered over the North Atlantic with the confidence of something that belongs exactly where it is. Inside, the 29 suites each face the ocean with floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a view to one of the most consistently dramatic seascapes in the northern hemisphere. The Labrador Current runs along this coast. Icebergs drift past in spring and early summer. In winter, the Atlantic is ferocious and close, and the woodstove in many rooms earns its place.
The dining room, with its vaulted ceiling and full-width ocean views across to the Barr’d Islands, is one of the finest locavore restaurant experiences in Canada. The kitchen works with what the island and its waters produce: hand-lined cod from Fogo Island Fish, sourced through Fogo Island Fish, Shorefast’s sister social enterprise; seasonal vegetables; wild foraged ingredients; and the deep culinary traditions of a community that has always made much from very little. This is not a menu designed to impress food writers, though it does. It is food that reflects where you are with honesty and considerable skill.
Five artist studios built by Shorefast at various remote points around the island host residencies for artists from around the world, thousands apply each year for a handful of spots. Their work circulates through the inn in rotating exhibitions. The island also has hundreds of miles of paths, including ancient footpaths that predate the current communities, and a schedule of seasonal experiences that connects guests to the rhythms and knowledge of the place in ways that no itinerary-based tour could replicate.
The Details
- 29 suites, all facing the North Atlantic, each individually furnished with handmade furniture and locally sewn quilts; no two rooms are identical
- Rates include all meals, non-alcoholic beverages, and most land-based excursions; minimum three-night stay required (though four nights is recommended at minimum)
- Half-day community host orientation included with every stay
- Dining room with locavore menu focused on Fogo Island ingredients including hand-lined cod, foraged produce, and seasonal Newfoundland cooking
- 37-seat cinema, library, fitness centre, rooftop hot tubs, and wood-fired rooftop sauna
- Seasonal experiences including hiking, fishing, boatbuilding orientations, craft programmes, iceberg and whale-watching excursions, stargazing, and art immersions
- Rotating artist exhibitions throughout the inn connected to the Shorefast artist residency programme
- All profits after operating costs reinvested in the community via Shorefast Foundation
- Three Michelin Keys
