Guide
A cabin trip with friends: how to plan the rent, the cars, the food and the cleaning
A cabin trip with friends rarely goes wrong because of the cabin. The friction comes from what nobody took charge of: the deposit one person put down, the snow chains left at home, the coffee everyone thought someone else had bought, and the bathroom that was still dirty when the owner came. Here is what usually goes wrong, and what helps.
Book the cabin, and agree on the rent at once
Whoever books usually pays the deposit, and is left with the bill if someone drops out. Read the cancellation terms before you book, and ask everyone to send their share before the deposit is due, not after the trip. Agree on how the rent is split: equally per person, by the night, or so that the couple in the double room pays a little more than whoever sleeps on the sofa. If someone is only coming on Saturday, sort that out now. If you are borrowing the cabin from a friend’s parents, ask what they would like for power and firewood rather than guessing.
Find out what the cabin has, and what it lacks
Ask the owner before you pack, not when you are standing in the hallway. Are bedding and towels included, or does everyone bring their own sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases? Is there firewood, or do you buy bags on the way? Is there running water all year, or is water carried in from a well or a stream? Mains power, or only solar panels? An ordinary toilet, an incinerating toilet or an outhouse? How many beds are there really, and is there mobile coverage? The answers decide both the packing list and the shopping list, so write them down where everyone can see them.
Split the packing: shared and personal
Some things the cabin needs only one of: a speaker, cards and a board game, ski wax, a first-aid kit, matches and firelighters, bin bags. Others everyone needs for themselves: bedding and a towel if they are not included, slippers or wool socks, a head torch, wool base layers and swimwear for the sauna. Keep two lists, and put a name on every shared item, so you do not arrive with three speakers and no matches. If there are six of you or fewer, Awayfolk does exactly this: a shared packing list where every item has one person, and a private list for each of you that nobody else sees.
The cars, and the last stretch of road
Find out early who has a car, how many seats it has and whether the skis and bags fit, and share people out from there. Split fuel and tolls among everyone in the car, not only the driver. In winter, ask whether the cabin road is ploughed all the way or only to a car park, so the last stretch is on foot or on skis, with the bags on a sled. Many private cabin roads have a toll barrier you pay in an app or at a machine. Carry snow chains if the road is steep, and practise fitting them at home. Arrive in daylight if you can.
One big shop, or does everyone bring something?
Both work, but decide before anyone goes shopping. One big shop before you drive is often cheapest, and the shop nearest the cabin tends to have less choice and shorter hours, and is often closed on Sundays. Many groups split it like this: breakfast, lunch and the things that are always missing, such as coffee, butter, salt, toilet paper, washing-up liquid and kitchen roll, are bought together, while each dinner is bought by whoever cooks it. Drinks are simplest if everyone buys their own. In Norway, shops stop selling beer at 18:00 on Saturdays at the latest, and Vinmonopolet, the state wine shop, closes early the same day.
Who cooks which night
Give each dinner to a pair or a small team, so the same person is not at the stove all weekend, and let those who did not cook do the washing-up. The first evening often runs late, so keep it simple. The big dinner fits best on Saturday, when everyone has arrived and nobody has to drive. Ask about allergies and who does not eat meat before you set the menu, and check that the cabin has the pots and oven you need. Put each dinner on its day in Awayfolk’s day plan with the cooks’ names, and at the cabin the Today view shows who has the kitchen tonight.
Activities by season, and a plan B
Winter means cross-country skiing, downhill, sledging and the sauna. Check skisporet.no for when the tracks were last groomed, and the avalanche warning on varsom.no before any ski touring. Summer and autumn mean hiking, swimming, berries and fishing; in Norway, lakes and rivers need a fishing licence, often sold on inatur.no, while rod fishing in the sea is free. Collect the ideas in Awayfolk’s idea bank: paste a Google Maps link to the trail or lake, and it gets a pin on the map. Mountain weather turns fast, so check Yr the evening before and keep an indoor day in reserve: games, a slow stew, a trip into town.
Clean the cabin, and start the evening before
The final clean takes longer than anyone thinks, and tends to fall to the same two people. Ask for the owner’s list in advance, and share out the jobs the evening before: kitchen and fridge, bathroom and toilet, floors, beds and rubbish. Rubbish often has to be driven to a shared bin by the road. Empty the ash into a metal bucket, never a bin bag, since it can hold embers for days. Fill the log basket for next time, set the heating as the owner asks, and walk round once more before locking up. If the cabin belongs to a friend’s parents, this is what they will remember.
Settle up while everyone remembers
Note what the rent, the big shop and fuel cost as you plan, so nobody is surprised; in Awayfolk everyone on the trip sees the same figures. For settling up, a splitting app such as Tricount or Splitwise does the job. Add expenses at the cabin, not from a pile of receipts later, and split them as agreed: rent by the night, shared food equally among those there, fuel and tolls within each car. The app works out who owes whom; the rest is a bank transfer, or Vipps in Norway. Settle within a week, so whoever covered the cabin does not have to chase anyone.
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Updated September 2026