HELSINKI - St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn - page 153

and student dorms that rent plenty of twin-bedded rooms. Also remember that some of the
cheapest beds in Helsinki are on the cruise ships to Stockholm.
At most Helsinki hotels, rates vary by the day of the week—with deep discounts on
Friday and Saturday nights, and higher rates the rest of the week. From late June to early
August, rooms are discounted every day of the week. A few hotels extend the weekend dis-
count to Sunday nights as well. When two prices are listed, the first is for weeknights, the
second for weekends and summer.
Of course, hotels play a complicated game of price discrimination with computer pro-
grams that tell them exactly how much to charge for a room based on demand, so prices
can range above and below what I list. Check the hotel website for exact rates, and shop
around to see if someone is offering an especially good deal.
Helsinki Expert 's hotel-booking service, with branches at the TI and the train station,
can reserve a hotel room for you (€8 booking fee for walk-ins, no fee for requests by phone
or email, www.helsinkiexpert.com ).
Central Hotels
$$ Hotel Anna is comfortable and feels like home. Its 64 rooms are efficiently run as a
fundraiser for the Finnish Free Church. For more air in the rooms, ask at the desk for a
key to open the larger windows (Sb-€110/€80, Db-€145/€115, extra bed-€15, reserve by
email and mention this topic for these prices, often €15-25 per room cheaper in winter or
when slow, worth checking website for deals, free Wi-Fi and Internet access, non-smoking,
4 blocks south of the top of the Esplanade—take tram #2/#3 to Iso Roobertinkatu, An-
nankatu 1, tel. [phone], fax [phone], www.hotelanna.fi , [e-mail] ).
$$ Hotel Arthur, a five-minute walk from the train station on a quiet street, is run
by the YMCA, with 182 forgettable, industrial-strength rooms (S-€65/€55, Sb-€110/€80,
small twin Db-€130/€100, nicer Db-€150/€120, extra bed-€20, weekend rates also valid
Sun night, free Wi-Fi, sauna-€6/hour, non-smoking, by Kaisaniemi tram stop at Vuorikatu
19, tel. [phone], fax [phone], www.hotelarthur.fi , [e-mail] ).
$$ Hotelli Finn is inexpensive, newly renovated, and wonderfully central. It's stowed
quietly on the sixth floor of an office building near the top of the Esplanade. It's also con-
sciously short on amenities: no shower curtains in the tiny bathrooms, no desks or chairs in
the rooms, no breakfast (though a nearby bakery offers a €7 buffet spread), no real lobby or
common space. The price and location are right, though, and it's a good value for a quick
stay when other places aren't discounting (Sb-€69, Db-€79-99, third or fourth person-about
€15, best to reserve on website, free Wi-Fi, Kalevankatu 3B, tel. [phone], fax 09/
6844-3610, www.hotellifinn.fi , [e-mail] ) .
Sleep Code
(€1 = about $1.30, country code:358 )