HELSINKI - St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn - page 156

$$$ Hotel Rivoli Jardin is a cozy 55-room place tucked away right off the Esplanade.
Warm and personal, it has an inviting lounge and modern, comfortable rooms (Db-about
€190, discounted to around €110 in summer and weekends, extra bed-€20, air-con, pay
Wi-Fi, Kasarmikatu 40, tel. [phone], fax [phone], www.rivoli.fi ,
[e-mail] ).
$$$ GLO Hotel Kluuvi, which has 144 rooms and a well-designed spa-type quality,
gives you an appreciation for how an extremely wealthy society manages to survive a
long, dark winter. It's perfectly located just north of the Esplanade (Db-€180-200, but
often discounted to €150 or so, air-con, free Wi-Fi, Kluuvikatu 4, tel. [phone],
www.glohotels.fi ) .
$$$ Hotel Katajanokka is a former red-brick prison built in 1888. Its last prisoner
checked out in 2002, and it was converted in 2007 into a four-star, business-class hotel. Its
106 rooms are very quiet—the walls are so thick that the hotel provides free Internet cables
rather than Wi-Fi. While the windows no longer have bars (thanks to the local fire code)
and walls have been removed so that two or three cells make a room, you can still ima-
gine the guards strolling up and down the corridors (Db-€200, around €140 in summer and
on weekends, Sb-€30 less, air-con, bike rental-€10/day, by Vyökatu stop of tram #4 near
the Viking cruise ship terminal, Merikasarminkatu 1A, tel. [phone], fax [phone],
www.bwkatajanokka.fi , [e-mail] ).
Hostels
Helsinki's hostels are unusually comfortable. While they offer €3 discounts for those with
hostel cards, all ages are welcome with or without a hostel membership. Eurohostel and
Academica are more like budget hotels than hostels.
$Eurohostel, a modern hostel with 255 beds, is 400 yards from the Viking ferry termin-
al and a 10-minute walk from Market Square. The more expensive rooms have been renov-
ated and come with TVs. It's packed with facilities, including a laundry room, a members'
kitchen with unique refrigerated safety-deposit boxes for your caviar and beer, a restaurant,
and plenty of good budget-travel information. While generally fully booked in advance,
they release no-show beds at 18:00 (S-€45-50, D-€54-61, T-€72-92, family room with up
to 4 kids under age 15-€65-73, shared twins or triples-€27-31 per person, includes sheets;
breakfast-€8, free morning sauna, evening sauna-€7.50, private lockable closets, pay Wi-
Fi, laundry-€3/load, Vyökatu stop for tram #4 is around the corner, Linnankatu 9, tel. 09/
622-0470, fax [phone], www.eurohostel.fi , [e-mail] ).
$ Academica Summer Hostel is a university dorm that's professionally run as a hostel
from June through August. Finnish university students have it good—the 200 rooms are
hotel-quality with private baths and kitchenettes, though all doubles have twin beds. Guests
can have a morning sauna and use the swimming pool for free (Sb-€55, Db-€67, Tb-
€90, extra bed-€23, bed in shared 2-3-person room-€27, prices include sheets, breakfast-
€6.50, safe deposit box, free Wi-Fi and Internet access by reception, laundry-€5/load; tram
#2 to the Kauppakorkeakoulut stop, then walk 5 minutes to Hietaniemenkatu 14, tel. 09/
1311-4334, fax [phone], www.hostelacademica.fi , [e-mail] ) .
$ Erottajanpuisto is a smaller, friendly, centrally located hostel, on the third floor of
a 19th-century apartment building. This is a better place to stay than Eurohostel if you're
looking to meet fellow travelers in the common room and don't mind lugging your bags