Anna Hotel, Helsinki

.../> The 3 star Hotel Anna is situated in a 7 storey building dating from 1926 in central Helsinki and possesses 36 single rooms, 25 doubles and several suites. Located on a street called Annankatu it is part owned and run by the Lutheran church although this has little significance for the traveller wishing to stay there. The hotel is about a 2km easy walk from the centre of Helsinki and all the main tourist attractions which is ideal if you are ...
...---Breakfast---

Hotel Anna is a Bed and Breakfast hotel with breakfasts being served downstairs in a purpose built cafe-style room. The food really was a strong plus point in favour of this hotel and you really couldn't come away hungry after a breakfast here. In addition to a range of healthy cereals, there were at least 5 different kinds of bread and this being a Nordic country there were also several types of crisp bread. Alongside ... more

Recently, I relocated from Australia back to Scotland and decided that as it's a very long journey I would break the trip in several places. Thanks to a direct flight from Singapore to Helsinki I was able to visit the Finnish capital for a few days and was able to secure accommodation in a special little hotel in central Helsinki.

♣♣♣Hotel Location and History♣♣♣

The 3 star Hotel Anna is situated in a 7 storey building dating from 1926 in central Helsinki and possesses 36 single rooms, 25 doubles and several suites. Located on a street called Annankatu it is part owned and run by the Lutheran church although this has little significance for the traveller wishing to stay there. The hotel is about a 2km easy walk from the centre of Helsinki and all the main tourist attractions which is ideal if you are planning to explore the city on foot as I did. The hotel is particularly close to the harbour with its fantastic covered market and to the spectacular Lutheran Cathedral and Upenski Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the centre of town.

Although centrally located it is in a very quiet street and like all of Helsinki is very safe at any hour of the day. In the neighbouring streets are a number of shops, cafes and restaurants and also a small supermarket which is handy if you want to buy food and eat it in your room. The area is also known for its many boutiques which are to be found on Annankatu and closeby Fredrikinkatu.

♣♣♣My Room♣♣♣

Being on a budget I chose to stay in the cheapest room available which was a standard single, costing EURO 120 per night, which is about £80. For an extra EURO 15 more (£10) I could have had a larger superior single. Twin rooms start at EURO 160 which equates to about £107 per night.

The room itself was one of the smallest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in with barely enough room for a single bed, desk and chair. The little floor space that was left was taken up with my luggage, which meant moving around the room entailed climbing over cases and holdalls. The wardrobe was built into the wall to save space and there was also a second door leading to the bathroom. However, I never really felt cramped and the light coloured furnishings helped to emphasize the natural daylight and make the room seem less claustrophobic.

Despite the size, the room was very comfortable and nicely furnished in true Finnish style, with lots of birch and pine wood panelling and furniture. The bed had soft white sheets and was extremely comfortable, with little shelves over the bed for your alarm clock and book. The room also had a minibar/fridge, but because this is a Lutheran-run establishment, the minibar is dry so if you want to drink alcohol in your room then you need to buy it elsewhere. The fridge has plenty of soft drinks though and also has peanuts and very tasty Finnish chocolate.

There are some nice touches which set this hotel apart from others too, such as the selection of novels in each room (not just the Gideon bible) and the huge umbrella to be found in every wardrobe, which comes in handy during Helsinki's occasional summer showers. There was also a TV tuned in mostly to Finnish or Swedish channels although I was able to locate the BBC World Service and catch up on some news too. Some of the rooms have PC modem connections for your laptop, although mine did not.

If I thought the bedroom was small, then the bathroom was truly miniscule. Tiled all over in sparkling white, it came with the usual shower gel and shampoo and some crisp white towels. However there was barely enough room to move and while using the toilet and washbasin wasn't too bad, it almost required the skills of a contortionist to use the shower cubicle which was tucked into one corner of the bathroom. I must say though that I was impressed with the hotel's attitude to recycling: like most of Finland, they work hard to preserve the natural resources of this beautiful country. Therefore to minimise pollution and water use you can choose to simply let your towel dry on the towel rail each day rather than be given a clean one.

♣♣♣Hotel Facilities♣♣♣

---Reception/Check In---

This desk is manned 24/7 and I always found the staff to be extremely helpful and polite. Like almost all Finns, they speak English better than many British people and as well as checking you in and drawing up your bill, they are more than happy to call taxis free of charge and to offer advice about tourist activities. Although I did not arrange any trips through them, they are able to book some day trips around Helsinki for you and in my case they recommended a wonderful day trip by pleasure steamer to the nearby town of Porvoo.

Although there is a lift to save you from struggling up the tight spiral staircase there is no porter service so guests usually have to drag their cases up to their rooms themselves, which would be a problem if you were disabled. Indeed, I am not sure how wheelchair friendly this hotel is: the lift was barely big enough for two people and getting a wheelchair in and out of some of the bedrooms would be almost impossible. Getting down to the breakfast room (see below) might also be a struggle for the disabled visitor. Most of the corridors are also quite narrow and I would suggest that any guests who do need to use a wheelchair seek out alternative accommodation to this hotel.

Other facilities at the reception desk include a luggage room so that you can store your luggage if you have a late flight to catch and want to spend the day in the city without having to worry about your cases. I arrived at about 6.30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and although check in wasn't until 11 a.m., I was able to store my luggage there until then before going downstairs to get some much needed breakfast.

---Breakfast---

Hotel Anna is a Bed and Breakfast hotel with breakfasts being served downstairs in a purpose built cafe-style room. The food really was a strong plus point in favour of this hotel and you really couldn't come away hungry after a breakfast here. In addition to a range of healthy cereals, there were at least 5 different kinds of bread and this being a Nordic country there were also several types of crisp bread. Alongside this was a smorgasbord of cheeses, cold meats, prawns and delectable home-made jams of which I particularly recommend the cloudberry. Finally, guests can select from a variety of fresh fruit and yoghurts together with tea or strong Finnish coffee. On Sundays the buffet is that bit more special and includes some delicious pastries and "pulla", which are cardamom-flavoured wheat buns much enjoyed in Finland.

Being a self serve buffet you can of course come back for seconds (or thirds) and given the generally high cost of eating out in Helsinki I would recommend that visitors eat a big breakfast and take away some fruit and crispbreads for later as I did. Finns in general have their main meal at lunch time and if you adapt to this you will also find Helsinki to be better value for money.

---Sauna---

Of course this being a Finnish hotel there is the ubiquitous sauna which is well worth trying if you have time. Finns use saunas as communal meeting places where they gather to socialise and have no inhibitions about being naked in front of strangers. The Hotel Anna sauna is a bit different as it is private and must be booked before you can use it, so there's no danger of coming face to face with huge, perspiring, naked Finns if that bothers you. It is also necessary to pay a charge for this, which is uncommon among hotel saunas here as they are usually free.

The sauna itself is quite small and although your privacy is guaranteed, I think half the fun of saunas is to mix and meet with other people. Therefore, if you want a real taste of Finland, you might prefer to go to one of the public saunas, of which Helsinki has quite a few. Hotel Anna's sauna was EURO 5 (about £3) for an hour at the time I stayed there in May 2006, and this is cheaper than public saunas which are around EURO 10-12 (£7 or £8), but remember that many hotels in Finland do have free saunas, so if a sauna is important to you then you may want to look at alternative accommodation.

---Parking---

One of the disadvantages of Hotel Anna is that, being situated near the city centre, there is very little parking available. The hotel does maintain a small garage nearby if you want to hire a car and keep it there and for this they charge EURO 12 (£8) per night. I think this is a bit on the expensive side considering many hotels all over the world offer free parking, but remember too that there is very little parking to be had in the street outside and this is also not free during the day. Therefore the hotel is really better for those who wish to explore the city on foot.

---Reservations---

This can be done by visiting the hotel's own website (www.hotelanna.fi) which has an online reservation service and lots of information about the hotel. If you don't want to use this you can book through a number of travel websites (I used www.travellerspoint.com) or telephone the hotel directly.

Travellers should also be aware though that Helsinki is at its busiest during the northern summer and any hotel accommodation is at a premium. I was lucky to secure a room for the 4 nights that I stayed in late May and I would advise those wishing to visit Finland at this time of year to book their accommodation well in advance if possible. Accommodation is also more expensive at this time and visitors to Hotel Anna and to Helsinki in general may well find cheap bargains to be had during the cooler months of the year.

♣♣♣Value for Money♣♣♣

Officially, the hotel is rated as a 3 star hotel but I have to say that it is a lot nicer than many other 3 (and even 4) star hotels which I have visited in both the U.K. and other European countries. At about £80 per night, I did feel that my room was a little overpriced for its size and I would recommend travellers to enquire about superior single rooms if they travel alone, as these are larger than the standards and only a little more expensive. In some of the double rooms and suites it is possible to have an extra bed brought in and this may be a good option for a small group or family who only wish to pay for one room. Therefore, my feeling is that this hotel is perhaps better value for money for couple or groups rather than single travellers.

Helsinki is quite an expensive city in terms of hotels and Hotel Anna is actually one of the cheaper ones (it is easily possible to pay 2 or 3 times what I did per night). I think the hotel overall does offer good value for money if you are only staying a few days and I cannot fault the service of the staff or the cleanliness of the rooms. The price also includes the huge breakfasts which were among the best I have had in any hotel. My choice to stay at Hotel Anna was most strongly influenced by the fact that I booked my accommodation shortly before arriving and in early summer was lucky even to obtain a reasonably priced room in Helsinki at all. Had I been coming at another time of year I might have considered some cheaper alternatives.

♣♣♣Photographs♣♣♣

I have included a few photographs of the hotel and Helsinki to give you an idea of what the place looks like and to help you decide whether it is worth staying here. These photos include a view of a standard room, the hotel cafe, the exterior of the hotel and some shots of Helsinki's tourist attractions too.

♣♣♣Final thoughts♣♣♣

A lovely boutique-style hotel in a perfect location for exploring the delightful city of Helsinki. Not the cheapest hotel I have ever stayed in but very clean and comfortable with excellent breakfasts and attentive, friendly staff. I recommend this to visitors coming for short stays and suggest that this would be an ideal hotel for a weekend break here. I am certain you can be assured of a warm Finnish welcome even in the middle of the coldest Finnish winter!

Kiitos! ("thanks" in Finnish)
 

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