Sokos Hotel Albert - Helsinki, Finland 

We have just returned from a weekend at the Hotel Albert. The hotel is magnificent and we have never experienced such incredible service before. The personnel is young and willing to meet every need you could imagine. The hotel is situated in the back alleys of the city center and with the tips from the front office we ended up strolling in a totally new side of Helsinki. Within 20 minutes walk to downtown we found a spectacular array of design shops, galleries, cafes and restaurants we had never experienced before on our previous visits. The Enoteca - winebar down in the hotel lobby is lovely with guidance that you normally expect from fine dining restaurants. Nice jazzy-lounge sounds where more than up-to-date and such enhanced the experience. Lunch at hotel Ristorante added up to our great weekend. Overall I would say this is probably one of the best hotel we have ever stayed in on citybreak and I am extremely fussy! Perhaps not the most convenient if all you want to do is shopping and museums, but if you want to mix a little chic design and lifestyle with the odd trip to the small shop then this is an absolute must!

Visited Sokos Hotel Albert and the expectations were not that high but after the visit this is the hotel to stay and next time when I am going to stay in Helsinki I am definetely going to stay at Albert and will recommend this to my colleagues as well. Hotel is located within walking distance from heart of the city, close to the park, sea, shops and restaurants. Firstly when I had a look at the map and distances it sort of put me off but I was surprised that it only took 10-15 minutes to walk from main railway station. Weather was great so I really enjoyed my walk to the hotel and about. Staff were really friendly, helpfull and professional. Did not dine at the restaurant but had a look at the menus and it looked great and reasonable priced. Breakfast was excellent. Next time when I am going to stay there I will definetely try the menu. Stayed in a standard room, and it was a very modern but homely decorated room with fresh colours, comfortable bed, free WLAN and air-con. The best thing was the wonderful power shower which really gave the relaxing feeling after the long day at work. Also Albert has a sauna which I did not have time try. I believe the sauna is free for the guest. So next time when I am going to visit Helsinki Albert is the one! Only negative thing which I found was that there was not any snow in Helsinki!