The Cumulus Pinja is not a five-star hotel, but I'm giving it a perfect score because it had everything I needed and after a five night stay there, it almost felt like home to me.
If you're ever in Tampere, this is a great place to stay. The hotel is just a couple of blocks from the main street of Tampere. It's not fancy, but it's comfortable, affordable (for Scandinavia), and very clean. My room was so clean that when I spilled some water on the floor and wiped it up with a white towel, there was not a speck of dirt on the towel. The bed was one of the most comfortable I've ever slept in. The staff are laid-back and helpful, and they speak English (like pretty much everyone else I met in Finland). You can use the internet on the computer in the lobby for free anytime of the day or night. For some reason they never charged me for a ten-minute phone call I made to the US. I'm sure this was a fluke, but it just enhanced my overall satisfaction with this hotel!
I loved the all-you-can-eat breakfast that was included in the price of the room. Like the rest of the hotel, the breakfast wasn't fancy, but it was very satisfying. There was porridge, eggs, meat (anything from bacon to meatballs to blood sausage), fruit, salad, bread, cheese, cereal, and more.
The wake-up call system is kind of weird. There is no alarm clock. You set an alarm through the TV in your room, and at the chosen time the TV comes on and you're startled out of a sound sleep by loud Finnish talking coming out of the TV. The alarm set-up program is entirely in Finnish, and therefore pretty much impossible for foreigners to understand. Somehow I figured it out and was able to set it myself, but if you call and ask the front desk for a wakeup call, they'll magically program the TV for you from the lobby.
Not planning to visit Tampere anytime soon? Too bad for you. I'm hoping I get to go back someday.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC