I traveled to Tampere in April 2007 for a symposium at the University of Tampere. My stay at the Holiday Inn was great: They have underground, secure parking (for a small fee), they offer nice a breakfast buffet with many options for those of you who are vegetarians (I'm not but I empathize with you if you're going to Tampere), and they have clean, spacious rooms with excellent shower facilities. Then again, I think I stayed in an upgraded executive room of some sort. The shower in there was the best I have had in a long time, better than any I've seen in the US, actually, in terms of water pressure, space, and design.

The only downside I had at the Holiday Inn was the expense for wifi broadband, but it did work better than the wired broadband.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this hotel if you're heading to Tampere. It is a 5-minute walk to the U. Tampere campus, which is quite convenient, and it's also about 10 minutes from this hotel to the city center if you're on foot.

In early February we took a Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Tampere. Finland is a place we have wanted to go for some time to do some winter walking and outdoor ice-skating.

We took a Ryanair bus from the airport to the City Centre and were dropped outside the central rail station. The half hour transfer was only a few Euros each. From the drop-off we had an easy five minute walk to the Holiday Inn using a map off the internet. The hotel was just a couple of streets away.

We were given a warm welcome when we arrived and our room was fine. Not overly big but adequate. The room and en-suite were clean with all the usual extras expected in a Holiday Inn.

We paid less than 40 GBP a night room only. An excellent price in a country that we envisaged would be expensive. The hotel had a hot tub and sauna on the top floor and had a bar and restaurant.

We went out into Tampere the first night and ate cheap at a "Buffa" restaurant. What a tremendous place! Basic surroundings and very much like an upmarket McDonalds. For about 8 Euros each you could eat and drink as much as you wanted. A great salad bar and a great selection of pizzas, hot meat dishes and as much ice cream you could eat to finish, including soft drinks and coffee.

Tampere was an interesting town. They call it the Manchester of Finland. The town is sat on a river between two lakes with many industrial premises situated on the fast moving river. It snowed heavily the night we arrived and put down 8 inches. Great!! We woke up the following day to clear blue sky and tremendous snowy scenery. By 10am the roads and footpaths were cleared and we were able to walk on compacted snow for miles around the parks and interesting suburbs of this interesting City.

We skated free for an hour on the open air rink just out from the centre of the City. We then went onto the frozen 10 mile long lake and skated for a mile or so along paths cleared especially on the 18 thick ice!

We ate in the holiday Inn the second night. I would recommend the hotel restaurant. Not too expensive with excellent cuisine and it saved going out into the freezing cold night!

On Sunday we ate lunch at a Viking Restaurant called “Harald”. A first floor restaurant, close to the square on the main street. We had an excellent meal and would recommend this if you want to eat typical Scandinavian cuisine. The surroundings were rustic and we really felt that we were dining somewhere different. The cost was not overly priced too.

We would recommend the Holiday Inn in Tampere as a great base, close to the city centre and very reasonably priced. We would like to visit in the summer to see a contrast and would stay at the Holiday Inn again.

Tampere itself was a lovely City, the people were very friendly and English is well spoken. If you don’t mind snow and ice then a winter walking and skating holiday is well recommended too. There are plenty of interesting buildings and other attractions that would appeal to most tourists looking to explore a fairly "off the beaten track destination". Remember to bring your ice skates or alternatively, I imagine you could buy some fairly cheaply when you get there.

We stayed in this hotel on a weekend break to Tampere. The Hotel is situated in the middle of the university area, which makes it great for late and unusual bars. It is about a 10 minute walk to the river and the main shopping areas, but is close to the railway station, which is also the terminal for the airport buses. The rooms were of a high standard, not huge, but OK for a weekend break. Bar was comfortable ( if somewhat expensive, but then again are'nt all hotel bars ).

Rooms and public areas were spotlessly clean.

Only gripe we had was that when we wanted to use the hotels rooftop sauna, we were advised we could'nt as it had been booked for a private party, despite us being advised on check in that the sauna was open all weekend.

All in all a good hotel for the money

Located 5 minutes from the train station of Tampere, the hotel has only a few executive class rooms, but you should go for them, as they're in great condition (Sep '06), quiet, had wooden floor, room was BIG (perhaps some 35m2) huge bed, bathroom with plenty of extras, better shampoos, more moveable mirrors, all the stuff. Also good closet space and a great multi-window thingy in a very limited number of rooms. Definitely one of the best rooms I've had in Finland.

The food at the lobby restaurant was excellent. It is same price than the middle to fine dine places in the city and therefore comes recommended money-wise, too.

Sauna facilities are great but the small pool is only good for 3-4 ppl at a time. The pay-tv system is out of date at this hotel, only couple of movies and poor picture quality. But hey, you ain't there to watch the telly.

Service from check-in to check-out was flawless during my stay. Very friendly and helpful staff. As a frequent traveller I was offered free newspaper at check-in, which was a nice touch.