Sokos Solo Torni in Tampere was decently located near the central train station; once you cut through the tunnel, you were already in the town center and the main road Hameenkatu. It’s a high rise – I believe the tallest hotel in Tampere with 25 floors – but used the old train museum for its frontage, which made it unique.

The reception staff are friendly and efficient – they executed our early-morning breakfast-to-go request speedily. The hallway corridor walls, carpet, and guest room doors are boldly (and nicely) designed. The bold Finnish (?) design is carried over into the walls of the guest rooms. We had a corner room so we had a 180 degree view – although we wished the two windows were wider. Other positives - there was good accent lighting, including a drop ceiling with recessed lights; the work table was long and there was an extra emergency seat to augment the regular ergo chair; the sofa was large and comfortable; effective blackout curtains; and they had a Nespresso-type machine. One major negative - the shower stall was so small – only about 26 inches on each side so it was very difficult to turn in any direction; also, the shower glass door was about two inches off the floor so a lot of shower water sprayed into the main T&B area. Also, the washbasin floor was just three inches lower than the counter so water tended to splash back a bit.

On the 25th floor is the Moro sky deck, which also has a bar (guests have complimentary welcome drinks BTW) and so many chairs and sofas to choose from; the deck offers unrivalled views of the entire city and its suburbs (did I say it was the tallest building around?).