42 rooms and suites on the Katajanokka waterfront — with Baltic fine dining, two Finnish saunas, and an archipelago of a thousand islands beginning at our jetty.
Check Availability Explore RoomsKatajanokka is the quay where Finland's icebreakers lie through the summer, waiting for the ice. Vela is the sail — and Arctic Vela is named for the ships that have left this shore for the north for more than a century. Today the same water carries you out to the archipelago instead, ten minutes' walk from the Market Square.
Wood-heated and electric, both with sea-view windows — and an avanto cut into the winter ice.
Our own sailboat, S/Y Vela, leaves the hotel jetty for the islands all summer.
Most rooms look east over the Baltic, the ice in winter and the white nights in June.
Restaurant Ahti serves herring, pike-perch and cloudberry — sea and forest to table.
Quiet rooms in oak, wool and granite — built for deep sleep in the dark months and slow mornings under the white nights of summer.
26 m² of Nordic calm with a king bed, rainfall shower and floor-to-ceiling views across the water.
Our signature 38 m² suite with a glass ceiling over the bed — tähti means star, and you fall asleep beneath them.
A 52 m² corner suite with a separate living room, fireplace and panoramic views along the seafront.
Ahti is the old Finnish god of the sea, and our kitchen keeps his side of the bargain: Baltic herring and pike-perch from the morning boats, roe with smetana and rye, chanterelles from the mainland forests, new potatoes with dill in July, cloudberry and sea buckthorn when the light goes.
There are more saunas than cars in this country, and we take that seriously. Ours are two — one wood-heated, one electric — both facing the water through a single wide window. Sit until you have had enough, then take the wooden ladder down into the sea.
In winter that means the avanto: a hole cut through the ice, a cold that lasts fifteen seconds and a warmth that lasts all evening. In summer you simply swim.
Sauna & Wellness
From May the archipelago opens, and S/Y Vela leaves our jetty each evening for three slow hours among the granite islands — pines, red cottages, a swim from the rocks, and a sun that never quite sets in June.
See All ExperiencesWhen evening falls, the top floor turns K-18. Kaamos — named for the polar night — is a fireside cocktail lounge and vinyl listening bar with a proper games room beside it: billiards under a brass lamp, darts, shuffleboard and a shelf of board games, played for nothing but the joy of it.
The floor opens at 20:00, the last löyly of the evening is at 21:00, and the bar pours until 01:00 — Finnish distillates, cocktails on birch and pine, and a non-alcoholic list mixed with the same care.
Discover Kaamos
Let the city keep its evening — ours is upstairs. On the Kaamos floor, our own house casino deals roulette, blackjack and baccarat beside a row of slot machines, and every chip is on the house. Nothing is wagered and nothing can be lost: every game is free to play, purely for the fun of it, and our croupiers will gladly teach the rules between hands.
Book direct for our best available rate, a free private sauna hour, and late checkout on Sundays.
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