Hilton Helsinki Strand — Hotel in Helsinki sub-region

This 8-story hotel has a great location right on the waterfront, within easy reach of many major tourist attractions, just a short one block walk to both the Metro station and the Line 600 bus to the airport. In addition to its great location and staff, the other pros offered by this hotel includes its very friendly and knowledgeable staff, fast wi-fi, and a good breakfast buffet with an variety of tasty choices.||As a Hilton Diamond member, my "compact" single room was upgraded to a "single room with view" which did as promised provide a spectacular of the city overlooking the water. The room actually had a comfortable double bed (as opposed to a twin bed) located on the Executive Floor which is the hotel's 7th floor. The corner room was far from spacious, but had an efficient layout which included a large working desk with an ergonomic, albeit worn, work chair. A separate small table with a chair was adequate for solo in-room dining. The mini-bar fridge had room for approximately 2-4 personal items, depending of their size. Coffee and tea service included instant coffee, a selection of tea and a hot water kettle. Neither noise nor exterior light was an issue and the air-conditioning worked well. ||The bathroom was also not spacious, but it was well designed with plenty of very soft large bath towels. The full bathtub had the dreaded fixed half-door which predictably left lots of water on floor during my showers. The heated bathroom floor was a pleasant surprise. Maid service was certainly not early, as my room was often not cleaned until 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., although this should not present an issue if you are out in the city all day. ||The Executive Lounge for qualifying guests was very small and filled up quickly during Happy Hour 6pm - 8pm. The alcohol selection was as expected, which included beer, wine and a standard (but not premium) mix of liquor and cocktail mixers. The buffet food was marginal to the extent it fell below the quality and variety offered at other Western Europe Hilton hotels, so keep your expectations somewhat low. Nonetheless, Happy Hour filled up nightly with those looking for free food and alcohol. The views from the Executive Lounge were also very nice. ||My only real complaint with this hotel is the dismal gym which consists of previous generation fitness equipment: 2 treadmills (1 of which was taken out of service during my entire 1-week stay), 2 stationary bikes, 2 elliptical ski machines, a single weight bench, dumbbells 5kg - 40kg, a small standing cable weight machine and a seated leg press. This gym fell far below the gym typically offered a Hilton Garden Inn hotel, much less full service Hilton hotels in Western Europe. There are multiple saunas (also available for reservations) and a roof-top indoor pool. ||If you do not need a decent gym, this hotel is otherwise a very good (albeit not...

This is a Hilton and feels very Hilton like. I liked the open atrium and glass elevators, it felt old fashioned but I appreciated it. Our room was rather large and the bed was hard, but the pillows were nice. The temperature in the room was a bit on the cool side and we couldn't really warm it up - the thermostat would only allow about a 2 degree change or less but kept reverting to original temp. Nice large bathroom with tub. We were at the end of the hall with a view into an office building overlooking the room top so it was very quiet. The curtains overlapped so there was no extra light (necessary in northern countries). We did not include breakfast in our stay, but the coffee station in the room (just instant coffee and espresso and tea) was sufficient. Standard equipment, hotpot, TV, safe, mini-fridge, hairdryer, iron, etc. The spa is on the top floor and includes a small gym with great views and saunas and a small pool. The saunas are single sex (in the bath/changing rooms) and were extremely hot, about 105 degrees celsius. I like hot saunas but this was a lot of hot. I could have reheated my leftovers in there and was really missing my sourdough starter. [Note though that one day the men's sauna was only at 85 C] The free saunas are quite small - max four people, but two is really what is comfortable and even then you get to know each other. They also have much larger saunas that you can reserve for a fee. The shower room is open - no shower stalls but its fully tiled so you can have water spray fights. I liked the pool - it was a bit on the chilly side but a nice size for splashing about and casual swimming (not for lap swimming) and there is a fish tank built into the front wall. There is an outdoor terrace but it was closed when we were there. The staff were nice and helpful. Location wise, it is very convenient. There is a metro station in the plaza behind the hotel and buses go by the front at least once a minute. We sat outside one day and counted how many buses we could see at one time on the roads around the inlet. I think we got up to six buses at once. [there is zero annoying noise from the buses] On the other side of the metro station there is an indoor market with a lot of fresh foodstuffs and provisions (sandwiches, noodles, soups, pastries, coffee, fresh meat and fish, fruits/veggies, nuts, etc.) as well as a 24-hour supermarket. This is a nice decent hotel, but I think that if I were to go back to Helsinki again, I'd stay somewhere a bit more central, closer to the train station or...

Hilton Diamond member here - I had a great stay here during my trip to Helsinki! ||This was my 3rd hotel I was trying out during my visit in Helsinki, each located different areas of the city as I am considering doing business in the country which consists of bringing in staff. ||The check in was great and wonderful. But my reservation specially was for a King Size bed as I’m traveling solo, I ultimately got put in a two twin bed room - not sure why. But I really just wanted to go out and explore and the Room # I was given is my lucky number and the odds to get that # are rare - so I stayed in the room. ||The room was an okay size but not large - probably would have been more spacious had I gotten the King room bc I didn’t need a 2nd bed. The feel reminded me more of a Double Tree branded room than a Hilton proper room. That’s not bad… but it is more basic - including the bathroom. But it’s very clean. ||The dining area is huge and the breakfast buffet is really good - the reindeer meatballs are delicious.||The executive room is a great place to do work. The whole set up really helped me focus on some work I needed to do on my computer and it’s pretty empty outside happy hour. Personally, happy hour wasn’t my cup of tea bc I’m A. gluten free & B. The choices are simple. All alcoholic drinks are self serve. During the day you will only find a coffee machine & nuts. That is fine… I wasn’t expecting a lot - but I think there could be more creative ways to utilize this space. ||The executive room’s outside balcony is nice but during chill and wind, the door doesn’t close properly so it kept swinging open so I didn’t feel comfortable staying out there too long - it also a bit annoying when people go out there to smoke (but they should fix it bc it’s a nice little balcony)||The dining area is really chic and they should really make the restaurant a trendy place - they sure have the ambiance for it. ||Outside the hotel to get to the M1/M2 station, there is a square market of food and fruit/vegetable vendors. Sometimes some good ol’ Finnish singers singing what I imagine some folk or...