Seaside Glass Villas — Hotel in Kemi-Tornio sub-region

Stayed three nights at the Seaside Glass Villa in Kemi. We arrived around 8:50 pm after a flight from Helsinki. The property is not very far from the airport and is part of/near to the Snow Castle. Though the actual Snow Castle is only slated to be ready in mid-January. There is an in-door “snow castle” area that is reportedly opened all year. Breakfast was served from 6:30-9:00 when we were there. ||With the kitchen closing at 9 pm and reception at 10 pm. We ended up getting cup noodles at reception for a late dinner in the villa. We had one of the larger units that has a “living area” and a kitchenette with induction stove top, microwave, electric kettle and coffee maker. And no television set.||The beds are in a loft above with a glass, albeit very low, ceiling. Note the stairs going up are rather narrow. Took a little getting used to but once you do, it’s ok. At least for us. The down side of the larger units it’s that it is further away from the sea but much closer to the centre. ||Temperatures plunged to -12C when we were around. So being nearer is good as one has to walk to the restaurant for meals including breakfast. ||No in-room safe and please remember to bring adapters for your devices if not from Europe. The “downstairs” is the coolest part of the structure but the sleeping area is fine. The instructions was not to change the setting for the air conditioner. The bathroom has heated floors and is cosy. There’s also a sauna. But needs time to heat. So plan ahead. ||There are a variety of activities that can be arranged. From husky rides to reindeer etc. Aurora hunt though that might be even more suitable a little further north. All sorts of walks etc. Contact Marko Varpo if you fancy any one of these activities. ||You can even walk into town. It’s not actually that far away. Other than shopping or eating, there’s also a cafe that you can visit on top of the City Hall building, the tallest in Kemi. Gives a bird’s eye view of the area. Taxis are available but do note it is not exactly cheap. ||The thing to do here is to get on a real icebreaking ship to go out on the frozen sea. The historic Sampo icebreaker was really something different to do as a half-day tour. A very different type of moving museum. On top of being allowed to walk on frozen sea in the Bay of Bothnia (ie the northern part of the Baltic Sea), one can even float in it. And as guest of the Glass Villa, there’s even a special discount. ||For us, this is a once in a lifetime trip especially going out on the Sampo. But we do highly...

We stayed 3 days in this hotel, the small terraced houses with full windows on two sides and the roof to observe the northern lights are very particular.|But these Finns are really strange, the shower is raised from the ground by an inch and therefore the water floods the bathroom .... however they provide the tool to push it back from the edge of the shower box in the drain., but be careful not to exceed 13 minutes otherwise the water becomes frozen and for any rinsing you have to wait exactly 1 hour.|A non-existent reception, a dinner repeated all three nights (over 50 euros each for 3 courses) as the menu had no variations and evidently from the speed of the service it was already ready, just to be heated in the microwave oven.|Then for breakfast in the dodestissimo buffet there was no hot milk, so you had to ask for it please extra. Moreover, poor quality food, we even asked for a variant as we both wanted to eat fish and we had half a portion, all pre-cooked and of poor quality.|In summary recommended for the bad location the rest.|By the way, the company that owns the hotel is also the owner of the Sampo icebreaker, at the reception they sell you the excursion for over 400 euros per person for 3 hours but the icebreaker has been stopped due to a fault since December 26th and therefore replacement with a small boat but no refund not even the lunch provided in the voucher ..... a real...

The staff leaves premises after 8pm. Nobody is onsite...they give Security Number...when called nobody answered. So guests cannot get any kind of help in night if needed. We stayed in Luxury Sea Side villa No 25. In non-occupied villa No 24 lights were ON the whole night...so when Northern lights appeared in sky we could not see them properly due to light being reflected back from the snow(see attached photos). It was very annoying that the whole purpose to see Northern Lights was defeated by staff keeping lights ON in a vacant villa. When we called Security at the number given there was no response. It was very frustrating, disappointing experience even after paying more than $600/night. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY IN THIS PROPERTY. Next day morning when we complained at reception, all they had to say was "Sorry". Visitors from other countries don't visit Finland quite often and after so much research and planning when they finally plan a vacation Sea Side Glass Villas staff knows exactly how it can be ruined. Before leaving the premises at 8pm why can't they walk the property to make sure...