WHERE TO STAY
FINLAND’S CAPITAL HAS AN OFFBEAT SIDE THAT SHINES THROUGH IN ITS CREATIVE HOTEL SCENE
Hotel AX
Finland’s biggest city is also its most stylish. Once the home of influential local architect and designer Alvar Aalto, the capital’s art nouveau core is today complemented by contemporary Nordic architecture and offbeat design hits, including clothing and home furnishings company Marimekko’s flagship store and the subterranean Amos Rex Art Museum. Adding another dimension to the city is the harbour district of Jätkäsaari, a former backwater that’s reinvented itself in the past two decades with sleek apartment blocks anchored by restaurants, cafes, shops and a new public sauna. In spring 2022, this maritime hub welcomed Hotel AX, an art-focused property with an entrance marked by a fantastical metal sculpture titled Orc, setting the tone for the offbeat interiors that lie within.
The hotel is the brainchild of Finnish interiors architect, designer and sculptor Stefan Lindfors, who’s turned the guest rooms into artistic sanctuaries with muralled walls and whimsical names such as ‘Poem King’, ‘Love Letter with a View’, ‘Novel Corner’ and ‘Fairytale Corner’. Its restaurant is inspired by Jätkäsaari’s maritime history, while Hotel AX has also invested heavily in works by Finnish artists, including abstract art by acclaimed local artist Nina Roos, which are dotted around the building.
It’s a five-minute tram ride to the pastel-coloured city centre, and a two-hour ferry journey to the Estonian capital of Tallinn from Jätkäsaari’s Länsiterminaali ferry terminal. From €105 (£92), B&B. hotelax.fi
