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Hotel breakfast in Finland

Published

Tommi

on April 7, 2010

in Hotels

. 0 Comments

Hotels serve breakfast for all customers. There might be some rare exceptions, but usually they do. So no matter if you have stayed a night in a caravan or motorhome instead of a hotel you can enjoy a luxurious buffet breakfast. Hotel breakfast is usually very versatile. There are more than hundred items to choose from. The offering is highlighted with seasonal and local delicacies. A good breakfast gives an energy boost that keeps you going before the lunch time steps in.

I found out breakfast offering in Tampere region in Finland. I selected Tampere as an example, since it represents an average large town very well. The prices are bit higher in the Helsinki capital region, but otherwise Tampere is a good match for the whole Finland.

The basic offering is pretty much the same throughout the hotels. The difference is in the details and how they use local and seasonal delicacies. Price range is from 10 to 15 Euros. Hotels decide when they serve the breakfast, so there are some variation in time also between hotels under the same brand.

Rantasipi Eden, Nokia
Buffet breakfast with cold and warm products. Local specialty black sausage (mustamakkara in Finnish)
Price 12 EUR
Mon - Sat 7 - 10
Sun 8 - 11
www.rantasipi.fi

Scandic Rosendahl, Tampere
Buffet breakfast
Price 15 EUR, half price for children under 13 years
Mon - Fri 6.30 - 10.00
Sat 7 - 10
Sun 7.30 - 10.30
www.scandichotels.fi

Scandic Tampere City
Buffet breakfast with 101 different products. Local specialty black sausage. Attention paid to food allergies.
Price 15 EUR, half price for children under 13 years
Mon - Fri 6.30 - 10.00
Sat - Sun 7.30 - 10.30
www.scandichotels.fi

Victoria, Tampere
Buffet breakfast with cold and warm products. Customers can make waffles during weekends in winter and every day in summer.
Price 13 EUR
Mon 7 - 10
Tue - Fri 6:30 - 10:00
Sat 7:30 - 10:30
Sun 8:00 - 10:30

www.hotellivictoria.fi

Cumulus Pinja, Tampere
Skandinavian buffet breakfast with local specialty black sausage.
Price 12 EUR
Mon - Sat 6.30 - 10.00
Sun 7 - 11
www.cumulus.fi

Holiday Inn, Tampere
Buffet breakfast with cold and warm products.
Price 15 EUR
Mon - Sat 6.30 - 10.00
Sun 7.30 - 11.00
www.finland.holidayinn.com

Cumulus Hämeenpuisto, Tampere
Buffet breakfast with cold and warm products.
Price 10 EUR
Mon - Sat 6.30 - 10.00
Sun 7.30 - 11
www.cumulus.fi

Cumulus Koskikatu, Tampere
Buffet breakfast with cold and warm products.
Price 10 EUR
Mon - Sat 6.30 - 10.00
Sun 7.30 - 11.00
www.cumulus.fi

Sokos Hotel Ilves, Tampere
Buffet breakfast with local specialties like black sausage and Aho’s yoghurt. The hotel runs campaigns time to time when the price is lower.
Price 14EUR
Mon - Sun 7 - 10.30/11.00
www.sokoshotels.fi

Hotel Cumulus, Tampere Finland

Published

Tommi

on March 29, 2010

in Hotels

. 0 Comments

Cumulus Hotel

Cumulus hotel in Koskikatu has an ideal location if arrive by a car or motorhome and choose to stay in centre of a town. There are wide variety of restaurants, coffee houses, and bars within short walking distance. If you feel like shopping there are large malls and small boutiques nearby. There’s a famous playground right next to the hotel called Pikku Kakkosen leikkipuisto, which is named after a traditional children’s TV program.

Koskipuisto park is on the other side of the road and it is very popular picnic place during summer time. Tammerkoski is a channel of rapids with three dams and it flows through the Koskipuisto park. The best place to experience the rapids is the walking bridge over the middle dam, which is only barely above the water surface.

The hotel has a small underground garage. There’s plenty of additional parking lots in Rongankatu, which is 100 meters from the hotel. The area is quite busy in afternoon, but usually there’s always some free slots. I was able to park my motorhome there on Friday evening around 6 pm. There would have been room even for a caravan and a tow car .

Tammerkoski rapids

Cumulus is good standard level hotel. Breakfast was served in restaurant Huviretki on the ground floor. Pool and sauna was free for all customers. If you travel with a pet, e.g. dog or car you might get a non-smoking room. However the hotel cannot guarantee this when making a reservation. I had two small dogs with me and they charged 10 euros for that. I was lucky and got a non-smoking room. Unfortunately I got also a loudly fighting couple as my neighbours.

Pikku Kakkonen playground

I tested out my photo and phone gear and shot the following video. It shows the surroundings of the hotel. There’s a construction of under ground parking facilities going on and it has changed the traffic arrangements. Thus the road next to the hotel is quiet.

Review ratings

Published

Tommi

on March 24, 2010

in News

. 0 Comments

We use five level rating in our product reviews. The rating is provided to give a quick look to the overall summary how we liked the product. Here are the five levels:

Highly recommended!

Recommended

Average

Below average

Not recommended

A product may have excellent characteristics for some use and then it may not be so good for some other purpose. Thus the rating may not always indicate how well a product would serve your needs. Review itself gives an in-depth information about product qualities to help you decide how you would like it.

From Morocco to Tunisia anyone?

Published

Tommi

on March 18, 2010

in News

. 0 Comments

Our reader is planning a journey from Morocco to Tunisia and he’s asking recommendations how to prepare for this adventure. The route would go through the Algeria’s coastline giving roughly 1300 km driving distance from start to finish. The last leg would be a ferry from Tunis to Italy. Have you traveled in any of these countries? Please share your tips in comments if you have any insight how to prepare for this trip.

Winter camping challenges - water

Published

Tommi

on March 1, 2010

in Carado T 135 diary, Caravans, Motorhomes and Technology

. 0 Comments

Winter camping

Freezing water is a common problem in winter camping. Fresh water tanks are usually located under the seats in motorhomes, so they stay warm when the heating is on. Some caravans may have the fresh water tank inside the gas bottle locker, which is not heated. These caravans are not suitable for winter camping.

Most caravans do not have a built-in waste water tank, but all motorhomes do have it. It is most often placed under the vehicles floor and near the rear axel. This is a good position considering the weight distribution, since it helps to keep the center of gravity as low as possible. However the position also means that the tank is outside and freezes up easily.

Heated water tank

Electric heating and some insulation around the tank is the most common way to prevent the waste water tank to freeze up. This is available for most motorhome models with a cost of few hundred Euros. The solution really does not make a motorhome winter proof. An outlet pipe hangs in the air under the motorhomes floor and gets covered on snow and ice. The valve mechanism gets jammed and it’s impossible to get the heated waste water out of the tank. There’s no point to pay any extra to get only the tank heated and insulated.

Frozen water outlet

Heated outlet pipe

Some motorhome brands provide insulation and heating also for the outlet pipe. The outlet pipe and valve still tend to freeze up, so this is not a completely reliable solution, but helps to some extent. Electric foils or wires are used to implement the heating, so mains supply is always needed. The system is not on while driving, so snow and ice may clog up the pipe. The heating power may not be sufficient for very cold days. This approach helps through some cold nights, but it is not enough for serious winter camping.

Winter proof solution

The most reliable way to solve the waste water tank freezing problem is to position the tank in a heated part of a motorhome. A natural position can be for example between a heated double floor area. Some motorhomes use Truma’s warm air outlet to keep the tank warm. The outlet pipe and the valve mechanism should be also placed inside a heated area. A separate hatch can be provided to enable easy access to the valve handle.

This solution does not require any additional heating for the waste water system. No extra energy gets wasted to keep the tank warm and mains electricity is not needed. The waste water system is fully functional when a motorhome heating is on - even while driving. The user experience is excellent, since there’s no need to worry about turning the system on or off. This could be also referred to as a low energy solution, which keeps the environment happy.

Winter camping challenges - cold start

Published

Tommi

on January 27, 2010

in Carado T 135 diary and Motorhomes

. 2 Comments

Winter camping has some additional challenges and cold start is one of them. The ambient temperature was -22.5 degrees Celsius (-8.5 Fahrenheit) when I tried to start up my Carado. I did not have an electric engine block heater or Webasto or Eber in use. The battery was so cold that it could barely run the start. You can hear how the engine is coughing and lights are blinking. The cold start was a success with a first try. I’m sure the battery could not have survived a second try.

Caravan & Camping Show Photos - part 3

Published

Tommi

on January 26, 2010

in Exhibitions

. 0 Comments

This third photo collection shows caravans that are specifically designed for winter camping. Kabe, Polar, and Solifer are all producing caravans that can be used even when it gets really chilly outside. They are ideal holiday homes for skiing trips. All the layouts that were on display provided plenty of space. A lot of thought was used to design the kitchens. A large cooker with a stove was found from many models. The functionality of a kitchen is an important aspects especially on long journeys.

Dethleffs Globe 4 was a new low profile motorhome model, which implemented the hot new layout - bed over the seating area. L-shaped kitchen allowed more table space for the compact motorhome.

: Kabe Royal 780

: Kabe Royal 780

: Polar S60

: Polar S60

: Solifer Finlandia 630

: Solifer Finlandia 630

: Dethleffs Globe 4

: Dethleffs Globe 4

Free navigation and maps from Nokia

Published

Tommi

on January 21, 2010

in Accessories and News

. 0 Comments

Nokia has started to provide Ovi Maps navigation and maps for free. Ovi Maps includes pedestrian and car navigation. All the maps are free, which is great news for all travellers. There’s no need to purchase maps for holiday destinations anymore to take use of the phone’s built-in GPS. Nokia smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded local map, navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides starting from March.

Currently compatible devices are Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E72, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6. The list will be expanding in the near future.

You can download a new version of Ovi Maps immediately from www.nokia.com/maps.

Caravan & Camping Show Photos - part 2

Published

Tommi

on January 17, 2010

in Exhibitions

. 0 Comments

Let’s continue with Bürstner a bit. All the integrated and low profiles were spacious and light colored upholstery emphasized the feeling even more. Double beds were placed in the middle at the back of some models. There were really large windows on both sides of the beds, which brought in a lot of natural light. (Well it was fluorescent light at the exhibition, but the large windows will be even more impressive when the RV is outside.)

Carthago had the luxury feel inside and out. Dark wood and bright white upholstery created a sharp contrast, which gave a strong definition to the interior. The back of the RV was framed with a wide plastic rise. Tail lights and rear bumber were smoothly integrated to the frame.

Laika is strongly getting back to Scandinavian market. There were Kreos 3009 and X-series 640 on display. Kreos was very stylish and all the details added to the quality feel that was present. X-series is the more affordable line-up than the Kreos. Still the same level of look and feel was present on the X-series although scaled on a different price point. The bed over the seating area was operated with electricity and there was enough free height (185 cm / 73″) to walk under the bed. The bed was well integrated to the roof and it was not easily recognizable when sitting around the table. This was the best execution of this layout on the show.

: Bürstner Viseo

: Bürstner

: Bürstner

: Carthago C-Line

: Carthago

: Carthago

: Laika Kreos 3009

: Laika Kreos 3009

: Laika Kreos 3009

: Laika X-Series 640

Caravan & Camping Show Photos - part 1
Caravan & Camping Show Photos - part 2

Caravan & Camping Show Photos - part 1

Published

Tommi

on January 14, 2010

in Exhibitions

. 0 Comments

Caravan & Camping Show is the second largest annual exhibition in Finland. It was organized in Turku during the second weekend of this year. I was really busy due to other tasks, so my visit there was quite short. I still managed to capture the most important bits into a film.

There are three brands LMC, Elnagh, and Bürstner included into this first patch of photos. Elnagh was a positive surprise when it comes to look and spacious layouts. The low profile Duke 590 SL was a 4 berth motorhome, which provided a large shower room and a separate vertical storage for example snowboards or other wet equipment. The storage floor had a drain to prevent floods. This was a very clever solution. The Duke had also a conventional storage under the double bed.

Bürstner had the largest stand of the show and the new Ixeo Plus low profile hold the central stage. Ixeo showed the hot layout where the ceiling holds an additional bed over the seats. This is something that many brands are now offering as a novel solution. The bed made the indoor height so low that I could not stand straight under it and I’m only around 182 cm (approx. 6 feet). Some brands have managed to do this better. Ixeo looked stylish with metallic gray paint job and the inside was fresh.