During a recent visit to Oulu in Finland, I was all set to stay at the hotel that I usually stay in. Unfortunately, I was traveling with a much smaller budget than I was normally accustomed to, so I really had to find a less expensive place to stay. As it turns out, my budget constraint was a mixed blessing of sorts, since I ended up discovering one of the best hotels I have ever had the pleasure of checking into in my many years of travel. It is called the Hotel Vihiluoto, and I later found out that it certainly has enough of the goods to measure up to other hotels in a much higher price range.

Checking out some reviews on the Internet, I found that the hotel was pretty well regarded by numerous travelers, and this gave me even more reasons to be interested. Sealing the deal was the fact that the hotel is located a scant 5 minutes away from the airport, which was a good thing because I didn’t want to have to rent a car just to get there. The hotel also provides a helpful taxi pick up service, which was a tremendous boon for people like me who were flying in late.

When I got to the hotel, I was pleased to see that it was situated in an area close to the sea, surrounded by lush vegetation and stunning views of picturesque Kempeleenlahti Bay. This makes the hotel ideally suited for a host of outdoor activities all year ’round. I was in town strictly for business of course, but this is something I definitely want to check out in the future when I have a bit more time to spare. Of particular interest is a visit to the rental cabin located in the scenic town of Ruka, which the hotel will gladly arrange for you.

I have to say that the price of accommodations was one of the main reasons I opted for Hotel Vihiluoto, and at only EUR 95 for a single room, I certainly felt that I got more than my money’s worth. Double rooms cost only slightly higher than that at EUR 105 and EUR 25 for an extra bed, and even with the slightly higher weekend rates, Hotel Vihiluoto was still a lot cheaper than most of the other hotels I checked out.

I actually ate most of my hotels in the city, but I did have a chance to have dinner at the hotel’s charming restaurant for a couple of nights. Along with the sumptuous breakfast that comes with the room, I am confident in saying that the food at Hotel Vihiluoto was generally pretty good. And with a respectable selection of sushi-which is a personal favorite of mine-I had to say that my food cravings were well sated.

In closing, I have to mention the warm and accommodating Lappish “kota” hut, which was a great place to spend a quiet night over drinks with the few new friends I made. With even more great food and enough room to hold a decent sized party, this was definitely the feather in the cap of a great hotel.