Weekly hotels top five of five - Finland

(Attila JÁNDI)

This week, 26 national air guitar champions will converge on the Finnish city of Oulu for the 15th Air Guitar World Championships.

It's perhaps testament to the kookiness of Finland that it hosts this competition - as a tourist destination, authorities have tried hard to position it as a forward-thinking, creative and "cool" place which retains some of its East-meets-West mysticism.

Although tourism dropped six percent in 2009, the country still received 5.7 million foreign visitors, predominantly from neighboring Russia and Sweden.

Until last year, inbound numbers had been growing steadily, passing 6 million, and Finnish authorities have good reason to be optimistic for the future - next year, Helsinki will be the World Design Capital, something tourism officials believe will boost their country's "cool" image even further.

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and by far the largest area in Finland, somewhat absorbing both the neighboring cities of Espoo and Vantaa. Unsurprisingly, it also offers some of the priciest accommodation in the country, although the highest-rated Hotel Glo offers a lower average price than many of the top five.

1 Hotel Glo 
2 Hotel Haven
3 Hotel Kamp 
4 Hilton Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
5 Best Western Premier Hotel Katajanokka

Average price of top five $150 - $312 / €118 - €246

Tampere

Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic region and boasts an excellent hotel selection, topped by the Sokos Hotel Ilves, which was praised by travelers for its location and its views.

1 Sokos Hotel Ilves
2 Holiday Inn Tampere
3 Hotelli Cumulus Koskikatu
4 Scandic Tampere City
5 Hotelli Victoria

Average price of top five $114 - $186 / €90 - €147

Turku

Turku attracts millions of visitors every year thanks to its busy seaport, one of the most important in Finland and a key link to other Nordic countries. The riverside Marina Palace Hotel from Radisson Blu took top place with TripAdvisor users.

1 Radisson Blu Marina Palace Hotel
2 Centro Hotel Turku
3 Sokos City Bors
4 Hotel Artukaisten Paviljonki
5 Scandic Hotel Plaza Turku

Average price of top five $110 - $150 / €87 - €118

Oulu

The Radisson Blu also came top among Oulu's hotels, which were dominated by chains. The Scandic, which came in second place, was ranked top for business travel.

1 Radisson Blu Hotel, Oulu
2 Scandic Oulu 
3 Lasaretti Hotel
4 Holiday Inn Oulu
5 Cumulus Oulu Hotel

Average price of top five $99 - $157 / €78 - €124

Jyvaskyla

Guests said that Cumulus in Jyvaskyla was "warm and welcoming," rating it above the Scandic Jyvaskyla to take top position amongst the city's hotels.

1 Cumulus Jyvaskyla Hotel
2 Scandic Jyvaskyla 
3 Sokos Hotel Jyvashovi
4 Omena Hotel Jyvaskyla
5 Rantasipi Laajavuori

Average price of top five $155 / €122

Data is taken from millions of independent reviews and rankings surveyed at TripAdvisor taken on August 25, 2010.

Website: http://www.tripadvisor.com