Helsinki�s historic Katajanokka prison will open its doors to paying guests on 1 June when it commences its new life as a luxury hotel for business and leisure travellers. Hotel Katajanokka is architecturally unique and surrounded by a beautiful park, with 106 rooms as well as restaurant services, conference facilities, and an idyllic summer terrace. The Hotel will also be the venue for all sorts of events from seminars to concerts and summer festivals.

Comments Finnish Tourist Board director Anne Lind: �In a city where seldom a week goes by without the launch of a new restaurant, bar hotel or other hospitality venue, this is a truly unique event. The hotel is a prominent historical building in Finland, parts of which date back to the 1830s. The Hotel is sure to appeal to anyone with a sense of the unusual, as well to those who appreciate the high standards associated with Best Western�s Premier brand.�

There are 106 ultramodern rooms (including three junior suites), a prison-themed restaurant seating 200, terrace eatery and lobby bar, as well as sauna, gym and a �Festival Hall� conference room, formerly the prison chapel, seating up to 130 people.

The hotel is located in the historic Katajanokka district of Helsinki, close to the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral (built 1868), the Alvar Aalto-designed headquarters of the Finnish paper giant Stora Enso (built 1962) and the cruise ferry terminal. To find out more about the Hotel, visit www.bwkatajanokka.fi. For more details of winter holidays to Finland please visit www.visitfinland.com/uk

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Notes for editors Press information issued by the Finnish Tourist Board (www.visitfinland.com/uk, 020 7365 2512 (consumer information line). For more information (press and trade only), please contact product manager Riitta Balza (0208 600 5680, riitta.balza@mek.fi). For pictures please register at http://imagebank.visitfinland.com