I have never been brave enough to stay in a hostel with the kids before but we were faced with an eight hour layover in Helsinki last night. The prospect of missing an entire nights sleep and spending the night in an airport with tired, overstimulated children wasn’t very appealing so I looked into other options.
Unfortunately, although there are two hotels attached to the airport, they were both looking to set me back €300 and that was out of budget.
That’s when I came across the Forenom Hostel Vantaa Aviapolis. At less than a third of the price I thought now might be the time to give hostelling a go!
I was a little worried about getting there as there wasn’t much information online but when we got off the plane, the man providing us with assistance told us there was a free bus which stopped outside our hostel! The bus took five minutes and after a short walk up a snowy path we were there.
We entered easily using the key code sent to us earlier that day and found the room. The building is not staffed so you check yourself in. The same key code opened the bedroom door.
Whilst there are traditional dormitory rooms at the hostel, it also houses single, twin, triple and four person rooms. Ours was a four person room with two bunk beds. The room was large and clean and apart from the beds it contained a fridge, microwave, kettle and coffee machine. There was no sink in the room and communal toilets down the corridor.
The toilets were unisex but clean and soap was provided for washing. There were also washing machines incase you needed them.
Also off the corridor was a kitchen with oven, and everything you would need to make a meal if you so wished. In the kitchen were tables and chairs for eating.
Being a hostel there was a little extra work to do, including making all the beds (and stripping them when we left) but for the money it saved to stay there, it was worth it. The room was warm despite it being -18 outside. There was some noise of people walking down the corridor at all hours but that is to be expected of a hostel located so conveniently near to an airport. The bedding was clean and the beds comfy. It certainly beat trying to get kids to sleep on a busy airport floor!
Taking a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder to Forenom Hostel Vantaa Aviapolis?
The toilets are not in the room.
The top bunk beds in the four person rooms are very high with no safety bars. The triple and twin rooms don’t have bunks.
Entry to the room is by key code. Exit is by reachable handle.
The kettle and coffee machine are out of reach.
The bus journey and walk to the hostel are easy and the busses run all night.
There is a “silence” rule after 10pm.
There are TV’s in the rooms and English speaking channels.
The hostel is split into corridors with toilets and kitchens for each corridor so you share with around eight other rooms.
Forenom Hostel Vantaa Aviapolis is conveniently located close to Helsinki Vantaa airport and is on the airport hotel shuttle bus route.
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