Tampere sits on the isthmus between two lakes, Näsijärvi above and Pyhäjärvi below, with eighteen metres of drop between them. The water that falls between the two is the Tammerkoski, and it powered the city's mills for most of its history.
It is the third most populous municipality in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa, which is the practical reason these two stays are here: you can arrive by train or by plane and still be somewhere with no neighbours the same evening.
One of them is a black A frame twenty minutes out of the city on a small lake. The other is a log cabin on the shore at Lempäälä, south of Tampere, and it sleeps two.
This is the corner of the collection that works as a long weekend rather than a fortnight. That is not a lesser thing. Most of the good ones we have had were three days.
Both are booked directly with their owners.
