Porvoo in Parisian style

Jokikatu, located in Porvoo's Old Town, provides our hotel with a unique setting. The street’s atmosphere resembles that of an 18th-century Swedish trading town, with its colorful wooden houses and narrow side streets. Our small hotel occupies the newer wooden house in a courtyard built in 1793. Each of our rooms is individually decorated, respecting the history of the building and its surroundings.

Our hotel is named after the sculptor Ville Vallgren (1855-1949), originally from Porvoo. In addition to his artistic work, Vallgren was known as a sociable man and a gourmet, a true bon vivant. Art took Ville to Paris for decades, where his home became a gathering place for Nordic artists and art influencers, filled with lively evenings of celebration.

Ville Vallgren lived a long and eventful life. After his years in Paris, he returned to Finland and continued working until his final years. The French lifestyle left a lasting impression on the artist, and perhaps the secrets to his long life were precisely the French vivacity, light-hearted creativity, and, of course, the culinary skills he learned abroad. Hotel Pariisin Ville is our tribute to the artist’s infectious outlook on life.

”And food and drink – who would know them better than this round-bellied, eternal bohemian, through whose mouth many wines and chops have passed on their proper journey. Add to that his fiery temperament and warm, kind heart, and surely something more than pleasant arises from it.”

Said about Ville Vallgren