Wanha Koulu is the former Reittiö village school, standing among the ice-age ridges on the quiet western side of Tahkovuori. For decades, children from the surrounding villages learned to read, count and ski here. When the school bell finally fell silent, the building could have gone the way of so many rural schools in Finland — emptied, boarded up, forgotten.

We chose the other path.

A family project, not a hotel chain

We're a Finnish family, and Wanha Koulu is our project in the most literal sense. We renovated the building in 2020 and again in 2022 — new bathrooms, kitchens and shower rooms — always with the same rule: respect the original spirit of the school. The high ceilings, the wide corridors, the gym hall where generations of kids ran their laps — they're all still here. The gym now has a tatami floor and the old classrooms sleep families and groups of up to 29, but the building still feels like what it is: a village school with a century of life in its walls.

Why guests come back

When you stay here, you're not booking a unit from a property portfolio — you're staying in a place we maintain ourselves and keep improving every year. You'll get honest local advice on which slopes to hit, where the fish bite and which hiking trail suits your kids, because we actually live this area. And your booking supports a family keeping a piece of Finnish village history alive and working.

More than accommodation

The school's size makes it more than a place to sleep. Groups rent the whole building for family reunions, weddings, training camps and company retreats. Caravanners stop over at Tahko's only caravan park in the yard. And year by year, the old school keeps finding new purposes — which is exactly how a building like this survives.

The ridges, the lake, the silence — they're all still here, just as they were in the school's first winter.

Experience it yourself →

The Old School, Given a New Life