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Oct 28, 2026

Rovaniemi old post office: the building behind Postmaster Hotel

Guests who walk into our Postmaster Hotel for the first time often ask the same thing at reception: was this really the post office? It was. The hotel sits at Postikatu 1 – literally “Post Street 1” – in a restored 1950s building that was once the heart of Rovaniemi’s post office.

We are a family business, not historians, so in this article we stick to what we can stand behind: what we know about the building ourselves, and what trusted sources such as Visit Rovaniemi, the Finnish Postal Museum and Docomomo Finland say about the post, the railway and the rebuilt town around it. The sources are listed at the end.

In short: the old post office of Rovaniemi is the building at Postikatu 1 in the city centre, next to the railway and bus station. Visit Rovaniemi describes it as a beautifully restored 1950s building that was once the heart of Rovaniemi’s post office. Today it is our Postmaster Hotel, with Leima Kitchen & Bar on the same premises, and it is also the meeting point for many of our tours.

A post office built in a town that had to start again

The building belongs to a very particular moment in Rovaniemi’s history. According to Visit Rovaniemi, ninety percent of the town was destroyed during the Second World War. After the war, the architect Alvar Aalto designed a new town plan for Rovaniemi – the famous reindeer antler plan – and the centre was rebuilt over the following years.

That is why so much of central Rovaniemi, the post office included, dates from the 1950s and 1960s rather than earlier. The town grew quickly into its new role: Rovaniemi became a city on 1 January 1960, and in 2006 the city and the surrounding rural municipality were joined to form today’s City of Rovaniemi. We tell the story of the reconstruction in more detail in our article on Alvar Aalto’s reindeer antler plan.

Why the post office sits next to the railway and the bus station

Look at a map of the city centre and the logic is clear: the old post office, the railway station and the bus station stand close together. Rovaniemi has always been a place where routes meet. Visit Rovaniemi notes that the town lies where two rivers meet, which made it an important centre of traffic and trade, and that from the end of the 19th century it was an important hub for log floating. The railway connection to Rovaniemi opened in 1909, and the first runways of Rovaniemi Airport were completed in 1940.

The post-war plan kept transport together. Docomomo Finland, which documents modern architecture, describes how the Rovaniemi bus station – completed in 1959 and designed by Niilo Pulkka, Kaarlo Leppänen and Pekka Rajala – was sensibly placed close to the railway station as part of the reconstruction town plan drawn under Alvar Aalto’s direction. For a post office that moved letters and parcels by train and bus, that was exactly the right neighbourhood.

What the post meant in Lapland

For a long time the post was one of the services that kept Lapland connected. Without the steady transport of messages, goods and people, much of the region would have been cut off from the rest of the world. Rovaniemi was – and still is – the gateway to Lapland, served by air, rail and road, and a central hub that connects the Arctic to the world beyond.

The Finnish postal service itself is old. The Finnish Postal Museum records that the first ordinance on mail delivery in Sweden and Finland was issued on 20 February 1636, and that the postal service began in 1638, with the first route running from Stockholm across the Sea of Åland to Turku and along the south coast. From those southern beginnings the network eventually reached the north, and the post office in Rovaniemi became one of its important links.

From post office to Postmaster Hotel

We wanted the hotel to keep the building’s story rather than hide it. The name Postmaster Hotel is a promise as much as a reference: we think of the hotel as carrying on the post’s tradition of delivering on promises in the North. Travellers often arrive tired after a long journey but eager to make the most of their stay, and our job is to take care of the practical side – a good bed, a proper breakfast and activities that start at the front door.

Visit Rovaniemi describes the building as beautifully restored. Inside you will find four suite types – Superior Twin Suite, Deluxe Suite, Deluxe Sauna Suite and Family Suite – each with a private bathroom and a kitchenette, and pets are allowed for a fee of 30 € per stay. Our full guide to the rooms, breakfast and arrival is in Postmaster Hotel Rovaniemi: our family hotel in the old post office.

Leima: a name taken from the post

The restaurant on the first-floor restaurant area of the old post office building is called Leima Kitchen & Bar. Leima is the Finnish word for a stamp – the kind a post office puts on a letter – so the name keeps the building’s past in everyday use. Leima serves breakfast for our hotel guests, lunch and a bistro menu of Lappish–Finnish flavours, and runs a lounge bar. Opening hours vary through the year, so please check the Leima page before you go.

How this shows up on our tours

The old post office is not only where our hotel guests sleep; it is also the centre of our activity operation. Postikatu 1 is the listed meeting point for many of our tours, and the Postmaster Hotel is on the pick-up list for our activities. Pick-ups and drop-offs within a 10 km radius of Rovaniemi city centre are included on most of our tours – you simply wait in the lobby about 10 minutes before your pick-up time.

In the evenings, for example, the Northern Lights Tour At The Campfire (from 99 €, 3 hours) picks guests up straight from their accommodation, provides winter gear and takes them to our Northern Lights viewing spot, where you wait by a campfire in a teepee with a snack and a hot drink. Just as the post office once did, the building still sends people out into Lapland every day.

Visiting the building

You do not have to stay the night to see the old post office. Leima Kitchen & Bar welcomes non-residents – the breakfast buffet is available to them for a fee, and tables for lunch and the bistro can be reserved online, at reception or by email at hotel@staylapland.com – and the address is easy to find: Postikatu 1, Rovaniemi, right next to the railway and bus station. If you are arriving by train or coach, it is a short walk with your luggage. For other early chapters of the town’s story, read our article on the Eleanor Roosevelt cabin and the beginnings of Arctic Circle tourism.

If you have questions about the hotel, call the reception on +358 40 501 0660 or write to us through our contact page.

Frequently asked questions

Where was the old post office in Rovaniemi?

It is the building at Postikatu 1 in the city centre, next to the railway and bus station. Today it houses our Postmaster Hotel and Leima Kitchen & Bar.

How old is the building?

Visit Rovaniemi describes it as a restored 1950s building that was once the heart of Rovaniemi’s post office. It belongs to the period when the town was rebuilt after the Second World War.

Why is so much of Rovaniemi from the 1950s?

According to Visit Rovaniemi, ninety percent of the town was destroyed during the Second World War. The centre was rebuilt afterwards following Alvar Aalto’s reindeer antler town plan.

What does Leima mean?

Leima is the Finnish word for a stamp, like the one a post office puts on a letter. Our restaurant in the building is named Leima Kitchen & Bar.

Can I visit without staying at the hotel?

Yes. Leima Kitchen & Bar on the first floor of the building serves non-residents too, including breakfast for a fee. Opening hours vary through the year, so check the Leima page before you go.

Do StayLapland tours pick up from the old post office?

Yes. Postikatu 1 is the meeting point for many of our tours and the Postmaster Hotel is on our pick-up list. Pick-ups within 10 km of the city centre are included on most tours.

You may also like

• Northern Lights Tour At The Campfire — from 99 €, 3 hours

Sources

• Visit Rovaniemi – Postmaster Hotel
• Visit Rovaniemi – Facts & Figures
• Docomomo Finland – Rovaniemi Bus Station
• Finnish Postal Museum – Postal Roads: King’s Road