Hotel Indigo Krakow Old Town, along with Holiday Inn Krakow, are both great locations for a tourist visiting the city. Hotel Indigo is in the historic Kleparz district located on the north end of Krakow’s Old Town. The hotel is about five minutes walk to Old Town past the Barbican and through medieval St. Florian’s Gate.
Holiday Inn Krakow is even closer to Rynek Glowny, Krakow’s main market square in Stare Miasto – Old Town and closer to Kazimierz, the historic Jewish district, known today for its bars, restaurants and nightlife. The two hotels are about 20 minutes walk from each other. I will post a review of Holiday Inn Krakow too from our trip.
The Hotel Indigo property is less than two years old and houses 56 guest rooms. There are five floors within the renovated 19th century building.
The decor features tiles, brick and a small glass elevator. There are different styles of rooms with unique character.
Getting to the hotel
Hotel Indigo is only 400 meters from the Krakow Glowny train station. A one way train ticket from Krakow Airport to Krakow Glowny is 9pln/$2.44usd. Train departs from tracks within the airport building.
Arrive at the station and walk through Galeria Krakowska shopping mall following signs for Stare Miasto-Old Town. Take escalator one level up to street level. From the doors of the mall to Hotel Indigo is about a 4 minute walk.
If you think it is weird to walk through the shopping mall with your luggage, don’t worry. Loads of people are doing it. The shopping mall is the direct access to the train and bus station, unless you know how to walk around the mall to these places. Walking through the mall is the most convenient and direct access.
If arriving from somewhere else in the city, you can catch a tram or bus to Dworzec Glowny Zachod stop in front of Galeria Krakowska. The photo above of the mall was taken from that tram stop.
Hotel Indigo has an upscale urban neighborhood vibe with old residential buildings, restaurants and cafes.
Before showing a bunch of photos of my hotel room, there are attractions immediately around Hotel Indigo you will notice. After staying a couple of times at Hotel Indigo, I have learned some of the history about these places and an awareness of this significant history helps to appreciate the Kelparz neighborhood.
A church, a big statue and a street market will catch your eye as you walk to Old Town from Hotel Indigo Krakow, but there is a deeper story to each of these historic sites.
One interesting landmark to note is St. Florian’s Church, seen from the street when standing at the front entrance of Hotel Indigo. This was the Krakow parish church where Pope John Paul II served as a curate from 1949-1951 on his rise to become Pope in 1978. The church was originally constructed in 1216, but burned down many times over the centuries. St. Florian is one of the patron saints of Poland and also the saint for firefighters and chimney sweeps.
There is an interesting story about why the church was built in this spot in Kleparz, a separate medieval town prior to becoming part of Krakow.
Another monument you will pass as you walk along Plac Matejki, a narrow strip of a square, on the route from Hotel Indigo to Stare Miasto-Old Town Krakow is the statue commemorating the 500 year anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald.
For those readers not too informed about Polish history, one of the things I learned over the past two years of travel in Poland and Lithuania is the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 was a major turning point in medieval European history when the Polish and Lithuanian armies defeated the Teutonic Knights (German-Prussian forces) to become one of the dominant political powers in central Europe.
The Kingdom of Poland with its royal court centered in Krakow ruled a large territory including much of modern day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic region. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth exerted great influence over central Europe for 250 years, until wars with Sweden and its protestant allies weakened the empire in the mid-1600s in a series of wars.
Another one of the unique aspects of the historic Kleparz hotel location is the Stary Kleparz street market next to Hotel Indigo. This is a place where you can buy fresh produce, fruits, meats, cheeses, clothing, textiles and lace at true bargain prices compared to the shopping mall.
Hotel Indigo Check-In
At check-in I was offered my choice of two different rooms. The first room on the 4th floor was the same room type and decor as I stayed in on my last trip to the hotel in the same location one floor above our previous stay in the 3rd floor room. The staff member accompanying me expected me to take that room right away, but I asked to see the second room on the second floor.
Despite the second room being smaller, I asked for that room due to it being in a different location with a different layout than the hotel room I had stayed in before. I don’t always need an upgrade. Besides, I already photographed the other room style on my previous stay. Plus, walking two flights of stairs is preferable to four flights when the single small hotel elevator is in use.
Hotel Indigo Krakow Room 203
Wonderfully high ceiling gave the room a spacious feel, despite the actual floor space being significantly smaller than the other room I could have stayed in. We basically only used the room for a bed and shower on a one night stay, so I was not concerned about the smaller space.
Colored tiles are a hotel feature found in guest bathrooms and guest floors near the elevator. My previous stay in late December revealed the feature of heated bathroom floor tiles. We did our laundry by hand and laid out clothing on the floor to dry overnight during our winter stay. No heated tiles this hot July stay. Air conditioner worked well for a good night’s sleep.
 
Hotel Indigo Krakow Lobby
Hotel Indigo Krakow Restaurant Filipa 18
Last time we stayed at Hotel Indigo during Christmas holidays we were provided complimentary breakfast. That was a great value since we paid 120pln/$32.57usd this time. There were no prices listed on the menu for the buffet.
Restaurant Filipa 18 makes cook to order omelets and other egg dishes and pancakes. The usual fare of meats, cheese, fruits, and breads are included in the buffet along with juices, coffee and tea.
Kelley only ate only a little bit of fruit, meat, cheese and a roll we could have paid $2 for at Stary Kleparz market next door. I ordered a meal of eggs benedict for at least an $8 breakfast value. Kelley said she did not want to eat eggs. I was a little annoyed that this was only the third time in a week she had made it to a hotel breakfast after staying the previous 6 nights at hotels with complimentary breakfast in Czech Republic. She ate eggs at those hotels. There are many restaurants around Old Town for breakfast for under 25pln per person. But I let it go without saying anything to her… until about 12 hours later while sitting in an Old Town bar.
Travel can be hard on relationships, especially after weeks on the road. Get pissed off, talk it out, let it go. We have been doing this stuff and holding it together for 35 years now.
Hotel Indigo Krakow Bar
Hotel Indigo Krakow and IHG Rewards Club Accelerate promotion
Our one night stay at Hotel Indigo Krakow was a $95usd advance purchase rate. Hotel Indigo Krakow is a 30,000 points reward night. Summer rates are generally higher than what I paid.
This was the first of two IHG stays I needed to fulfill my IHG Accelerate promotion offer for May 1-July 31, 2018.
I needed to complete three tasks with one stay (2,000 points), book two stays through IHG app (9,600 points) and pay for one stay with my IHG Rewards Club Mastercard (1,500 points) with a bonus task of 1,500 points for a stay at a Hotel Indigo. Completing three tasks earns 16,900 bonus points for a total 31,500 bonus points.
We checked out of Hotel Indigo Krakow and walked over to Holiday Inn Krakow to check-in for our second stay.
Holiday Inn Krakow turned out to be an exceptional experience that topped all our previous stays at the property.
Hotel review to come.
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