Hotel Indigo Krakow - Old Town by IHG — Hotel in Krakow

This 'latest addition' to the broad choice of hotels in Krakow meets the highest of standards and it deserves a detailed review...

Location: On a quiet side street.. next to Stary Kleparz market and 5 minutes walk from the crowds (and 24hour noise) of Floriańska, the Indigo Krakow is easily accessible both to and from the old town square/Wawel castle and just 5 mins walk from the Train Station and main Shopping Mall for trips to the wieliczka salt mine..

This is a recently reconstructed Boutique property with the coolest contemporary decor in the city. The exterior has been returned to its original state in 1836 and is a classic City Tenement/Palace. Many of the key features of the original building have been retained and the result is a mix of modern and historical, perfectly blended into a timeless style.

Lobby/Reception: Warm and Welcoming.. Immediately you know you are somewhere special and not in a monstrosity of a 300 room tower but in a small personal Hotel. The reception staff (Bartek/Kasia and Jakub) are young, well groomed, friendly, knowledgeable and informed and check in was brisk and seamless. Off the lobby is a small library/living room full of interesting literature, a semi-real fireplace and soft comfortable seating.. To the other side is the very cool, design orientated bar.. lots of mirror and exposed distressed red brick.. plus very friendly and professional staff (Mateaus/Monika) with a broad range of well priced premium drinks (the designer house craft beer is worth returning for alone!) and a small but tasty bar menu..

Downstairs is a conference room and a small but well equipped gym and sauna exclusively for guest use. We intended to use both but when we saw our room that was quickly forgotten about.

Rooms: BEAUTIFULLY designed (there is an art theme based on local artists Matejko/Wyspiański), fresh, bright, colourful and comfortable. Beds are big firm and warm. Bathrooms are cleverly designed and compact but not small with great powershower, toiletries and fluffy towels. Salvaged tiles from the original building add colour (and practicality). Tea/coffee station in each room has a good selection including kettle and coffee machine and there is bottle water also. Air Con was silent and efficient and the bathroom has adjustable underfloor heating. Only negative...The open plan/half glass panel showers have problems retaining the water and the TV had just one english (News) channel.. we were told these teething problems are being corrected. Wifi signal was strong.

Restaurant: Breakfast buffet was fresh, healthy and plentiful with good choice esp of fresh juices.. Staff were efficient and Hot options 'cook to order' menu had a good selection. At Night the restaurant is one of the best hotel restaurants we ever experienced. Delicious beautifully presented food. A great menu leaning heavily towards traditional polish meats and fresh seasonal veg and competitively priced with generous portions. We heard in advance that the chef was a local star but he wasn't just good.. but brilliant. Service at night was also great (Bernadette!) and as its a small 50+ room hotel, the restaurant was not overcrowded or noisy like most places downtown. Also the decor here (and throughout the hotel) has to be commended..

Overall we had a 2 night stay and moved rooms for the second night to a corner room with 4 big bright windows.. on the Wyspiański floor and honestly the room was different in style and lay out but still perfect.

Special recognition should go to the interior architects and designers. This is a very unique hotel offering a unique opportunity to experience a little comfortable luxury away...

From the moment we arrived we were welcomed by Szymon & Carolina with such respect and good humour. Being Australian, we appreciated their welcome… terrific reception!!

The next day we met Dominik (iceman) who was such a good sport when we informed him of the bed size (king) being not quite king size…He handled our enquiry so well and we had a bit of a laugh because he could do nothing about it (other than to say that we had the largest sized bed… which we were more than happy with). We got to know him very well over the time of our stay and he was a champion front line worker for Hotel Indigo where nothing was an issue… thanks for your great humour and organising our taxi shuttle mate!!

Gabriel (G-A-B-R-I-E-L … say it like the Spanish 😆😆) also helped us out with interpretation on day trips (which we didn’t take up but thanks for the effort as well mate). The polish restaurant suggestion was first rate and we also thank Aryk for following up!!

Gabriel was easily relatable…

And then we move onto Patryk or as we called him St Patryk the Patron Saint of Indigo Hotel Krakow … what an absolute legend!!! We had an issue with an unscrupulous tour operator who won’t be named as we haven’t been refunded yet… but suffice to say Patryk took it upon himself to assist our efforts when said operator advised (after we had paid for skip the line tickets and hotel pickup at 7 am that with our money paid upfront we would not have skip the line and would have to wait in line for 5 hours and that pickup was now 2.50am!!!!!!!!)

Patryk acted with commercial aplomb far beyond his years and dealt with this tour operator on 3 separate calls and got agreement for a refund… for my wife and I his efforts went beyond reasonable expectation!!

Because we had a day that we now needed to fill, Patryk came up with some ideas for scenic locations around Krakow that were a bit off the wall (Elvis Presley Avenue near the limestone mine lake was a real treat!!!)

We also visited various fortifications around Krakow including Kopiec Kosciuzki …21 kilometres in all… our appreciation and our personal thanks go out to you for your efforts Patryk!!!

Food and beverage at the hotel is first rate as well… breakfast with Ola and the other serving staff is absolute first rate. The lady chef for breakfast was just wonderful and a real credit to her craft!!

We enjoyed fine dining (a la carte) tonight and the service was incredible from our waiter…I wished I could give her name to acknowledge the fantastic service as she was a consummate professional … the chef at dinner was also absolutely incredible and the tip tonight was to recognise such great service with incredible food … thanks to the Service manager and Chef for such a great night…we were celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary which we didn’t make known but the chef’s offerings were like love on a plate… truly representative of Krakow Cuisine… such a wonderful night which we will not forget!!

All in all good staff make the experience worthwhile…at every step of the way there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that indicated from every staff member that they were not giving it their absolute best!!

The staff are just great!!!

Do yourself a favour it’s a good...

Lovely hotel, just a 5 minute walk from the old town. Perfectly located near shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. We also found a huge shopping mall a 5 min walk away, too. We were part of a group of 9 friends, all having a trip that had been postponed from 2020.||The staff are all really friendly and helpful. Nothing was too much trouble. From reception, to the restaurant and to the bar staff. Thank you all for looking after us.||Rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms, were well equipped and we appreciated the bottles of water that were provided each day, and the coffee machine and pods that were provided. Bathrooms have Shampoo, Conditioner and shower gel. They provide towels and facecloths. The quilt is a thick one, which added to the heat of the room at night.||The only issue we encountered was the aircon in our room, which wasn't great when we arrived, but a quick chat with reception and they turned our room up to max. Was better, but still not as cool as we'd have liked during the night - seemed like it went off in the night? ||The bar had a good range of drinks available and reasonably priced for a hotel. We enjoyed the cocktails, beers and wine (they offered a lovely New Zealand Marlborough Sauv Blanc!). ||We only had breakfast at the hotel once. There was a lot of choice - hot food from a menu and a cold buffet. The full breakfast is quite expensive at the equivalent of about £19 per person, but the options and range meant you could eat well to set you up for the day.||The proximity to the old town meant we could eat out each night and try different options. Restaurants prices were good and food was lovely in the places we tried.||We did trips to Auschwitz, a Saltmine, Zakopane and the thermal baths. We also did a buggy tour of the 3 Quarters of Krakow. All the tours are well worth doing, to make the most of your time here. We used a tour company called Crakow Sights to book everything weeks before we left (see my separate review on them - they were great!). ||Some of our group also went to Schindlers Factory and Museum. Couldn't get on a tour, but were glad about that in the end, as it meant they could take their time. They took 2.5 hours and, even then, felt they'd rushed around it.||We allowed a day to look around Krakow on foot, and you can really get your steps in. The hotel is perfectly located for that. Walking is easy as it's fairly flat, and there's lots to see.||So we highly recommend the hotel for all it has to offer, the great yeam who work there and...