Hotel Review: A Weekend in Denver at Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown

This blog post was made in collaboration with Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown. All my opinions are my own.

WHERE IS HOTEL INDIGO DENVER DOWNTOWN LOCATED?

Address: 1801 Wewatta St, Denver, CO 80202

More about Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown:

Hotel Indigo Denver, an IHG hotel, has the charm of a boutique hotel featuring barn doors and spa style bathrooms, and top notch amenities of the Hotel Indigo brand. Hotel Indigo is located just steps from Union Station, Coors Field, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

HOW TO GET TO HOTEL INDIGO DENVER DOWNTOWN

One of the main selling features of this hotel is its location. Once we arrived, we were able to walk everywhere that weekend.

TWO WAYS TO GET TO HOTEL INDIGO

Drive: If you plan to do things outside of Denver like we did, you can rent a car. I rented a car through Costco’s travel site for about $100 for the weekend. Hotel Indigo is roughly 20 minutes from the airport and there is a parking garage you can utilize. Parking costs $20 per day.
Train: If you don’t need a car, this is by far the best way to get from the airport to Denver Union Station. The ‘University of Colorado A Line’ will take you right from the Denver Airport to Denver Union Station. It takes 37 minutes and costs $10.50 one way. Hotel Indigo is only .2 miles away from Denver Union station so it is just a quick few minute walk away.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY STAY AT HOTEL INDIGO DENVER DOWNTOWN

THE LOCATION

I’ve been shouting this one from the mountain tops, but that is definitely a huge plus in my opinion.

THE HOTEL ROOM

I loved how clean and simple our hotel room was. My favorite part of the room was the art over the bed. The bed was super comfortable, we had an empty mini fridge we could use for our beer and food leftovers and the lighting in the bathroom was great for doing makeup. If you are also traveling with a pet, this hotel is pet friendly!

THE STAFF

The staff was friendly at check-in. The process was easy and they greeted us with a smile and a welcome each time we walked through the hotel lobby.

IHG WAY OF CLEAN

Because the Hotel Indigo brand is a part of IHG, you also get the IHG guarantee of being clean and safe the next time you decide to stay in one of their hotels.

Reception: Reduced contact at check-in, touchless transactions, front desk screens, sanitizer stations, sanitized key-cards, paperless check-out
Public Spaces and Facilities: Additional deep cleaning of high touch surfaces, social distancing, guidance to implement ‘last cleaned’ charts. There were also numerous no touch hand sanitization stations in the hotel lobby.
Guest Room: Reduction of in-room furnishings/high-touch items, new laundry protocols, use of electrostatic technology (at select hotels) and the addition of in-room IHG Clean Promise cards with cleaning procedures. As with a lot of places, there is also no daily cleaning service.

I felt very safe staying here and everyone I encountered was respecting the social distancing, wearing a face mask and also using the hand sanitization stations.

WHAT ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO NEAR HOTEL INDIGO?

RIGHT BY HOTEL INDIGO

Pig and the Sprout

Pig and Sprout is a great spot only one block from Hotel Indigo Denver. We ended up having some amazing local beer (they have a bunch on tap) as well as fish tacos and my husband said the brisket dip was one of the best sandwiches he has ever had!

Tupelo Honey

I initially planned to go here for brunch one day, but we ended up switching and going for dinner! Tupelo Honey is a southern style restaurant so if you love comfort food, you need to go here. I highly recommend the fried chicken with collared greens and mac n cheese. You can’t go wrong.

Kaffe Landskap

When I travel, I tend to TRY and stay away from chain coffee shops (*ahem Starbucks) and check out cool local shops. Kaffe Landskap is only 2 blocks from our restaurant and ended up being really good! I am boring and usually just get an unflavored Americano with half and half, but my husband tried their pour over coffee and said it was amazing. They do also have some food that looked really good.

CVS Pharmacy

If you forgot anything while packing, there is a CVS conveniently located directly across the street. It is open until 10, and we ended up visiting a few times.

Whole Foods

If you are staying for a longer period of time and don’t want to eat out for every mean, the Whole Foods is just a block away!

UNION STATION: 5 MINUTE WALK

Union Station is not only a train station, but is a “work, stay, play” destination. Not only can you take the train from here, but there are multiple restaurants and shops to check out. A few that I recommend are:

Terminal Bar

This will probably be the first thing you notice when you enter Union Station. Terminal Bar is marked with an awesome marquee style sign. There is seating both right outside the bar as well as some seating inside.

Note: On weekends you could experience quite a wait, especially with the current limited seating.

Tattered Cover Bookstore

This is a cute little bookshop tucked just down a corridor on the right side across from Snooze an AM Eatery. They carry all the latest reads. I ended up picking up a new one from one of my favorite authors, Lisa Jewell.

Snooze an AM Eatery

This is a great brunch spot with multiple locations across quite a few states. Even at 8AM there was a small wait, but you can also add yourself to their virtual wait list via their app to try and skip some of the line. We enjoyed a corned beef hash, matcha latte, and pork belly and sweet potato dish.

DAIRY BLOCK: 9 MINUTE WALK

Dairy Block is such a cool area. It is a block of shops and a food hall! You can also check out the cool alley way between the food hall and the shops. There are some cool murals.

Denver Milk Market

This is the food hall that features about 9 different restaurants. They are making it super safe with their ordering process. You no longer have to go wait in a line at the specific food spot you are interested in. At each clean table, you will find a QR code you scan and you have a table number assigned to you. Pick anything you want off the menu that encompasses all the food vendors. You can order and pay via the website and each food vendor will bring you your food when it is ready. We enjoyed avocado toast as well as chicken and waffles for our brunch!

Free Market

This spot is an awesome concept. Inside this free market, you will find 10+ shops and vendors selling everything from outdoor gear to floral services to cute little boutiques. If I lived in Denver and didn’t have to haul a bunch of stuff back in my luggage, I would have spent a lot of money here.

BREWERIES

Wynkoop Brewery

Wynkoop is a cool brewery in a super old building. They do serve food if you are hungry, however, we just got a tasting flight of beer since we were doing some brewery hopping that day.

Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery

Jagged Mountain is a cool bar with a hiking theme. You will notice on their tap list that they categorize by trailhead, basecamp, summit. I thought that was a nice touch! This spot has some light snacks.

Great Divide Brewing

Great Divide seems to be a staple in Denver as there was also a spot at the airport. The spot in Denver is in an unassuming warehouse. I liked the vibes and really enjoyed their beer. We got a tasting flight and got to try a few IPA’s, a nitro and a lager.

Our Mutual Friend Brewing

Our Mutual Friend has some cool murals on their building. They also have a ton of outdoor seating. When we were there, Denver was at 50% indoor capacity, however, Our Mutual Friend was still operating in tents outside. I enjoyed a sour beer and we ended up coming home with a really cool 12 oz. tin can looking beer glass.

O’Dell Brewing

O’Dell is pretty close to Our Mutual Friend. My favorite part of O’Dell is their rooftop back patio!

Woods Boss Brewing

We came close to closing when we visited Woods Boss, however, they have some great beer and a really pretty interior. I recommend checking this brewery out!

MURALS

Greetings from Denver

Artist: @Greetingtour
Address: 1695 Platte St, Denver, CO 80202

Dairy Block Murals

Address: 1800 Wazee St, Denver, CO 80202

Love this City Denver

Artist: Pat Milbery
Address: 2314 N Broadway, Denver, CO 80205

Orange, Blue, and Red Stencil Eyes

Artist: Ahol Sniffs Glue
Address: 2550 Larimer St, Denver, CO, 80205

Denver Central Market Building

Address: 2669 Larimer St, Denver, CO 80205

Faces

Address: Larimer St & 28th St Denver, CO 80205

You could spend a whole weekend mural hunting in Denver. These are just a few that I made it to in one day out of hundreds across the city!

IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO GET OUT OF DENVER

Ice Castles – Dillon, CO

This is a great half day trip from Denver. I wrote all about it in my blog post from last week. You can check that out here.

Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, CO

The Stanley Hotel is roughly an hour and a half from the Denver airport. It was on my bucket list for years before I ended up visiting. If you don’t know, the Stanley Hotel was the inspiration behind Stephen King’s The Shining. He stayed in room 217 when he wrote the book. The Stanley Hotel is also said to be haunted and they do offer nightly ghost tours. When we visited a few years ago, we took a drive out to Estes Park to check out the hotel for a few hours. We initially planned to do a ghost tour, but I wanted too long to book the tour (we were visiting a week before Halloween so the tour was extra popular). However, we walked the grounds a bit, walked the maze in the front of the hotel, and also had lunch in the Cascade’s Restaurant.