Okay, we all know I love trains. When we were researching our road trip stop in Indianapolis, I was so excited to find the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown/Union Station has actual 1900’s Pullman Train Cars as rooms!
I’ll be honest, we almost skipped Indianapolis. There really isn’t enough “must-do” things to justify a stop there. But this road trip was about trying new cities and seeing something different. And have you seen anything quite like these hotel rooms?
Twenty-six of the hotel’s 273 hotel rooms are inside these Pullman cars. The cars inside the hotel in long hallways, just parked there. It was a little weird to look out of the car windows and and still be inside.
The room was a little weird, as you can imagine. They have to fit the whole room in half of a narrow train car (each car was two rooms). It didn’t leave much room for walking around, but really, who cares?
Everything was as you would expect of a three-star hotel. The bed was hard and the AC was loud and woke me up all night. But we were there for the experience, not the rest.
I sneaked into the ballroom because I really wanted to see the architecture of the grand hall and it did not disappoint. They were setting up for an event and initially tried to kick me out, but when they saw me geeking out about the room, they let me look around for a few minutes.
One of the other quirky things in the hotel are the “ghosts.” These white statues are throughout the hotel, depicting figures in period clothes, an homage to the past.
There are bars and restaurants, a weird indoor pool right off the lobby, and a gym that you can look in from the lobby and the front entrance, which made my morning yoga a little awkward. The hotel is connected to the convention center and is walking distance to Lucas Oil Stadium and Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
At $423.26 for two nights, it was bit overpriced for the overall quality and amenities of the hotel, but worth spending once for the experience of sleeping in a Pullman train car.
Do you stay at hotels just for the interesting experiences? Let me know in the comments!
We stayed in a caboose in Titusville, PA, more than once, and it was outdoors. Where else but the Caboose Motel. Very cute! We’re looking to stay in a yurt at some point.
Oooo a caboose would be fun! In my mind, I think I’d like to stay in a yurt but in practice I think I would be miserable lol.