Turkish Airlines Business Lounge – Eat, Shower, Rest, Repeat! One of the Best and Largest Lounges in the World!
We landed into Istanbul International Airport from Athens and had a 5 hour layover. Knowing we had some time to spend, we walked around the massive airport which could easily take you 15 minutes of straight beeline walking at a brisk pace to reach end-to-end. We actually did this to reach the two Starbucks on the lower floor to see if they had any mugs, unfortunately, neither of them sold any mugs at all. The Starbucks in near the D gate didn’t have any mugs either so we struck out completely.
However, with all the shops, food and souvenirs to look at in this airport, you can spend hours in this airport, just make sure of the time so you don’t miss your flight! We’ll include photos of the airport at the end of this article. For now, let’s focus on the lounge as it was absolutely huge. There are two ways to enter, one up through the escalators and closest to the gates which is the main entrance. We ended up taking the elevator which is near the shops and ended up near the middle of the lounge. If you go up the main entrance, you will see the self-playing piano and looking forward, an abundance of activities unlike any other lounge we have seen.
The lounge offers seating in all types, from regular tables, lounge chairs, inside rooms that are more intimate, couches overlooking the shops, seats in front of a mass array of TV’s, and even private business class pods.
For those that want to store their suitcase so that they can walk around freely, they have a self service storage locker area.
There are two rooms in which the chefs prepare dishes to delight guests. You can watch them behind the glass and take a bowl or plate of delicious food.
There were so many food stations setup, so you will definitely find something to your liking.
As we settled in deciding what to eat, we just wild and grabbed things from everywhere!
Drink stations were all around the lounge which you can grab a beer, water, juices and all types of sodas. However, how can you visit Turkey and not try the Turkish coffee? They make it right there in the their own coffee stand.
After stuffing yourself silly, you can burn some calories by swinging the golf club, race your pals on the remote controlled track, visit the football memorabilia room, check the flight tracker globe, or do some work on provided computers or your own laptop in a pod.
As much as we enjoyed the lounge, we haven’t mentioned the best part. There’s nothing better than freshening up with a hot shower after a flight. We went to the booking area, we did have to wait 20 minutes but that was fine. They gave us a pager and after a short wait, we got to experience another great perk of this fine lounge.
We had a great few hours in the Turkish Airways Business Lounge. We didn’t try the Miles & Smiles lounge as we have heard that is the slightly inferior one. The shower was the definite highlight and the food was divine. We will also be at the Singapore SilverKris Lounge and will be able to compare the two lounges head-to-head.
PROS:
- A spacious lounge with a number of food choices and extra amenities from the golf simulator, flight tracker, RC race track, etc.
- Luggage storage lockers
- Shower room
CONS:
- Could use some more seating as we did have to look all over to find some chairs with a table to eat during the busy time
Thanks
As we are self funded and review hotels, planes, and all things travel at our own expense, we would appreciate you clicking on the below links if you plan to book any travel. By clicking the link or button we may earn a commission from the respective company. We thank you and hope you enjoy our reviews. As always, we wish you safe travels.
 |
 |
|---|
2 Comments