During the pandemic, Vienna Airport’s old terminal was renovated and as part of the renovation, a new lounge – Vienna Lounge – was built. The lounge opened on March 29, 2022, and replaced the much smaller Jet Lounge. I was eager to pay the lounge a visit since then. I finally got a chance to do so earlier this year during my around-the-Northern-Hemispere trip.
Continue reading to see what the Vienna Lounge was like and whether it’s worth stopping by before your next flight out of the airport.
Location & Opening Hours
The Vienna Lounge is located in Vienna Airport’s Terminal 1. It can be found airside in the Schengen zone – i.e. after clearing security but before clearing immigration if you are traveling to non-Schengen countries.
To get to the lounge, you have to go through security, walk through the duty free shopping area, and then you will see the entrance to the lounge on your right. An elevator leading to the Vienna Lounge, which is on the second floor, can be found across from The Travellers Electronics Company store.
While the lounge is the most convenient when departing from C- and D-gates, it can also be used when departing from Terminal 3’s F- and G-gates as there is a free shuttle bus that runs every 10 minutes or so connecting the two terminals. In fact, if you have plenty of time then I would recommend visiting the Vienna Lounge rather than the smaller Sky Lounge in Terminal 3.
The Vienna Lounge is open every day from 4:30AM until 10PM.
Entry Requirements
With the Vienna Lounge being the sole lounge in Vienna Airport’s old terminal now, there are several ways to access it.
Most full-service airlines serving the airport including the likes of Aegean, Air Baltic, Finnair, KLM, and Turkish Airlines offer their business/first class passengers and frequent status holders access to the lounge. The notable exception here are Austrian, Swiss, and Lufthansa as those operate from Terminal 3 where Austrian Airlines’ lounges can be found.
Additionally, the lounge is also part of Priority Pass, DragonPass, Lounge Key, and TAV networks which offer free or discounted access to lounges to their members. Holders of select (mostly Austria- and Slovakia-issued) credit cards can access the lounge for free as well and there are several other ways to get discounted access too.
Those not eligible for free or discounted access can pay the full price of 49 EUR (children under 4 years old are admitted for free) at the reception and access the lounge regardless of the airline they are flying or the class they are traveling in. While theoretically the stays in the lounges (at least when paying directly or using Priority Pass) are limited to three hours. I am not sure whether or not that is actually enforced.
For the full list of airlines offering access to the Vienna Lounge and other ways to enter it, see this page.
Lounge Tour
Getting off the elevator, there was a large reception area.
Other than a reception desk capable of being staffed with up to four agents, there were also a luggage storage area with large lockers, flight information displays, and a rack with magazines, mostly in German.
The reception area and the lounge overall featured a lot of curves and were very nicely designed. The lounge was large and divided into multiple very distinct spaces.
What made the lounge’s design particularly unique was its collaboration with the Leopold Museum which helped decorate the lounge’s walls with pieces of Austrian art including paintings and photos. Those could be seen throughout the lounge itself as well as in a hallway leading to the lounge’s exit.
Turning left after passing the reception, there was an area designed to look and feel like a traditional Viennese coffee house.
In total, there were about two dozen tables in this area. Those that were placed along the benches along this area’s edges were square while those in the middle of the area were round. The far corner of this seating area was “Reserved” and roped off – it wasn’t clear who exactly could access it.
In the Viennese coffee house section was also a counter with a couple of coffee machines and a good selection of desserts (more about that later). Next to the counter were some newspapers to enjoy reading while drinking coffee.
Straight ahead of the reception – and next to the Viennese coffee house area – was the lounge’s main dining area.
The centerpiece of this area was the buffet set up with a large counter with hot drinks and food extending out of one of the walls and two island counters with soft and alcoholic drinks respectively in the middle of the area.
As usual, I will dive into the details of the food and drinks that were available in the Vienna Lounge in the next section.
Seating in the dining area consisted mostly of tables placed along benches. These benches also served naturally as partitions between the seating and aisles connecting the various parts of the lounge.
Additionally, there was a bar-height communal table with eight seats in one of the sections of the dining area and a counter with half a dozen seats around a column in another section.
To the left of the dining area (when looking from the entrance) was a living room like area with a large sofa and a couple of sofa chairs around a large screen that mostly (or exclusively) showed ads if I remember correctly. There were also flight information displays in this area.
Behind the wall with the screen and flight information displays were some more sofas with coffee tables and chairs/benches with high backs. The walls with the screens doubled as magazine racks on their other side.
Unlike the coffee house and dining areas, this area – and the other more lounge-like seating areas offered plenty of power outlets. In fact, each power outlet had – in addition to the actual outlet – both a USB-A and USB-C port integrated into it.
Going back to the reception and turning right, there was a hallway lined with some artwork on one side and three large chairs, each with an integrated coffee table and surrounded by a partition.
Further down was a business center with several cubicles split across two corners formed along the hallway. Each of the cubicles was equipped with a couple of power outlets.
Behind the corner was an area with a long semi-circular bench lined with small round tables and overlooking three TVs showing the news and sports. There was a counter lined with a dozen or so bar-height chairs on the outer side of the bench.
Both of these seating options also offered access to power outlets.
Across from the counter was the lounge’s sleeping room.
It was equipped with half a dozen or so walled-off areas, each with a daybed, a small shelf, a reading light, and a power outlet with USB charging ports. There was also a shelf with a selection of (mostly German) books.
Along the Vienna Lounge’s windows, which offered great apron and runway views, was a variety of seating as well.
Starting with the area past the semi-circular counter, there were rows of brown lounge chairs, each with a coffee table with lamp and a power outlet with USB charging ports.
Further down along this area was also a small seating area on the inner side with pairs of large sofa chairs arranged in rows facing each other.
The area along the windows bordering the dining area and the living-room-like area I talked about earlier had mostly rows of sofa chairs too. That said, toward the edge of the lounge, there were also some more of the brown lounge chairs. There was also a separate small seating area with rows of sofa chairs.
The best views of the apron and one of the runways could be had from the area in the middle of the lounge bordering the dining area.
In addition to the regular seating described above, there was also a children’s area in the lounge. It consisted of a room with a long bench lined with small tables and some toys.
At the end of the room was an entrance to a curtained-off family room with some sofa chairs and a kids’ chair.
Lastly, the Vienna Lounge also had a nice outdoor terrace. While it was primarily intended for smokers, it provided a nice area for non-smokers to hang out and sit down too.
It offered limited views of one of the runways and some of the taxiways.
While the lounge was equipped with showers, I didn’t check them out. There were also large and clean restrooms on both sides of the lounge – i.e. one next to the coffee house area and one in the area with the semi-circular counter.
Food and Drinks
Starting with drinks, one of the island counters in the middle of the lounge was home to a pair of drink dispensers. One of them served water (still and sparkling), juices (orange, apple, and raspberry), and ice tea. The other served water and soda including cola, cola light, lemon lemonade, and herb lemonade.
Additionally, there was a dispenser with orange, ginger, and rosemary detox water.
The other island counter was where all of the alcohol could be found.
There were a couple of different wines, each with a detailed description. There were also three brands of bottled beer and a selection of liquor including Jameson and Johny Walker whiskies, gin, cognac, etc.
Additionally, bottles of orange, apple, and multivitamin juice, as well as tonic water, could be found in the refrigerator that also housed the beer.
As for hot drinks, coffee machines could be found on either end of the main buffet counter as well as in the Viennese coffee house-like area. In addition to a selection of coffee drinks available from those, there was also a selection of half a dozen or so different types of Julius Meinl tea bags.
Lastly, there were dispensers with regular milk, oat milk, and lactose-free milk.
The food selection during my visit lasting from about 9:30AM until just before 11AM reflected the fact that it was breakfast time.
Sweet options included whole fruits (bananas, apples, and pears), plain and fruit yogurts, and a selection of cereals.
Then there was a variety of ham, salami, and cheese cold cuts.
A good variety of bread was available too.
Not only that but the selection of condiments including jams and spreads was above average too.
Warm items included scrambled eggs, marinated cherry tomatoes, and potato rosti.
In addition to the breakfast selection, there were also snacks including peanuts and pretzel mix in the main buffet area.
Lastly, there was a good selection of desserts which included chocolate cake, apple strudel, curd-cheese strudel, muesli bars, chocolate bananas, and Gugelhupf.
All of those could be found in the Viennese coffee house area of the lounge. The muesli bars were available from the main buffet too.
Vienna Lounge Summary
Not only was there plenty of seating in the Vienna Lounge but it came in a good variety of types providing ideal spaces both to relax and to work. There was even an area themed like a traditional Viennese coffee house and there was sleeping room with daybeds too.
While I am not sure what the buffet is like in the middle of the day and in the evening, the breakfast selection was decent. What made the buffet stand out, though, was the variety of desserts in the Viennese coffee house-like area.
All in all, I enjoyed my briefs stay in the lounge and, in fact, would rank the Vienna Lounge among my favorite Priority Pass lounges.
