Lounge Review: Business Lounge Riga

Business Lounge Riga is the only lounge in the Schengen Area at Riga International Airport. It‘s accessible for all passengers flying business class or holding a frequent flyer card with the benefit of lounge access. With a small buffet, several different seating areas and a nice view of the tarmac, Business Lounge Riga surprised us positively.

Check out our rating of the Business Lounge Riga!

After we spent an hour at IDW Esperanza Lounge Vilnius a day before, we were surprised to encounter another very good lounge in Riga.

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The so-called Business Lounge Riga is an independent lounge operated by the airport. As there is no other lounge at Riga Airport, the Business Lounge Riga is accessible for frequent flyers with a certain status of all airlines departing from Riga Airport as well as all passengers flying business class.

Moreover, access with Priority Pass and other similar programs is available. Last but not least, you may enter for a fee of 40 Euro (~ 44 US-Dollar).

Seating at Business Lounge Riga

The Business Lounge Riga is larger than we expected. It stretches out over two stories with a mezzanine in between.

 

While the lower area with the buffet is the largest part of the Business Lounge Riga, we enjoyed the upper floor where only approximately thirty chairs and loungers are available.

The latter are especially enjoyable when you are looking forward to relaxing or just reading a book or a newspaper.

On the mezzanine level, there is a special room with a refrigerator and some seats. If you want to be close to the buffet, you may sit down in one of several armchairs on the lower level. Something we utterly enjoyed at the Business Lounge Riga was the nice view of the tarmac.

Even though there’s a construction site at the moment, we liked the view and enjoyed that the lounge is very bright and flooded with light.

Food at Business Lounge Riga

Even though the buffet at the Business Lounge Riga wasn’t comparable to what international lounges offer, the food offered was decent for a domestic lounge.

There were three warm dishes available: Meatballs, noodles and vegetables. Moreover, the buffet had a large area with cold snacks like sandwiches, bread, salad, an assortment of cold cuts and cheeses, yoghurts as well as a selection of sweet items like cake or croissants.

Everything we tried was quite good. Interestingly, the buffet changed from time to time with new items appearing and others disappearing. When it comes to drinks, there was a choice of different juices as well as soft drinks and water.

At lunch time, there was a selection of different beers, wines and spirits available. Not to forget about the coffee making facilities which actually prepared quite good cappuccino.

Entertainment at Business Lounge Riga

The entertainment options at Business Lounge Riga were decent, too. There was a solid choice of different newspapers in several languages. I was surprised to find Russian, Swedish, Italian, French and German newspapers next to the usual English and local choices.

Magazines in different languages were available as well. There’s also a working area equipped with modern Samsung Ultrabooks in the lower area which looked very nice. As we brought our own devices, we only used the Wi-Fi available throughout the lounge which offered a streaky connection.

While Sabrina had no problems in the beginning, I encountered heavy problems even when loading pages like Google. Nevertheless, the entertainment choices were very good overall.

Overall impression of Business Lounge Riga

We are not expecting much of third-party lounges. Yet, the Business Lounge Riga may have changed our expectations for the future. The design was modern, the seating was comfortable and even the view was nice. In addition, the buffet with its different offerings including hot and cold dishes as well as a large selection of cheeses and alcohols of all kinds made a very good impression on us.

Furthermore, the entertainment options with newspapers in several different languages and Samsung Ultrabooks are hard to beat. In the end, only the streaky Wi-Fi connection was a little downer. Besides that, I can heavily recommend to spend your time at the Business Lounge Riga before departure.

 

Curious what the world of lounges has to offer in comparison?