Lounge Review: Riga Airport Primeclass Business Lounge

One-sentence summary

Nice medium-sized boutique lounge, just like the Riga Airport. Great catering and splendid runway views.

Rating

OVERALL: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

AMBIENCE: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

FOOD: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

DESSERTS: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

BEVERAGES: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SERVICES: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

CROWDEDNESS: ⭐⭐⭐★★

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Entry price & is it worth it?

The official lounge access costs EUR 45 per person when purchased through the Riga Airport website and EUR 55 if paid for on-site. Cash and cards are accepted.

Access is free for children under 2 years of age.

You can buy the lounge access more cheaply through third party providers. For example, I could buy it for 24 EUR through the Revolut app.

The full price is quite hefty, however, if you can get an access pass for anything under 30 EUR, it might be well worth it as you might easily spend a similar amount in one of the quite crowded restaurants and cafes in the airport.

Location, working hours, access duration

The Riga airport lounge is located airside, right above the stairs / elevator to gate B1.

The lounge is open every day from 5AM to 11PM. These are some of the longest working hours I’ve seen for a lounge. This is the only lounge at Riga Airport.

While the official lounge use limit is 3 hours, nobody has ever checked on me.

Officially, there are 120 seats in the lounge.

Experience

This is one of my favorite lounges, and not only because it’s at my home airport. The lounge has a nice, Nordic-style interior. There is a great selection of food, drinks and a comfy seating area. The only thing the lounge lacks are better work stations, as most tables are very low and with lounge chairs.

There is no quiet area for laying down or sleeping. However, you can rent one of four single or double rooms.

Entering the lounge

To get up to the lounge, you take the stairs or the elevator next to the B1 gate.

The lounge is one level above the hustle and bustle of the terminal, so the entrance already has a peaceful vibe, that only gets better once you enter the lounge.

Ambience

The lounge windows open up towards the runway, so you can observe planes landing and taking off from all seats. This is one of my favorite features of this lounge.

The large windows also let in plenty of natural light.

The interior has a light wood finish, probably birch. This gives the lounge a Scandinavian / Nordic feel, and creates a pleasant and calming vibe.

There are no announcements about flights in the lounge, so you are not distracted, however, have to pay attention to boarding times.

Food

There is a compact and regularly restocked assortment of hot main courses, as well as salads.

On the times when I visited the lounge, it had the following food (not necessarily all of it at the same time, which is a good sign as the food varies):

• Soup of the day
• Sautéed beef
• Boiled vegetables
• Savory pancakes
• Grated potato pancakes

The lounge had also a decent selection of salads.

• “Olivier salad”, a typical Latvian potato and sausage/meat-based salad with mayonaise and vegetables. Locally known as “rasols”
• Fresh and marinated vegetables, as well as sauces to assemble your own salad

Desserts

While the pastries etc. are nice, there is an ice cream freezer with good Latvian ice cream near the alcoholic drinks bar. While the desserts were few, the accessibility of ice cream made my day.

While I don’t always take the ice cream, my inner child really likes the fact that there’s this option. This will be appreciated by parents travelling with children.

Beverages

Regarding beverages, the lounge has the typical assortment of fizzy drinks: Coke, Sprite, Fanta and Schwepes.

Of course, there’s the usual good quality coffee and decent tea (unfortunately, tea bags only).

Fruit juice is also on offer; the lounge serves at least orange and tomato juice. The latter is my favorite, and the lounge has not only salt and pepper next to it, but also two Tabasco sauces to spice things up.

Alcoholic beverages

The lounge has a nice selection of alcoholic beverages. As you see from the picture, the following drinks are on offer:

• Red wine, white wine
• Champagne
• Bacardi (2 types)
• Riga Black Balsam (original and two other types)
• Martini

In case you haven’t had the chance to try it, or are a fan of this drink, the lounge serves also the Riga Balzams, both the original and the black currant varieties. If you want to experiment, try the Black Balzams with your coffee or sweet tea. Most people enjoy this mix, particularly, during autumn and winter.

Crowdedness

In my experience, the lounge fluctuates between light to medium crowdedness. I’ve visited it at times when there were three other guests. At the very busiest moments around noon and early afternoon, about half of the seats in the lounge are occupied.

However, the level of crowdedness or business in this lounge is nowhere near the lounges in the largest German or Scandinavian airports.

Can you sleep in this lounge?

The regular lounge area does not have places for sleeping or laying down.

However, the lounge offers four single and double rooms to rent. These give you both greater privacy and opportunity to sleep. The private rooms are equipped with TVs, as well as a private WC and a shower. Prices:

• Single room: EUR 69.00 for three hours and EUR 25.00 for each additional hour OR EUR 159.00 for eight hours.
• Double room: EUR 99.00 for three hours, and EUR 35.00 for each additional hour OR EUR 219.00 for eight hours

I have not checked if you have to add this on top of the lounge access fee, but probably – yes.

If you are a couple, this is your chance to join the “mile high club”, sort of. 😀

Toilets and showers

There are spotless WCs in the lounge.

Upon request, you can also get access to showers. I haven’t checked whether you have to pay for the showers. If you know the answer, please leave a comment below.

The lounge offers storage for luggage while you shower or simply want to use the lounge without keeping an eye on your bags. Luggage storage is for free.

Kids area

The lounge has a small kids area. It is nothing very sophisticated, but smaller kids should be easily entertained for 30-60 minutes. When they get bored, you can go and enjoy the free ice cream and return.

There is also a room for parents that need to feed their babies, or change diapers.

Other services

• Conference room for up to 10 people.

Accepted airline loyalty programmes and lounge passes

This information will be added later.

How to get unlimited access to airport lounges?

The typical way how most people access airport lounges is through getting a Frequent Flyer status. In Europe, you usually need to fly at least 30 flight legs with a particular airline alliance to obtain the lower status and access to the alliance’s lounge network.

If you’re loaded or only need lounge access irregularly, you could also pay the 25-40 euro entry fee.

My favorite way to get unlimited airport lounge access is the Revolut Ultra Card. While I have to pay 50 EUR monthly for it, as I fly at least twice a month, which usually involves a departing and returning flight with at least two flight legs, this means I get to use airport lounges between 4-12 times every month. This is the main reason why I decided to pay for this service. If you are also a frequent traveller, you can sign up for Revolut Ultra here.

If you don’t want to pay that much, and have a lounge access if your flight is delayed at least an hour, you can also simply get the Revolut Premium or Revolut Metal cards. Monthly fees for these around 8 and 16 euros each.