Turkish Business Lounge Istanbul Airport IST

Turkish Business Lounge Istanbul is an impressive space in the equally impressive new airport in Istanbul. I first reviewed this not long after it opened back in 2019, and have visited numerous times. It is on of my favourite Business Class lounges around the world and high up in my Top 10 Business Lounges.

Offering striking architecture and luxurious conveniences before your flight with the best of Turkish and international dining, entertainment and relaxation spaces. It may be amongst the best major airport lounge in Europe, discover why!

Turkish Business Lounge Istanbul Location & Access

The new Istanbul Airport is simply stunning, but also huge as one of the regions biggest gateways!

The are various signs to the Business lounge throughout the airport terminal, which you will find on various screens as well as fixed sign-posts..

It is located near gate E1..

You have to take an escalator up. There appears to be another entrance that is not used from the lower floors.

Istanbul Lounge Access Rules

Access is possible only for travellers on a Turkish Airlines or Star Alliance Business class on the day.

Star Alliance frequent flyers will be able to use the Turkish Miles & Smiles lounge, located just a couple of gates behind this.  The exterior looks very similar, though I cannot state how the interior may be differentiated.

Once you go up, you have a large and triple height reception area..

Since initial visits, they now seem to encourage you scan your boarding pass to get through the electronic gates, and so do not need to go “via” the reception staff..

The first thing greeting your eyes are the lovely piano and the striking high ceilings. It’s an elegant and simply beautiful space.

The branding of the whole lounge alongside the Turkish new business class product and marketing/email is striking and consistent. So much so, if I was somehow just transported into the middle of the lounge, I would have known what lounge this is!

Seating & Lounge Spaces

There are about three or four different areas or zones to the lounge, all which have different atmosphere and aesthetics..

There is this open terrace area that looks down onto the main terminal..

With regards to seating, this mezzanine area perhaps is the largest. It overlooks the rest of the terminal traffic below, and thus is more noisy too.

Then we have these types of dining seats spread around the centre of the lounge with the various food stations all around it.

On the right hand side is a more quieter relaxing spaces. Some areas are designed like their own living rooms, each with tasteful deco and colour schemes which creates a great sense of warmth and peacefulness.

Near the entrance there are also various semi-private single seating spaces.

Turkish Business Lounge Food & Drink

Turkish lounges provide outstanding catering via partner Do&Co.

The food and drink choices are fresh, very extensive and mouth wateringly delicious! I would say almost 2 thirds of the lounge is dedicated to food, food preparation and eating.

There are various self help buffet stations..

In addition to that, there are several kitchen spread out in the lounge cooking up various dishes to order. You are pretty much spoilt for choice!

The quite area seems to have more fruit and desserts selections..

And off course chilled beverage selections are available in almost every corner.

Turkish Lounge Activities & Entertainment

Once you are fed and suitably relaxed, there is no shortage of things to keep yourself occupied here.

A mini racing track?! Yep!

This is by far the most fun thing I recall in a lounge! Though you do need a buddy to race with, which isn’t hard to find 🙂

There is a dedicated gaming room with various consoles and large screens.

Then there are the kids play areas

And if that wasn’t enough, how about checking out some art? Yep, they have a art gallery within the lounge!

Turkish seems to routinely rotate what activities and entertainment are available. In a visit in 2023 they had a mini golf area, which was gone in October this year, but then they added a new VR flight experience..

This was not just a VR where you experience something on a headset, there was headset and a whole craft where you put strap yourself into, as you experience flying through beautiful Istanbul city and all it’s glorious offerings.

Work & Connectivity

WiFi is available throughout the lounge though you have to get login details from one of the WiFi stations.

If you need access to a computer, there is a workstation area

If you have your own laptop and want to work in more privacy, they even have dedicated meeting rooms

Finally, if you like to charge your phone, maybe while you sleep or shake a shower, there are secure phone charging boxes by the lockers area, just on the left as you enter.

Rest & Rejuvenate & Pamper

Need a nap or snooze in between/before your flight? There are several day rooms available, that can be used on a first come, first served basis.

You can request blankets and pillows. Unfortunately however, the rooms have little privacy, as even though each has a curtain, they do not fully enclose.

I’m wandering if this is an oversight or designed to be so.

Personally, I would not feel fully comfortable falling asleep here with my belongings in there (good thing they have a locker for that but still, you would still presumably want your phone beside you to wake you up/check on time etc?!) .

Granted, the foot traffic passing this area is lower, it would be mostly other passengers looking for a room also.

Turkish Business Lounge Private Bedroom

For those with overnight layover of over 6 hours, can however avail themselves to a entirely private bedroom!

There are again, first come first serve basis and need to be booked by a specific Private Suites Concierge desk

The rooms are like a mini hotel room with a wardrobe area, small desk and a single bed and large TV..

Out of 5/6 visits over the last few years, 2 of which had longer layovers, I only managed to get a room once!

Istanbul Business Lounge Showers

There are several showers if you need to refresh before the next flight, and they all come pretty well equipped. I did not have to wait for a shower at all.

In-house Masseuse

Another feature offered in the lounge is a massage service. Though its not like some First Lounges where you have dedicated massage rooms. Instead you have a masseuse come to your seat and give you a massage. Presumably this centres around neck and shoulder massages, as that was what I saw.

It was not clear how you go about booking one though. When I eventually enquired about it with the concierge, I was informed the masseuses do not work past 11pm, at which point it was about 11.04pm. Bad luck.

On subsequent visits post Covid they were not available at all, but I believe they have bought them back now.

Ironing Service

It seems this lounge offers a cloth press/ironing service, which is certainly super handy. Though I did not use it.

Overall thoughts

This is an excellent lounge on so many levels.  The stunning decor, the open spaces, the incredible selection and variety of food.

At peak times, it can have crowding issues, otherwise, I honestly feel this is on par or better than some First Class lounges out there. I would most certainly prefer this lounge over BA’s “exclusive” Concorde Room for instance!

Another issue I faced in several locations was with charging my phone/laptop. Most of the seats/table do not have easily accessible charging points. It seems a simple requirement that’s been overlooked from the design.