Airports are where dignity goes to die. Nowhere else would you even consider paying £12 for a sandwich, take your shoes off in front of strangers, and find yourself sprinting at 6am because your gate was moved to a neighbouring postcode at the last minute. Then there’s the traveller who stands in the middle of the walkway, the one who boards in Group 1 regardless of what their boarding pass says, and the one talking on speakerphone before you’ve had your first cup of tea. Airports are hell on earth.
But there is an escape. Behind a discreet door and a polite receptionist (sometimes more than one) lies the airport lounge, where coffee is free, seats recline, and nobody eats a meal deal on the floor. To find the best, we combined verdicts from a couple of recent rankings, including a seasoned lounge-hopper’s picks in the Telegraph and Condé Nast Traveller’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards. Here are the 10 you’ll hope your flight is delayed (permanently) for.
Cathay Pacific The Pier, First – Hong Kong
Number one with Condé Nast Traveller readers, and a Telegraph favourite too, is Cathay Pacific’s The Pier, First. We haven’t had the pleasure of visiting it, but we can vouch for the Cathay Pacific lounge at Heathrow, which is a delight. The Pier, First sits near Gate 63 at Hong Kong International Airport, and it sounds more like a boutique hotel than anything you’d expect in an airport.
The bar is green onyx and walnut panelling, with unique cocktails reserved for this lounge and hot dishes cooked to order. Need a nap? Don’t we all, but if you’re in this lounge, you can book one of eight day suites overlooking the runway or a massage in the in-house spa. The workaholics among you get The Bureau, too, a set of six private work suites with their own computers. Cathay has also teamed up with Mott 32 on an exclusive Chinese dining collaboration.
Emirates First Class Lounge – Dubai
Dubai is a city that certainly doesn’t do understated, and neither does the Emirates First Class Lounge at the airport. There’s a Moët & Chandon bar pouring four cuvées with matching canapés, rare aged whiskies, and a Le Clos shop if you fancy taking a vintage home. Chefs run live cooking stations serving à la carte dishes all day, from cooked breakfasts to 72-hour-braised short ribs (is your mouth watering? Ours certainly is).
First-class flyers also receive a complimentary 15-minute treatment at the Timeless Spa, so you can get on your flight suitably relaxed and ready for any irritating passengers. Sadly, you can’t board straight from the Concourse B lounge, so you will have to spend some time at the gate, unlike those using the Concourse A lounges. But we mustn’t be too picky.
Air France La Première Lounge – Paris
If you judge a lounge by the lunch on offer, there’s a good chance Air France’s La Première Lounge in Paris will win. The menu at the La Première Lounge is created by Alain Ducasse and his team, with everything cooked on site, and Air France has been recognised for serving the best dining in any first-class lounge.
Between courses, the Sisley spa offers treatments available exclusively to La Première guests. There are also spaces for quiet time, whether you want to work, catch up on the news, or just stare into space (or at the other side of the lounge). Meanwhile, if you want to be super smug, you can book one of the optional private suites, which fit up to four, so you can avoid other first-class travellers if you so wish.
Qatar Airways Al Safwa First Lounge – Doha
Part lounge, part art gallery. Qatar modelled the Al Safwa First Lounge on Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art, and the museum even loans it pieces from its collection. Expect sandstone, acres of natural light and a huge water fountain, because, well, why not?
The restaurant seats 250 and serves international dishes alongside Arabic-influenced cooking, with a spa for a pre-flight unknotting. Qatar also has a business centre, a cinema-style media room and a family area in this lounge, so there’s no excuse to be bored. It was voted number six by Condé Nast Traveller readers, while the Telegraph praised Qatar’s Doha lounges for discreet, personal service. What’s not to like.
Qantas First Lounge – Sydney
Pretty much everything in Qantas’s flagship lounge was designed by Marc Newson, from the sofas, bar stools and dining tables to the lighting. He even added a rooftop extension to the terminal to house it, giving it a wall of windows that looks straight out over the main runway. The space curves so you can never see from one end to the other, and sculpted European oak dividers break it into cosy bays. Instead of a screen, flights clatter across a retro split-flap departures board, too, which in itself is enough to make us want to go here.
The food is centred on seasonal menus featuring premium Australian produce. Signature dishes such as salt-and-pepper squid with a green chilli dipping sauce and aioli, and corn fritters, survive most menu changes, and the cocktail list receives a seasonal refresh too. You’ll also find bar service, barista coffee, a spa, showers, a library, meeting rooms and a private suite.
ANA Suite Lounge – Tokyo Haneda
The ANA Suite Lounge offers a SUITE DINING service, with tray-based meals that change with the time of day, plus a buffet and a noodle bar. At Terminal 2, bartenders mix drinks at a proper bar counter, too, so you might even forget you’re in an airport.
There are private work areas and massage chairs, and ANA has its own signature scent, a blend of 12 natural aromas, including Japanese cedar and umbrella pine, that you’ll no doubt want to bring home. First-class flyers can even book a shower via the ANA app a week before they fly, making for peak Tokyo efficiency. How the other half live – the rest of us are coming off planes smelling like we haven’t showered for a week.
Emirates Business Lounge – Dubai
If you are flying business rather than first with Emirates, don’t worry, you don’t completely miss out because the Emirates Business Class Lounge has its own Moët & Chandon lounge, where you can taste four champagnes with canapés from Michelin-starred chefs.
Feeling virtuous instead? The Health Hub does smoothies, superfood-packed juices, salads and gluten-free muffins, and there’s a Costa for good measure. You can book a massage or facial at the Timeless Spa for a fee, use the business centre, or hide in a quiet zone. Dreamy.
Qatar Airways Al Mourjan – Doha
Big enough to need a map. Al Mourjan – The Garden covers 7,390 square metres and looks out over the airport’s Orchard. There are 24 quiet rooms (we all need one of these at an airport), seven spa treatment rooms and a fitness studio, so you can nap, get pummelled or work out the A380 stiffness.
This lounge also includes manicure and pedicure stations and a nursery, and it can accommodate over 700 passengers so you should always get a seat. Its food has also won Skytrax’s prize for best business-class lounge dining in the past so there are definitely worse places to spend a few hours before a flight.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Business – Istanbul
Istanbul is often called the crossroads of the world, straddling two continents, Europe and Asia, so it figures the Turkish Airlines lounge has something for everyone. Chefs present hot dishes from Turkish and international kitchens, with regional specialities from across Anatolia, and dinner comes with a music recital in the background.
Once you’ve eaten your fill, take a shower and retreat to the adjoining rest room, or sink into a recliner in the relaxation area. There are quiet workspaces for the laptop crowd and a playground to tire out the kids before the flight.
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse – London Heathrow
The best reason to be early at Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic’s Heathrow Clubhouse centres on the Gallery, a redesigned space with panoramic runway views and art made with Artbox London. There’s a cosy cinema room, and two work pods called The Manor and The Townhouse, inspired by Virgin’s record-label roots, complete with glowing ‘on air’ signs.
Order a Laurent-Perrier or a burger from a waiter or via QR code, and it will arrive wherever you’re sitting. Meanwhile, if you arrive by chauffeur, Virgin aims to get you from car to Clubhouse within 10 minutes. You can’t go from lounge to gate, but the Upper Class drop off at Heathrow at least gets you out of paying the £7 drop off charge and has its own security, both of which are welcome bonuses in case Upper Class wasn’t enough on its own.
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