The main airport in Bogota is El Dorado Airport, Colombia. Below I outline the very best of the four Priority Pass airline lounges at Bogota’s El Dorado Airport.
For travelers planning to go to Cartagena, Colombia’s rich coffee region, or the Amazon Basin, Bogota is probably the airport that they will fly into. There are a number of Priority Pass lounges at Bogota airport, which include the two Avianca Sala VIP lounges, domestic and international, Sala VIP LATAM in international departures, and the Eldorado Priority Pass lounge.
Once you arrive into Bogota, we have reviewed the best hotel executive club lounges in Bogota and the best luxury hotels in Bogota.
Free Airport Lounge Access
If you have not paid for Business Class or First Class, you can still access a number of brilliant lounges at Bogota El Dorado Airport for a fee or for free if you have a Priority Pass. Priority Pass holders flying internationally have access to two flagship airline lounges (Avianca and LATAM) and a third-party lounge (the Eldorado lounge). All three are very good, but which is best? We review this in more detail below!
Paid entrance is also sometimes possible using cash or you can get in for free if you have a Priority Pass which comes free with the Amex Platinum card. You can also access most Priority Pass lounges for free using the free American Express Gold with its two free Lounge Club passes. To get extra referral points and advice on these free-lounge-access cards and more, have a read of our best credit cards for luxury travel.
1. Sala VIP LATAM Star Alliance Lounge
Bogotá Airport’s refurbished International Terminal 1 has two airline-owned lounges for Priority Pass members, the Avianca and the Sala VIP LATAM Star Alliance Lounge. There is also a Priority Pass El Dorado Lounge, which you can use, but bear in mind that this lounge allows access with your Priority Pass. You have to pay extra for the full buffet and the hot food, and you have to pay extra for the showers too, so this is a disadvantage of the El Dorado Lounge.
Sala VIP LATAM Star Alliance Lounge is the best lounge of all if you have a Priority Pass and international departure. You get there by taking the lifts between gates 34 & 35 up one floor. This airport lounge is a Priority Pass lounge, so if you have a credit card with Priority Pass lounge access, you get in for free.
Inside there are the usual magazines and newspapers in a triangular room. The seating is an arbitrary mix of different sorts of seats, quite unusual, really. We like the rocking chairs, which look out over the rest of the internal areas of the airport. Even though this view is an internal view rather than out to the planes, this has to be the best seat in the lounge.
There are also some workstations with Mac computers, thick rugs with a South American look, and vibrant red, blue, and grey stripes. Not to my taste, but they are bright and uplifting.
The buffet here is big and generous, with a coffee machine and fridges with cans of soft drinks. Preprepared rolls are laid out, and these are fresh and tasty with cheese and lettuce and all sorts of other fillings, plus there is warm soup in a heated container to help yourself to. The self-serve bar has bottles of wine and beers in the fridges. There is also a Chandon sparkling wine. Finally, if you have a sweet tooth, there is a freezer with little pots of ice cream to pick from. This is a very decent lounge and much better than the Avianca lounges at the same airport.
2. El Dorado Lounge
The El Dorado lounge is accessible with your Priority Pass membership and is a stylish lounge with a rustic indoors-outdoors feel. This lounge can be found in the international departures area (Terminal 1) in front of Gate 47.
There are cowhide seats, a fun design, but the seats tend to be in rows, and the tables tend to be far from the seats, so it is difficult to work in here, and you can be forced to sit your laptop on your lap. There are also superb S-shaped single chaise longes by the windows screened off from each other and offering privacy and a place to shut your eyes.
You get two free drink tickets with your Priority Pass, which you can use for wine, beer, and cocktails. There are free sandwiches, chips, nuts, fruit, and a few desserts. If you pay around $5 USD, you can access a hot meal area too.
There’s also a play area, which is designed as a lush forest-type environment and is fun to explore and play in.
3. Avianca Diamond Lounge Bogota Airport
In position 3 of our best airport lounge listing is the Avianca Diamond Lounge Bogota Airport but be warned, it can get so crowded that there aren’t enough seats left. The Diamond Lounge is also open to Business Class passengers as well as LifeMiles Diamond members as well as Priority Pass members.
This lounge is spacious, modern, stylish, and with huge windows with small groups of seats, many of which are set next to a wall or a window so offer some degree of privacy. There are also some relaxation areas with lounging chairs and footrests as well as high tables with stools by the windows, ideal for working.
The buffet area is generous and better than the food offered in the l Dorado Lounge so I would probably place both lounges in position 3. You have to weigh up the better food here Vs., the more peaceful and less full El Dorado lounge. Food on offer is things like pastry parcels, mini rolls and sandwiches, and so forth, all of which look pretty fresh. There’s a huge salad bar, as large as a salad bar in the sandwich chain Subway, and there is warm soup and muffins for afters. In terms of alcohol, there is plenty of choice with bottled beer, wine, and spirits all available.
4. Avianca Sala VIP Domestic Star Alliance Airport Lounge
The Star Alliance Avianca Domestic Airport Lounge, which can be accessed by those flying Avianca in Business, its own top-tier flyers, and Star Alliance Gold members, is also a Priority Pass lounge between 6:30 am – 4:00 pm and then again between 7:00 – 10:30 pm. This airport lounge is fairly horrible, just one room that is unattractive with generic seating and no particular style.
The white seating is arranged around tables in a cafe style, and the nice thing about this lounge is the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the planes.
The food and drink are not noteworthy. Drinks include beer on tap after 4:00 pm, a rather small coffee and tea machine, a few fridges with some cans of coke and bottles, and boxes of juices. There isn’t much choice. The food on offer is whole fruit, some unappealing canape-sized buns on a plate, and some processed sealed pastries.
This is not a great room, and it doesn’t even have any toilets. You have to go out of the lounge to use the toilets (obviously no showers either). This lounge is not worth paying for, although it is worth using if you get entrance for free with your Priority Pass.
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