Via Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Trip Planning
Turkish Airlines A330 Business Class KUL-IST / IST-KUL
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines A321 Business Class IST-MAN / MAN-IST
Virgin Trains East Coast First Class (York – London Kings Cross)
Conrad London St. James (King Deluxe Room)
After arriving in IST from KUL I was pretty excited and rearing to check out the (allegedly) best business class lounge in the world.
As it turned out, though, it took quite some time to clear security – even the dedicated priority line for business class passengers took some time to clear. Eventually, I’d finally made it to the promised land.
The reports were true. The lounge is sprawling, and it offers a really unique stopover experience.
Architecture
I particularly liked the architecture, which manages to give the lounge a distinctively Turkish taste.
The facilities ranged from a baggage deposit area near the entrance (which was totally full so we ended up not being able to use it)…
Entertainment
…to a myriad of entertainment options…
Billiards table
TV wall with wireless headsets
Cinema with popcorn machine
Console gaming stations (I believe this was the PS4)
Remote control racing
Golf simulator
Children’s play area
Food
…to about a bazillion options for filling your stomach.
Salad bar
Turkish sesame bagels
Fancy butter
The healthful dessert option
The less healthful dessert option
Turkish desserts
From the bakery
Hot food, freshly prepared
Beverages
Plenty of options for quenching your thirst, too.
The non-alcoholic variety
The alcoholic variety
Offering a wide range of selections of tea
Conclusion
All in all, I would say that Turkish Airlines’s Lounge Istanbul really does live up to its reputation. If there’s anything I’d complain about, it’s that WiFi speeds were nearly unusable while I was there – I guess there were just too many people logged into their network. I only really had about an hour there each time I passed through Istanbul, so I didn’t actually get to try most of the things on offer, but even sampling what I did and visually taking everything in was an experience in itself.
I probably wouldn’t deliberately go out of the way to visit it again anytime soon, but if I happened to be flying in that direction? I might just try to make it happen…
There’s plenty of KitKat bars on the table of the child playroom, too. It is a great place for parents traveling with toddler, kid, or teenagers. There is something for everyone.
That’s good to know! Clearly I haven’t actually ventured in myself, but useful knowledge for future reference.
the race car track was out of service when i was there though. sad