What I Liked
- Large lounge
- Lots of natural light
- Good food from buffet
- Wide variety of drinks
- Runway views
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This is hands down one of the best business class lounges I've been to.
This review is for the Iberia lounge Madrid airport experience — specifically the business class lounge in Terminal 4S.
The lounge is huge and properly sun-drenched, and both the breakfast and lunch buffets earned their keep.
I had a couple of hours in the lounge before my flight and enjoyed every second. The lounge snakes round the edge of the terminal building. So one side is always facing out the window. The lounge allows the lovely Spanish sun to come in.
The lounge is Iberia's largest lounge in its global hub. You can tell they've put the work in. The lounge was definitely busy when I was there, but I was able to get a seat.
Terminal 4 is the hub for Iberia flights in Madrid. 4S is the satellite terminal, home to the Madrid airport Iberia lounge this review covers. You need to take the light rail link to get here from the main terminal building.
I took loads of photos of the lounge. Each photo can be clicked to open the full slideshows.
I stumbled off that light rail into Terminal 4S half-expecting a glorified departure gate with a coffee machine. Instead, I found Iberia's biggest lounge in its entire global network, wrapped around three sides of the building and soaked in Spanish sunlight. It genuinely felt spiritual, sitting there with a view (well, mostly a view — more on that later) and a plate of padron peppers.
The Iberia lounge Madrid airport experience isn't flawless, mind. Seats were at a premium when I visited, and I spent a fair bit of time apologising my way past other people's legs. But between the breakfast smoothies, the barista coffee, and a veggie sandwich that genuinely surprised me, I came away impressed. Spain has quietly become one of the best places in Europe to be a vegetarian traveller.
There's also the small matter of what happens if you don't qualify for entry here — status or a business/first ticket with a OneWorld airline is the price of admission. I'll get into the workaround one floor up, and why Madrid's mix of languages made this stop feel different to Frankfurt or Amsterdam.
If lounge access is something you want locked in wherever you fly next, it's worth a look at Priority Pass and the other perks on my Recommended Resources page — that's where I keep the discount I use myself, alongside the rest of the deals that make flying less painful.
You can get entry to the lounge if you hold status with a OneWorld Airline.
A business or first class ticket on any OneWorld airline gets you in too.
Oneworld status isn't just an Iberia perk — a British Airways business or first ticket gets you in here too. If you're weighing up that fare, my British Airways Business Class review might help you decide if it's worth booking.
Lounge access with Priority Pass
If you don’t have access to the Iberia business lounge Madrid, there is another option in Terminal 4S. The Sala VIP Lounge. My review of that lounge is here. It’s one floor above the Iberia Lounge. That lounge is also fabulous.
You can access that lounge by paying for entry on the door. You can also get access with a Priority Pass Membership.
Priority Pass is the biggest independent lounge scheme out there — over 1,600 lounges worldwide. You can access over 1,600 airport lounges worldwide.
I have a special tie up with Priority Pass. Use my link to knock 30% off membership. Membership starts with Standard Plus, which costs €231 per year and comes with 10 free lounge visits. So each visit costs € 23.10. Super value for unlimited food, unlimited drinks, fast Wi-Fi and your own space.
At this point, if you’re paying €25 euro for a wine and a sandwich in the terminal building, you’re basically a chump. Sorry to inform you.
When you're done being a chump, check out my review of the Virgin Clubhouse in New York JFK. You can access the lounge with a Priority Pass. It has champagne on tap, restaurant quality food and is bathed in natural light.
Madrid's Barajas airport has other Sala VIP lounges scattered across its terminals, not just the one sitting above the Iberia Lounge in 4S — so a Priority Pass membership stretches further here than just this one stop if your gate happens to be elsewhere in the airport.
I can't vouch for an exact count across every terminal, so take that as "several other options" rather than a number I'd bet the house on — worth a quick check of the Priority Pass app before you fly, just in case.
Worth flagging: this review covers the Iberia Business Lounge before you fly out, not an arrivals lounge. If you've just landed at Madrid and are hunting for somewhere to freshen up after the flight, this isn't that setup. The lounge covered here is strictly a departures affair, past security in Terminal 4S.
The Iberia Lounge Madrid T4S is located in Terminal 4S, the satellite building of Terminal 4. Once you get through security of Terminal 4, you need to take the light rail service to the satellite building. Then you go through passport control to exit the Schengen Area. The whole trip took thirty minutes.
In Terminal 4S, you have the duty-free shop. The entry to the Iberia Lounge is in the duty-free shop.
There are two lounges in the satellite building — this one, and one other. The other lounge is the Sala VIP Lounge.
Nothing more to add here — the walk from security, the duty-free entrance and the neighbouring option one floor up are the practical bits, and that's the lot for 4S. It's a small satellite building with just the two lounges in it, so there isn't a wider lounge map to map out.
Explore Madrid's Plaza Mayor and old town.
Wander Madrid's old town and you don't need a ticket for any of it. Plaza Mayor is the obvious starting point — a grand, arcaded square that's been the heart of the city for centuries. From there it's a short walk through the narrow streets down to Puerta del Sol, Madrid's official "kilometre zero". Free, atmospheric, and a proper way to get your bearings before the sun (or the queues) get too much.
Royal Palace of Madrid guided tour
You can book your ticket here for $39. It's rated 4.67* from 58 reviews. The Royal Palace is Western Europe's largest by floor area, and a guide gets you past the queue and into the state rooms with some proper context — worth it if you don't want to just wander round confused by the gilding.
Free historical walking tour of Madrid
Book your spot here from $3. It's rated 4.92* from 848 reviews. Tip-based and low commitment, but don't let the price fool you — this is one of the best-reviewed tours on the list, and a great way to get proper local context on the old town without spending much at all.
Madrid Tapas & Taverns food and history tour
Reserve your place here for $82. It's rated 4.94* from 3,353 reviews — the best-reviewed pick on this list. It's a small group tour through multiple taverns with proper food at each stop, so go hungry. Not cheap, but given how good the veg options were in the Iberia lounge, I'd trust Madrid's food scene to deliver here too.
The Iberia Business Lounge Madrid is large and bright. The lounge snakes around three edges of the terminal building. So you are always super close to a window.
The lounge is bathed in natural light. In terms of runway views, I wasn’t able to get a great photo. The view out the window was blocked. I think that these are window coverings, that can block light when it’s really bright.
The lounge had a lovely Iberian decor. Lots of white and light colours. This really reflected the light, and made the space light and spacious.
The decor wasn’t super luxurious. But it was in pretty good condition.
They had two buffet counters at either end of the lounge, with identical offerings.
There was a manned bar area.
There were day beds.
In terms of seating, it was mostly restaurant style tables and chairs.
I should say that the lounge was busy. Most seats were taken, and I spent a lot of time walking over people's legs. It's not the only lounge with this problem — my review of the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 flags the exact same issue.
Madrid has a different profile to many other places I have been to. 90% of people are speaking Spanish, and many don’t speak English. This is different to many leisure destinations in Spain. Like Malaga or the Balearic Islands. Which seem to be more British than Spanish, in peak seasons.
It is also different to other major capital cities in Europe. In places like Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris, there seem to be more English speakers. I assume because there is a large international presence there.
I am less familiar with the economy in Madrid. I would love to learn more about the profile of the people there!
Natural light like this is rarer in airport lounges than you'd think — my No1 Lounge Heathrow Terminal 3 review is one of the few others I've found that pulls it off.
The food was good.
I was there during the breakfast and the lunch service. They had two buffet counters at either end of the lounge.
For breakfast, they offered the following:
The food looked pretty good. I’m vegetarian, so my choice was limited. I had toast with cheese and a roasted tomato. It was perfectly fine.
My daughter had the scrambled eggs and finished her plate.
There were some snack stations dotted around the lounge. Serving candy and popcorn. Just like the movie theatre! I did try some.
The lunch service was better than breakfast in my view. There was more that I could eat.
I had padron peppers and a sandwich. I love padron peppers and enjoyed these ones.
The sandwich was fantastic. The bread was fresh and fluffy. My veg sandwich had aubergine and other vegetables. It was really good.
Every time I come to Spain, I am more and more impressed. I first visited Spain in the early 2000s. When I said I was vegetarian, people would look at me as if I was from outer space. Or as if I had a terminal illness! The veg options in the lounge were really good.
Good lounge food isn't a given — the Amex Lounge Heathrow is another one where the kitchen actually makes an effort, if you're flying through London instead.
The drinks offerings were good. There was a lovely breakfast smoothie.
Soft drinks were available in the buffet counters.
Tea and coffee were offered from machines. There were five to 10 machines in the lounge. There was also barista coffee in the bar.
There was a tea selection. I had an English breakfast tea. It was pretty good.
I also had a coffee, which I don’t normally do. But I was tired. I had woken up at 3am the day before, to fly to Spain.
Some idiot took my suitcase from the carousel.
So instead of sightseeing, I spent the day shopping for essentials.
My daughter and I had nothing but the clothes on our backs. And we had an early flight to the US the next day. Where we would meet my wife.
Iberia tracked down the moron that took my suitcase. Kudos to Iberia. I got to the airport at 7am to collect my suitcase. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. My flights to the US were at 11 a.m.
I was also sad for my daughter, to subject her through this. Poor girl didn’t complain once. I always try to insulate my kids from the challenges of the real world. Sometimes the universe has a different idea!
I deserved my coffee. How was the coffee? Average! I don’t drink coffee often, so I don’t have a taste for it.
You could get beer and wine from self-pour locations in the lounge. There was also a manned bar at one end of the lounge. Offering beer, wine and premium spirits.
There was a wide wine selection. I’m not a wine snob. In fact I’m closer to a wine idiot. So I will assume that the wine was good. A lot of people looked to be enjoying it.
I had a local Spanish beer. I wasn’t expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. My choice was good.
If you're chasing a proper lounge bar on your travels, the JFK Amex Centurion Lounge review covers a cocktail programme that's a notch up from what's on pour here.
In some ways, the Iberia Lounge Madrid T4S is spectacular. It takes up three edges of the terminal building and has lots of natural light. I got some vitamin D in!
The food was good. The drinks were good. I enjoyed my stay in the lounge.
If you're weighing up whether the Iberia lounge Madrid airport is worth the effort, it comes down to how much you value space and light over having the whole place to yourself. This isn't a quiet, exclusive corner of the terminal — most seats were taken when I visited, and I was climbing over legs to get to mine. If crowds put you off, that's the one honest mark against it.
But for anyone with OneWorld status or a business/first ticket transiting through T4S, I'd still call it a must-stop. Two identical buffet counters meant I never had to queue for long even with the place heaving. The padron peppers and veg sandwich at lunch were genuinely better than I expected from an airport lounge. Vegetarians flying through Madrid in particular should take note — this was one of the better veggie spreads I've had at an airport.
Bottom line: go for the food, the light and the sheer scale of the place, and just accept you'll be sharing it with a lot of other people.