Riyadh Air Hafawa Lounge Riyadh Airport (RUH) Review: World-Class Experience!

For the return portion of my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787 business class from Riyadh (RUH) to Madrid (MAD). That allowed me to check out the Riyadh Air Hafawa Lounge at Riyadh Airport before my departure, which I was very much looking forward to (“hafawa” is the Arabic expression for warm hospitality).

As a reminder, Riyadh Air is one of the most well funded airline startups we’ve ever seen, and the airline opened its “flagship” lounge coinciding with it launching operations. I don’t remember the last time we’ve seen an airline open up a lounge like this at the start of operations.

The Riyadh Air Lounge is absolutely phenomenal, and I rank it as being among the best in the world. The lounge has gorgeous design, a calming vibe, very friendly service, great food (including a la carte dining), and impressive amenities. What an absolute treat it is to be able to visit this lounge!

Riyadh Air Lounge location

The Riyadh Air Lounge is located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Riyadh Air check-in is in Terminal 2, so after clearing immigration and then security, just proceed through the duty free “maze,” and at the end, turn right.

When you turn right, you’ll see signage toward Terminal 2, so move in that direction.

However, don’t go far, because you’ll immediately see the entrance to the Riyadh Air Lounge on the right. The lounge has quite the striking and sleek exterior.

There are agents on the lower level who scan you in, and then you can proceed up the escalator to get to the lounge, as it’s one level above the terminal.

Let me just mention that this lounge serves all Riyadh Air departures, except domestic flights. That’s because those flights leave from a different area, given the need to separate domestic and international departures.

Riyadh Air Lounge hours & crowding

Riyadh Air is very quickly building up its route network, so I imagine the lounge will be open 24/7 soon enough, if it isn’t already. Officially, the lounge opens three hours prior to any departure, but with the speed at which the network is growing, that will soon mean that the lounge will simply never close.

One other thing I should mention is that the lounge was nearly completely empty during my visit. I was the only guest for a good 30 minutes, while later on there were at most a few dozen other guests. Obviously that lack of crowding is a real advantage as of now.

However, with the pace at which Riyadh Air is taking delivery of new planes, that will be changing. For the foreseeable future, I can’t imagine this lounge will have crowding issues, though down the road I’m sure it’ll get busy over peak periods.

Riyadh Air Lounge entry requirements

As of now, access to the Riyadh Air Lounge is available to those with international business class tickets on the airline. Now, there are potentially a few more ways to access the lounge, I imagine:

• Riyadh Air also sells lounge access, and you can add that to your booking; however, it’s not clear how much that costs, since you need to log into your non-business class reservation to access those details
• Riyadh Air is still developing its Sfeer frequent flyer program, but presumably there will be some elite tiers that offer lounge access
• Delta will soon start flying to Riyadh (RUH), and the airline is pursuing a close partnership with Riyadh Air, so I wouldn’t be surprised if premium Delta passengers can use this lounge

Riyadh Air Lounge layout & seating

The Riyadh Air Lounge covers 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet), and it has the capacity for 370 guests. Rather than being one large, open space, the lounge is comprised of a sequence of interconnected rooms, each intended to support different moods, and offer a tailored experience.

I really love this concept. I know some people might think the lounge design looks a bit disjointed as a result, but I think it really works, because each individual space is cohesive. The lounge’s design is described as being inspired by the Saudi desert landscape, with a palette of limestone, oak, and textured plaster.

As you take the escalator up to the lounge, you’ll find yourself in the central area of the lounge, which connects all the zones, with clear signage. This is also where a staff member offers guests an Arabic coffee and date. What a lovely welcome, and what stunning design!

As you enter the lounge and turn right, you’ll first find yourself in an area that’s primarily intended for lounging around.

I immediately couldn’t help but feel like the lounge felt more like a really nice hotel lobby, rather than an airport lounge (and that’s a good thing). I thought this was every bit as elegant as Cathay Pacific’s lounge design, but of course with a completely different concept. There were clusters of seats, as well as seats along the walls and windows.

As you then go deeper into the lounge, you’ll find a bar with high-top seating, serving barista coffee. This area also has more seating with tables, so it’s more practical if you want to work on a laptop, or something.

That then leads into the main a la carte dining area, where there’s a restaurant style dining experience offered. The tables can each accommodate two to four people, and it’s a lovely setup.

The lounge then has an additional coffee bar area, with more barista coffee available, along with quite a bit of seating.

There’s then a buffet area, and I’ll cover that in more detail below.

On the other side of the buffet is more cafe-style seating. So while the above dining area is intended for a la carte dining, the below area is for those who just want to grab a quick bite at the buffet.

That then flows into another room, which has more seating that’s quite similar to the first zone I covered above.

Off that area is a terrace of sorts, overlooking the terminal, which has plenty of additional seating. This is probably the least interesting part of the lounge, and I didn’t actually see anyone ever use this.

That then brings us to the last major areas of the lounge, which are probably the most visually stimulating. There’s a bar area in the back of the lounge, which is just absurdly cool. The only thing missing is alcohol. 😉

When it comes to additional amenities, the lounge has a play room for kids, an appreciated feature whether you’re a parent or not. 😉 It was a decent play area, though nothing particularly remarkable.

The lounge then has an area with a few massage chairs. These were awesome — we’re talking about those chairs that wrap you like a boa constrictor.

The lounge also has three quiet rooms, available on a first come, first served basis. These are fully private, and while they don’t have beds, they do have very well padded couches that you could easily get a nice nap on.

Just a few more things to note about the lounge:

• I very much appreciated the number of charging ports everywhere, including USB-A, USB-C, and AC power outlets
• Wi-Fi in the lounge was legitimately fast; Saudi Arabia is such a digitally connected country, yet all too often, the airports have excruciatingly slow Wi-Fi, so that was appreciated
• The vibe in the lounge was just so great, in terms of the lighting, and even soothing background music, as if you were in a spa; it was clear that a lot of thought was put into the little details of the experience
• The lounge doesn’t have much in terms of natural light (there are some windows, but they don’t look at anything), and don’t expect views from the lounge; then again, given that Riyadh Air’s largest bank of flights is in the middle of the night, that’s not a huge deal

Riyadh Air Lounge food & drinks

The Riyadh Air Lounge has an incredibly strong food & beverage game, with the obvious caveat being that there’s no alcohol (in line with Saudi Arabia’s laws).

When it comes to dining, there are two main options. The quicker and more casual option is the extensive buffet, which is high quality. The buffet consisted of a variety of individually plated cold dishes, plus hot dishes you could help yourself to as well.

Cold options included dips, salads, cheese and cold cuts, a variety of desserts, and a selection of bread.

Then hot options included spinach and cheese ravioli, lamb kofta, seabass sayadiya, stir fried beef with sesame, butter chicken, steamed vegetables, truffle mashed potatoes, and basmati rice.

Next up, there was the restaurant area with a la carte dining, and you can find the menu below. Given how many of Riyadh Air’s flights depart in the middle of the night, the idea is that many passengers elect to eat in the lounge, and then sleep once onboard.

I had a three course meal here, starting with the Arabic mezze, continuing with the prawn machbous, and finishing with the banoffee tart and an americano. The food and service were excellent, so I have nothing but high praise for the experience.

There is one ridiculous quirk to the experience, which is that the cutlery is plastic (though it’s at least a pretty sturdy plastic). As it was explained to me, this is due to airport regulations, and they’re working on trying to change this. What a ridiculous rule, given that they provide proper cutlery on planes, but they won’t do so at airports? C’mon!

Next, the lounge has the bar area, serving a variety of mocktails, which are pretty creative. You can find the Riyadh Air mocktail selection below.

I decided to order the signature Lavender Haze, a blend of lavender, butterfly, and sugar cane syrup, with iced water and a squeeze of lime. It was pretty, and tasty!

As mentioned above, the lounge then has a couple of barista coffee stations, and there’s also a small dessert buffet with some local sweet treats.

Later during my stay, I had an iced latte and a few treats.

The lounge then has a couple of self-serve coffee stations, but there’s really no reason to use these, given that barista coffee is available, and staff also wander the lounge.

Lastly, there’s a fridge by the buffet with canned and bottled soda, non-alcoholic beer, water, etc.

Riyadh Air Lounge bathrooms & showers

The Riyadh Air Lounge has luxurious bathrooms and shower suites, located right by the entrance, and that’s also where you’ll find the prayer rooms.

The men’s room had eight sinks, six toilets, and five urinals. How pretty is this space? There was a full time attendant, and there were even cloth towels, always in a perfect towel “triangle.”

The lounge also has six shower suites, each of which has a walk-in shower, plus a toilet and sink. I took a shower here, and found the water pressure and temperature control to be good. Products were from Elemis.

Riyadh Air Lounge service

The staff in the Riyadh Air Lounge were lovely. The lounge was extremely well staffed, and all of the employees seemed really proud of the lounge, the airline, etc. Service was also attentive, with staff constantly roaming to see if they could offer guests drinks, anything to eat, etc.

Admittedly as Riyadh Air’s network continues to be built up, I imagine the staff to guest ratio won’t be quite as good. However, for now, the lounge has a level of service that’s more attentive than I’ve experienced in any other business class lounge.

Bottom line

The Riyadh Air Hafawa Lounge at Riyadh Airport is simply stellar. I don’t think we’ve ever seen such an impressive lounge from an airline startup, and I rank this as being among the best in the world.

The lounge has gorgeous design, a la carte dining, barista coffee and inventive mocktails, along with useful amenities, including quiet rooms, massage chairs, and more. Riyadh Air really knocked it out of the park, and after the ground experience, I sure was excited to board my Riyadh Air 787 business class flight!

What’s your take on the Riyadh Air Hafawa Lounge?