Before our flight to Malta, my family spent about a half hour in the Schengen Aspire Lounge in Zurich (ZRH), which I found far nicer than the Marhaba Lounge across the hall.
Aspire Lounge Zurich Review (ZRH) – Schengen
This is both a Priority Pass lounge but also used as the business class lounge for some non-affiliated carriers that serve Zurich. It is open daily from 05:30 am to 09:00 pm. Zurich has two Aspire Lounges, one in the Schengen Area (this review, located en route to the B Gates after the security checkpoint) and another non-Schengen Lounge located in the E Gates area.
Our flight to Malta departed at 5:4o pm and did not arrive until 8:00 pm into Malta, so we used the opportunity to feed the kids prior to the flight (Air Malta does offer a fairly comprehensive buy-onboard menu, but we booked our tickets too late to take advantage of it). The lounge featured a very respectable buffet, with a menu including:
- Salads
- Green
- Corn
- Pasta
- Soup (tomato)
- Sandwiches
- Cheese spaetzle
- Pasta with meat sauce
- Hummus
- Yogurt
- Whole fruit
- Snack mix
- Candy (including gummy bears!)
Beverages included:
- Water
- Soft drinks
- Juice
- Coffee
- Tea
- Beer
- Wine
- Spirits
All drinks were self-serve.
This may not be the kind of food I would normally eat, but it was a great way to feed the kids (they loved both the pasta and the spzetzle) and prices are so high at Zurich Airport that this sort of meal was a huge value-add for us. The peaches, though, were just delicious. So ripe and sweet!
The buffet is in the center of the lounge, with seating on either side.
This lounge does not have restrooms or showers – you must go outside to public facilities.
Internet worked well (it was fast) and there were plenty of charging ports (converter needed for US plugs).
CONCLUSION
The Schengen Aspire lounge worked really well for my family and I was thankful to “tank up” the kids prior to our flight to Malta. It is lounges and situations like these that make Priority Pass so valuable to me.
This is part of my summer to Europe trip report.
Looks nice, except that it’s odd there are no restrooms in a lounge. Oh well. We’re arriving in Zurich on United 3, biz class, then Swiss International biz class to Athens with a couple of hours to kill between flights. Do you know if we can use the Aspire Lounges on both sides of the passport check? Or maybe another lounge?
There a 3 SWISS lounges (A/B, D and E) in Zurich – you will be fine.
E is the nicest but probably you want to be in the lounge closest to your gate A/B.