I arrived into Madrid at 10pm from London and had a connection to Los Angeles the following day at noon. Was it worth going to the airport Hilton or into central Madrid? With a 24-hour lounge featuring a sleeping area, I deemed a hotel was not worth the hassle or expense.
Iberia has several lounges in its Madrid airport hub. The Velázquez lounge is the non-Schengen (international) lounge located in Terminal 4S. It is a massive lounge featuring a sit-down dining room, several buffet and drink stations, conference rooms, a business center, showers, and the aforementioned sleeping room.
It was to that sleeping room that I headed.
The room is always kept dark, though there are lamps beside each daybed. I counted nine beds in the room.
A note on crowds: by 1am (I got up to eat an apple and drink some water) I was the only passenger in the entire lounge. The lounge is quiet at night and I was able to sleep quite well until about 7am. It certainly helped not to have snoring passengers around me!
A lounge agent came in to check on me and offered me a blanket and pillow. I appreciated that kind gesture.
CONCLUSION
While not the private rooms offered in the first class lounges of SWISS, Lufthansa, Qatar, or Malaysia, the sleeping room in Iberia’s Velázquez lounge is quite adequate for an overnight nap.
Errr…. do you forgot the other parts of the lounge? Oh well, i just wait then….
Full lounge review coming, I just wanted to focus on the sleeping room in this post.
What’s their philosophy? First come first served? Or can a bed be booked in advance?
First come, first served. No reservations.
Definitely better than blowing $200 on a hotel for 6 hours. And a lot less hassle.
I assume as you arrived at 10pm and your onward boarding pass was the following day you were still able to get through transfers / security etc to access the lounge
Correct.
It looks a lot better than the reclining “relaxation” area at Etihad’s First Class lounge in Abu Dhabi. When I tried to sleep there all the other seats were occupied, guys were snoring, and one guy was working on his computer and receiving loud incoming message dings every minute or two . . . Moreover, the wall of tv screens kept cycling the same images over and over. Hardly a first class experience. Give me the Al Safwa lounge every day of the week, even during Ramadan!
Full lounge review: http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/06/20/iberia-madrid-lounge-review/
Did you have a connecting flight that brought you to Madrid or simply arrived locally? I have a connecting flight arriving in Madrid and I was thinking of staying in the lounge just as you did.
Connecting flight.
Hello,
I am travelling to Algeria from Portugal on 12/13/2018, and I will to stop at the airport of Madrid for more than 08 hours than I will take the flight to Algeria,
Please, I would like to know how much does it costs a sleeping room for one person at VELÁZQUEZ LOUNGE IN MADRID ( Madrid-Barajas Airport ) ? and others facilities (wifi, showers, food, …) are included in the cost?
Best regards
Check with LoungeBuddy.net.
Funny I came across this post. I think I might end up in a similar situation next month (land in MAD late and fly MAD-LAX in J next day at noon).
My questions are:
1. were your LON-MAD and MAD-LAX bookings separate tickets?
2. To access the lounge in MAD, did you show lounge agents your MAD-LAX electronic boarding pass? IB allows you to check-in online or through the app, right?