We spent an hour in the Iberia Premium Lounge Velázquez before our flight to London and found the lounge to be comfortable and spacious with a generous spread of food and drinks.
Iberia Premium Lounge Velázquez Madrid Review
Location + Access + Hours
This lounge is located Terminal 4S (beyond security and passport control) and open daily from 6:00AM to 1:00AM.
Travelers with the following status or credentials have access to this lounge:
- Iberia Plus elites including Infinita Prime, Infinita, Platino, and Oro
- oneworld sapphire and emerald members
- Business class or Business Plus passengers on oneworld or Vueling
You’ll use this satellite terminal lounge for non-Schengen flights.
Seating
This lounge is over 2,500 square meters and offers room for 500 guests. Thankfully, the lounge was not crowded at all during our visit and we had no trouble spreading out in one of the clusters of eats located throughout out the lounge.
You’ll find couches and chairs in the vast center of the lounge, with eating areas in either corner, which have tables and chairs for dining. There’s also a coffee nook with more seating in the middle of the lounge.
You’ll have to search a bit harder for power plug (Euro style only) or USB ports.
Food + Drink
We arrived just minutes before the transition from breakfast to lunch took place.
Breakfast
The breakfast spread included cold cuts, cheese, sandwiches, yogurt, whole fruit, scrambled eggs, and Salmorejo soup.
Food was not self-serve during our visit, though I’d imagine it is self-serve once again.
Lunch/Dinner
The afternoon spread included bread rolls, a vegetable stew witch chickpeas, carrots, potatoes, and broccoli, rice, roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, tuna salad, green salad, wraps, and yogurt.
A La Carte Restaurant
While a sit-down restaurant with an a la carte menu was a traditional feature of this lounge, this was not available during my visit because of the pandemic.
Wine Bar
In the restaurant area is a wine bar, which was available and self-serve. I did not drink anything, but there was a wide selection of Spanish wine.
Soft drinks, water, beer, and spirits were also available and self-serve.
Coffee Station
Illy coffee is available at two stations in the lounge. The machines are terrible, so just stick to espresso or an Americano.
Restrooms + Showers
Showers are available (request at reception) and bathrooms were spacious.
There was also a separate wellness area (“Baby centre”) for changing diapers or nursing babies.
Sleeping Room
The sleeping room was closed, but includes six chaise lounges in one large room. Blankets and pillows are available upon request. If you’re using this room, please keep your voices down.
Lockers
If you are staying for awhile, lockers are available near the entrance.
CONCLUSION
I was impressed by this lounge, including the design, comfort, and respectable selection of food and drinks. I’d like to return and try the a la carte menu, but this lounge makes connecting through Madrid a positive and I find it far better than the British Airways Galleries lounges in London Heathrow.
This is part of my summer in Germany trip report.
Weird it wasn’t self-serve food, as we were there this past September (i.e., still mid pandemic) and it was all self-serve … and didn’t have any of the packages you saw
I assume my visit last July was toward the end of the self-serve era.
Fwiw when I visited in 2019 the sit down restaurant was also not open (lounge staff said only open 21:00-00:00).
That could well be – that would make sense. I was told it was due to the pandemic, but would make sense it is only available for dinner when it is open.
L’Premiere lounge called Iberia and demanded in no uncertain terms the red couches be returned to Paris.
Did I miss any choice of meat on the lunch/dinner list other than a tuna salad?
Thought I saw a meat in the one warmer.
There was some sort of beef dish in gravy
Self-serve was back when I was there in May, but the plastic shields were still up, and it was somewhat awkward to navigate the circular service areas. While I was only there in the morning, I looked in at the restaurant, and I think it was back to being operational, albeit later in the day.
I think the aesthetics are the strong point of this lounge. It is indeed beautiful. I strongly prefer the Galleries First Lounge at LHR, especially at breakfast time. I view IB’s insistence on serving cava as opposed to champagne to be nothing but a way to cut costs by “keeping it local.” And boy do I hate that train ride over to 4S. It takes forever. It’s far worse than C gates at T5 or the walk over to the United Club in T2 at Heathrow
I certainly prefer the BA Galleries lounge over any IB lounge, but not the Terraces lounge.
There was no al a carte restaurant open when I was there twice in 2019 (once from around 8-11am and once from around 4-7pm). Shower room was nice but got very warm from the steam. It’s a nice lounge.
Free pour Grey Goose is pretty high end for a Non-French business class lounge.
The Velasquez lounge is incredible–much better than the Cibeles VIP lounge available to terminal 1 passengers (just spent three hours there yesterday morning with prepackaged sandwiches and flat cava).