The 10 best airport lounges in Europe: October 2026

Europe's best this month

These are the ten best-rated lounges at European airports in our directory for October 2026, counting only lounges with photos on file that are open today. Nine score 4.9 overall and one scores 4.8. Within each score, lounges are listed alphabetically by name. The list is frozen as published, and November gets a fresh edition.

What changed since September

Munich is the story. Both the Emirates Lounge and the Lufthansa First Class Lounge there still score 4.9, but neither has a photo on file this month, so both drop out. So does the Emirates Lounge in Rome, for the same reason. Frankfurt's SkyTeam Lounge, which also scores 4.9, is in the same boat. We expect most of these back once photos are added, which makes the October list a little more British than Europe really is.

Three lounges come in. The Turkish Airlines Business Lounge at Istanbul is the big one, a vast room on the European side of the city with twenty showers and a reputation for the best buffet on the continent. The Plaza Premium Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 joins its Terminal 4 sibling, and the American Airlines Admirals Club at Heathrow takes the tenth place on a 4.8.

London leads

London has six entries across Heathrow and Gatwick. At Gatwick, the British Airways Club Lounge in the South Terminal and the No1 Lounge next door are the two highest-rated rooms in the airport, and the No1 takes Priority Pass. At Heathrow, the Emirates Lounge in Terminal 3 is the premium pick, with around 400 seats and four showers, while Plaza Premium's lounges in Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 are the ones most card holders can actually use. The Admirals Club in Terminal 3 rounds out the set for oneworld flyers, and it is a quieter choice than the BA lounges next door when a long-haul bank is boarding.

Rome and Paris

Rome has two. The ITA Airways Piazza di Spagna Lounge is the flagship for ITA's long-haul business passengers and Star Alliance Gold members, and the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 3 is the pay-or-card option a few gates away. Paris is represented by the Air France Lounge in Hall L of Terminal 2E, the largest lounge on this list, with room for about 500 people and ten showers.

Getting in

Five of the ten are airline lounges for premium cabins and elite members: Air France, British Airways, Emirates, ITA and Turkish, plus the Admirals Club. The other four, the No1 Lounge and the three Plaza Premium lounges, admit Priority Pass, LoungeKey and DragonPass members and sell walk-in entry on their own websites. Hours vary more than you might expect; the Gatwick BA lounge closes at 20:30, for example, so check each page before a late flight.

For the global picture, see the ten best lounges anywhere this month, and for the lounges a Priority Pass opens across the continent, see the October Priority Pass edition. Our scores are editorial, explained in our methodology.