Priority Pass Awards: here are the best lounges of 2025. What is it they say? De gustibus...

If last year it only took Italian Priority Pass holders an hour's flight to enjoy the best lounge, among those accessible to them, in the world, this year things got a little more difficult.

While in fact, in 2024, it was the Vienna Lounge at Terminal 1 of the Austrian capital's airport that had towered over all, in 2025 the 17th Priority Pass Excellence Awards declared the winner of the Advantage Vip Lounge located at Terminal 1 at Belo Horizonte Airport in Brazil. Cities where no airline flies directly from Italy but can be reached, with a stopover, by TAP via Lisbon or with Latam via São Paulo.

The hall has an area of about 1000sqm and can accommodate up to 250 people simultaneously, but The photos, it must be said, are not particularly impressive neither in terms of decorum nor in terms of food & beverage space.

In addition, it is located in the dedicated domestic boarding area of the Tancredo Neves airport, making it inaccessible to many international passengers (all but those who make a stopover in Brazil from Belo Horizonte before flying to their final destination country). However, that this is the best lounge in the world has been decreed by the votes and ratings of those enrolled in the Priority Pass program (which in Brazil must be quite a few...).

The membership has decreed., as every year, also a shortlist of 'regional winners' in which the Kyra Lounge at Hong Kong Airport Terminal 1 for Asia-Pacific;

the Vienna Lounge (who had been the global triumphant in 2024) for Europe;

the Grand Lounge Elite in Mexico City for North America, where one can have a drink aboard a replica of the Apollo 11 reentry module;

While for the Middle East and Africa, there could be no shortage of the Primeclass Lounge in Muscat, Oman, a hall that has enjoyed high acclaim from both passengers and air transport rating agencies for years.

Then there are four halls that are 'Highly Commended', i.e. highly recommended by Priority Pass holders.

And it is here that we find what is the confirmation of an Italian, the Marco Polo Club at theVenice airport, who had also received the same mention at last year's PP Awards..

The Venetian hall shares the 'recommendation' with The Oriental Club Lounge in Terminal 2 at Taipei Airport. in Taiwan, with the Punta Cana VIP Lounge which at Terminal B2 at the Dominican airport offers a stunning open terrace with lounge chairs and a pool overlooking the slopes, as well as with the only award-winning Stars and Stripes representative, the Escapes Lounge at Concourse A at the Kansas City airport..

Since last year Priority Pass has also awarded the Pioneer Award, an award to the most innovative lounges, including the Kepler Hotel & Lounge at Riga Airport in Latvia, which is distinguished by the presence of curious 'high-tech bunks'. The judges of the Priority Pass program (this award category is not awarded based on cardholders' votes) noted that "Kepler has raised the bar in terms of quality of rest and privacy at the airport with their 'premium sleep pods' equipped with self-service check-in technology, TVs, and speakers with high sound quality."

Latvian lounge (which has, interestingly, a 'twin' in the very distant Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia) is reported together with the two halls (The Infinity Lounge at Terminal 2 and The Library Lounge at terminal 1) of the Nice Côte d'Azur airport. (awarded for innovative use of emergency technology) And at the 080 Lounge at Terminal 2 at Bangalore Airport in India., awarded by PP judges for its use of eco-friendly materials and food & beverage that comes from within 50 miles of the stopover (we would say 'zero-mile').

• Lounge
• Priority Pass